The organic movement is growing, and happy gardeners and conscious consumers all over are celebrating. However, many people don't realize that even the “organic” produce they buy at the store may have been grown with fertilizer from factory farms where the animals may have been fed chemicals and hormones—the exact thing that organics is trying to avoid. What's a conscious consumer to do? Enter veganics, the totally plant-based agriculture movement. To get the inside scoop, Vegan Mainstream chatted with Stéphane Groleau and Meghan Kelly of the Canada-based Veganic Agriculture Network.
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photo courtesy of the Veganic Agriculture Network
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The organic movement is growing, and happy gardeners and conscious consumers all over are celebrating. However, many people don’t realize that even the “organic” produce they buy at the store may have been grown with fertilizer from factory farms where the animals may have been fed chemicals and hormones—the exact thing that organics is trying to avoid. What’s a conscious consumer to do? Enter veganics, the totally plant-based agriculture movement. To get the inside scoop, Vegan Mainstream chatted with Stéphane Groleau and Meghan Kelly of the Canada-based Veganic Agriculture Network.
Vegan Mainstream: The idea of veganic agriculture is novel to most people. What does it mean?
Meghan Kelly: Veganic gardening and farming does not use any animal products at all. In organic farming, fertility can be maintained with animal, mineral or vegetable matter. We break that link between organic growing and livestock production by using only plant-based matter and minerals.”
Stéphane Groleau: We also avoid all chemicals.
VM: If the movement spreads, how will it change the agricultural industry?
MK: Really, it’s two things in tandem. One big reason there are so many animal products in organic and conventional farming is that there is a surplus of manure, because we eat so much meat. So if we cut back on factory farming, and move toward organic plant-based farming, there will be less animal waste being used.
photo courtesy of the Veganic Agriculture Network
SG: One aspect is with oil and the cost of transportation. If we look into more alternative options, like eating local, things will really change, not only in the money being spent, but in what we grow. There are so many different things we could be growing.
VM: Can you talk a bit about gardening for biodiversity?
SG: There are 3 aspects of gardening for biodiversity:
1) Soil biodiversity, which is the use of methods that will improve soil, as well as the number of animals and insects living in the soil. [An example of this would be] using mulch or green manure and reducing tillage;
2) Plant biodiversity, which avoids monoculture and supports a wide variety of plants that will be different from year to year; and
3) Environmental settings, which encourage people to have ponds, or more trees, or other biodiverse settings that will create natural habitats for animals, snakes, birds, and insects. All of this will create a more balanced ecosystem.
MK: We really support gardening for biodiversity, which is gardening to serve the animals as well. Like the permaculture movement, veganic gardening imitates nature and allows nature to do much of the work for us.
SG: It shows the world and environment not only as something for humans, but for animals too. We need to leave some nature for them, and this means in the garden, too.
MK: When part of your harvest gets eaten, it’s not a big deal. [Humans] have such a possessive mindset about what we plant in the garden, so when insects or animals eat some of what we have planted, we get upset. It’s a reactive mindset. The vast majority of animals and insects have a positive impact on our garden, and support the natural ecosystem. When we intervene, we can disrupt this delicate balance.
Experimental bicycle garden: photo courtesy of the Veganic Agriculture Network
VM: How do you work to support veganic farmers and gardeners?
SG: We support the movement by starting discussion groups and information exchanges. Everyone is very spread out, so direct contact is difficult. We are trying to facilitate the sharing of information across North America.
MK: We also provide as much information as possible on our website, and help put people in contact with veganic farms in their area.
VM: What do you think is the biggest misconception about gardening, in terms of sustainability?
MK: People are missing the information that many farms that grow organic use manure from factory farms. They don’t realize many organic farmers are using slaughterhouse byproducts. Also, the idea that you need manure to fertilize is a myth. People think that the nutrients in manure come from animals, but the animals are getting nutrients from the plants they eat.
SG: Also, not many people realize you can garden without tilling your soil. If we work the soil too much, we lose nutrients. If we have a good ecosystem in our soil, we can avoid working it.
MK: Another thing people don’t understand anymore is what vegetables actually look like, since we are so used to seeing perfect veggies in the grocery store. We don’t realize how much was thrown out to get those perfect vegetables, or how many chemicals were added to their fertilizer. We have a warped image of what food is supposed to look like.
We are in favor of organics, but veganics is ideal. Back in 2000, the term organic was just starting to spread. We hope that veganics will spread, too. We encourage organic over conventional, but we want people to understand that often their “organic” fertilizers are coming from factory farming, so they are indirectly supporting factory farming. If they really want to go fully organic, veganic is the way to go.
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