Vegan World

·28 min·2 clips

What would happen to Britain's farms, diet, and biodiversity if we eliminated all livestock?

The episode begins with host Tom Heap on a Devon hillside, posing the central question: what would a vegan Britain mean for farming, diet, and biodiversity? He introduces two advocates: Tim Thorpe from the Vegan Society, who argues transitioning to plant-based systems reduces greenhouse gas emissions and frees up agricultural land, and Stuart Roberts from the National Farmers Union, who counters that UK livestock farming is efficient and uses grassland productively. The program then features a series of expert witnesses. Helen Harwood from Harvard Law School presents research mapping UK agricultural land, suggesting reforesting pasture and feed cropland could remove CO2 equivalent to 12 years of UK emissions. Reporter Mary-Claire Carey-Jones visits Welsh farmer Davies Morris-Jones, who explains his hilly, wet land with poor soil is unsuitable for growing human-edible crops, only supporting sheep. Agroecologist Marisha Fraser discusses how grazed ecosystems support biodiversity, emphasizing mixed grazing benefits. At the Hardwick Estate, organic farmer Ian Tolhurst demonstrates vegan organic farming using green manures and compost, claiming yields matching conventional farms. Hannah Ritchie from Oxford University addresses nutritional aspects, noting potential deficiencies like vitamin B12 in vegan diets and highlighting large land-use differences between meat types. The episode visits Rothamsted's North Wyke Farm in Devon, where scientists Bruce Griffith and Michael Lee study converting pasture to arable land, warning of soil carbon loss and water quality issues. Michael Lee compares this conversion to deforestation, stressing grasslands as major carbon stocks. In the final segment, Thorpe and Roberts respond: Thorpe questions the need for large pasture conversion and advocates for woodland over grassland for carbon storage, while Roberts emphasizes the complexity and UK agriculture's role in global efficiency. The episode ends with acknowledgments.

As heard by us

A Devon-set debate on vegan Britain that stays firmly rooted in land use and food production.

Costing the Earth opens on a hillside in Devon and treats a vegan Britain as a practical question rather than a slogan. Tom Heap keeps the focus on what such a shift might mean for farming, crops, diet, biodiversity, and farmers themselves, with Stuart Roberts of the National…

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You get a vegan-Britain debate on a blustery Devon hillside.

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