That's why I'm planning a very extensive square foot gardening system for next year. Agribusiness is a planetary scourge.

Extremism is always problomatic to the human race.I am vegan by choice,nothing more,no political agenda needed!From what I see vegans have little political influance,making your position seem silly!

To Celcius' 1st post...

Are you stupid or just braindead?

"One of the biggest threats currently confronting the survival of the mixed farming systems of the world stems from the hypothetical fanaticism of the various vegetarian pressure groups. For vegetarians are unknowingly tearing apart and terrorising the environmental and sociological stability of the whole globe. If their ‘veganic' agricultural systems were to gain a foothold on the soil, then agrochemical use, soil erosion, cash cropping, prairiescapes and ill health would escalate if we were to carry on producing the quantities of foodstuff sufficient to feed our industrialised population"

Who writes this garbage?? Did they ever receive an education or are they living in the back swamps where Deliverance was filmed??? Vegetarians threatening and terrorizing the environment?? Come on. In general, vegetarians are much more likely to support organic farming which uses no chemicals and to be against huge conglomerates producing our food for us. These companies don't give a shit about you or me, only the bottom line. The amount of tampering they do to our food supply is incredible with all of the genetic engineering and injection of hormnones. They are killing the genetic diversity of plants and animals, making the world food supply much more susceptible to insect and pathogen outbreaks. And you are worried about vegetarians??????????? Go back and get your high school degree.

I think the point you're trying to make here - which nobody so far seems to get - is that the traditional agricultural practices followed by many small farmers use ecologically-sustainable organic farming that depend upon the inter-relationships between the livestock, vegetables and ground. And to pursue a vegan lifestyle discourages the maintainence of livestock, which in turn breaks the delicate cycle and requires chemical substitutes for their natural fertilizer (manure), which inevitably will deplete the nutrients from the soil and pollute the environment.

You are arguing that a vegan lifestyle does not promote a natural ecological balance. I admit that I don't have any knowledge about agricultural practices, but speaking from common sense alone, it seems that the traditional, natural methods are superior to today's industrialized chemical-laden perversion of what farming should be. And to that extent I agree with you. Whether or not the involvement of livestock - or lack thereof - is crucial to maintaining ecological balance is a question I leave to those qualified to discuss.

However, as most vegans strive to consume organic produce, I don't think any of them would encourage mass-farming vegetables in the place of cattle or poultry if it were in any way detrimental to the ecological balance. Many are very concerned with the environment, and I do not think that they would object to farmers having livestock if it were crucial to the preservation of the ecological cycle. Besides, nobody said they had to slaughter the animals and eat them! I personally don't think that the entire planet will EVER entirely convert to veganism, so in my opinion, this potential scenario is unlikely to become a reality. There will always be meat-eaters, or at least dairy eaters who will encourage the presence of livestock on this planet.

Should the world revert to traditional farming practices, it will be a salvation to the small farmers because the farms which are presently maintained through artificial means will require more attention and therefore more farmers. I am in support of small local farmers and have a great appreciation for their noble dedication to providing nourishment to the world, and would be happy to witness a return to the traditional farming practices that have been employed effectively for centuries. If that means that livestock is required for that purpose, then so be it.