Almonds, cashews and avocados may not be vegan

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Some farms will bring in bees from afar to pollinate the plants. This causes stress, pests and death.
I believe other crops in the US are also farmed the same way.

I would say the food is definitely vegan but the farming methods vary?

One of the issues with some foods for me is the impact of big commercial monocultures, but that’s true of any diet, very much including meat and crops grown as animal feed.

Avocados do more damage to the environment than just bees - the massive amount of water that is required and therefore removes from waterways means they are not sustainable for the environment.

Potatoes are not vegan, the amount of toads and other animals that get killed during production makes them not vegan.

One of the reasons I’m not even vegetarian is that I think all farming has environmental impact and involves the death of other organisms.

Isn't that the case with all crops, though? It's impossible to avoid any death or suffering in the farming of food. Of course, it's each individual's choice how much they want to avoid it by choosing what to purchase and where from.

Thank you for sharing, as it's good to know, but this seems like bait for a debate over semantics if we start saying that means they're not vegan.

Lots of organic vegetable farming isn't compatible with veganism. Fertilizer like blood, fish and bone is routine in organic farming. Other products of animal exploitation are also used in lots of organic a d conventional vegetable and fruit farming practices.

Ethical veganism is almost impossible if you buy produce from UK commercial outlets.

Oh well, back to eating what you can grow in your garden and greenhouses.

Given 70/80% of crops and farmed land are to feed the animals bred for us to eat, this is a pretty stupid argument.

Many years ago I worked on a farm picking tomatoes which were grown in large greenhouses. They also imported hives of bees which pollenated the tomatoes. They came in cardboard boxes and were then released into the greenhouse. As far as I know they just died at the end of the year and were replaced the following year.

Does that make tomatoes non-vegan?

Avicados are an astonishing marketing success but dreadful for the environment, by any measure.

Of course they are vegan. Ethical issues are completely separate. You can get ethical meat.

Yes this is correct and in terms of overall harm reduction you need far fewer crops to directly feed people than you do if you're first feeding an animal then eating the animal. There's a large amount of calories lost in the process.

Nobody has to be vegan obviously but if someone is seeking to reduce the number of animals killed to feed them then eating plants will do that - absolutely even taking agricultural factors into account.

Honestly, vegans have thought of this and it's a topic of much conversation.

I do think there are arguments to be made about the ethics of moving bee colonies about as it can hurt wild bee populations. This seems to be mostly a US thing although I am not an expert. I personally would consider the use of bees in this way non-vegan. I also think pets are nearly always incompatible with veganism though, lots of people disagree.

Exactly.

Ethical meat? Surely that's an oxymoron?

Even lambs bouncing around a field are still bread to be killed for food and killed in a horrible way. Stunning doesn't always work either. Sure, they may have had more of a natural life for a short while but it doesn't take away everything else imo.

Yes, and the rain forests in the world we lose daily is shocking, just to either have cows or to grow crop to feed the animals.
Personally speaking we need to rethink the whole food industry and our ways of eating.

Oh for heavens sake, not this again. Vegans recognise it’s impossible to avoid all harm to animals. It’s about minimising it as much as possible.

Oh fgs. This is just ridiculous.

It's the same for pretty much any fruit that's grown under cover, e.g. strawberries in polytunnels. They put the bees into the polytunnel but I don't think they're allowed to let them out again if they've been imported from abroad.

Oh no! Not bees from afar! However will we cope.

Actually, having read Dave Goulson's books this is a major issue with European buff-tailed bumblebees imported into Chile causing native species to decline massively.