Gene Baur and Lorri Houston founded Farm Sanctuary in 1986, the first of its kind in America – a farm sanctuary for re-homing farm animals. They funded the sanctuary from sales of vegetarian hot dogs at Grateful Dead concerts.
The first resident was a sheep named Hilda, who was rescued from a pile of dead animals behind a stockyard. The saving of Hilda would serve as a catalyst for a global farm sanctuary movement and ultimately a transition to plant-based farming among ranchers and farmers.
A pioneer in the field of undercover investigations and farm animal rescue, Gene has visited hundreds of farms, stockyards, and slaughterhouses, documenting the deplorable conditions. His pictures and videos expose factory farming cruelties, educating millions about the plight of modern farm animals.
Today Farm Sanctuary provides a home for animals in three US locations: one in New York and two in California. The organization also promotes laws and policies that support animal welfare, animal protection, and veganism. Gene’s book Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food, chronicles the history of the organization and examines the real cost of the meat on our plates – for both humans and animals.
His second book, Living the Farm Sanctuary Life: The Ultimate Guide to Eating Mindfully, Living Longer, and Feeling Better Every Day, was coauthored with Gene Stone. (author of Forks Over Knives).
The book explores the deeply transformative experience of living day-to-day in harmony with your basic values. It includes 100 vegan recipes selected by chefs and celebrities.
Time magazine hailed Baur “the conscience of the food movement.” Oprah Winfrey listed him among her SuperSoul 100 Givers.
Farm Sanctuary states on its website that, “In recent years, science has confirmed the inhumane and disastrous impact of animal agriculture. The result is the beginning of a new food economy based on plants—not animals—and the spark of a cultural awakening.”
When transitioning to compassionate farming, some turn their ranches and farms into sanctuaries for their animals. Other people find sanctuaries like Farm Sanctuary, where they can re-home their farm animals.
Growing network of farmers and ranchers make the transition to plant-based farming
Reto Bürkler, Pexels
The Mad Cowboy Howard Lynan
Animal activists can take heart from the fact that a growing network of farmers and ranchers have stopped farming animals and are now operating vegan businesses.
The “Mad Cowboy” Howard Lyman was one of the first American farmers to transition to plant-based farming from animal agriculture. In 1997 he won the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award for leadership in the animal rights movement. He advocates for animal welfare in lectures across the country and is prone to telling audiences, “No animal needs to die in order for me to live. And that makes me feel good.”
Howard was a multi-generational cattle farmer who, for more than 20 years, ran a huge factory-style feedlot operation with 7,000 dairy and beef cattle along with chickens, pigs, and turkeys.
In 1990, he became vegetarian in order to reduce health problems related to obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. The vegetarian diet turned his health around, which prompted him to go vegan a year later.
After becoming vegan, Howard began questioning the ethics of eating animals. Animal agriculture causes immense pain and suffering of animals, harms the planet and our health, and hurts workers and communities,
Howard converted his confined animal feedlot operation into an animal sanctuary. Since 1991 he has been traveling the world speaking and advocating on behalf of veganism, compassionate farming, and animal rights. His book Mad Cowboy recounts his story of transitioning from animal agriculture to animal rights activism. You can watch the documentary Mad Cowboy on YouTube.
Richard and Cindy Traylor
Rowdy Girl Sanctuary’s Rancher Advocacy Program (RAP) facilitates the transition from animal agriculture to plant-based farming by connecting ranchers, businesses, and investors. RAP helped sixth-generation cattle rancher Richard Traylor and his wife Cindy re-home their cows to a farm animal sanctuary. The couple is now considering growing hemp, bamboo, fava beans, and micronutrient-rich foods on their ranch land. Richard credits Renee Sonnen-King, founder of Rowdy Girl Sanctuary, with helping him transition to veganism and plant-based agriculture.
“I used to laugh at veganism and now it’s my way of life,” Richard said during a presentation at the first RAP Summit in 2020. Richard and Cindy attended the summit to listen and learn how to make farming profitable without having to slaughter. The next RAP Summit is on July 24, 2021.
Bob Comis, former pig farmer
From The Last Pig
Bob Comis became vegan and converted his hog farm to a veganic vegetable farm when he could no longer live with his conscience. Before becoming vegan he wrote on his blog, “…What I do is wrong, in spite of its acceptance by nearly 95% of the American population. I know it in my bones, even if I cannot yet act on it. Someday it must stop. Somehow we need to become the sort of beings who can see what we are doing when we look head on, the sort of beings who don’t weave dark, damning shrouds to sustain, with acceptance and celebration, the grossly unethical. Deeper, much deeper, we have an obligation to eat otherwise.”
Bob now publishes widely on the question of eating animals. The award-winning documentary film about his transition, The Last Pig, chronicles the changing landscape of animal agriculture and one farmer’s ethical crisis. After years of raising pigs for meat, he no longer can bear the ultimate act of betrayal. With bittersweet detail, the film offers an entirely new view of small-scale livestock farming and raises crucial questions about the ethics of eating.
Today Bob spends his time promoting veganic farming and refining the process of his own transition so that his journey can serve as a general road map for other farmers to follow.
Click here to read Bob’s deeply personal and heartfelt blogs about his crisis of conscience before going vegan.
Mercy for Animals Transfarmation Project
Mercy for Animals has begun partnering with companies to help feedlot chicken producers shift away from animal farming. Through its “Transfarmation Project,” poultry farmers receive funds to convert factory-farmed sheds that house tens of thousands of chickens into hemp barns. The temperature-controlled chicken sheds present ideal growing conditions for hemp. The Transfarmation Project website notes that
“More and more farmers are seeking a way out of animal farming. Whether they’re fed up with Big Ag’s exploitative contracts or the poor working conditions, they’ve had enough. At the same time, demand for plant-based ingredients is booming, estimated to grow from $8 trillion USD in 2018 to $13 trillion USD in 2025.
“Credited for this growth is increased demand for clean label ingredients and alternatives to conventional animal products. Companies in all sectors, from food to household detergents to construction, are sourcing more plant-forward ingredients to fulfill their social responsibilities. Transfarmation connects these trends to the goals of fed-up animal farmers to create a better world for us all.”
The transition to plant-based farming is spreading around the world
From 73 Cows
Refarm'd
Jay Wilde retired his herd of organic beef cattle in Ashbourne, UK, after he could no longer bear to slaughter the animals. The Vegan Society organized the re-homing of his cattle, which was immortalized in the BAFTA-winning film 73 Cows.
73 Cows is the story of Jay’s battle with his conscience each time he takes his cows to slaughter. Feeling trapped within an industry he no longer believes in, Jay knows he must make a change and do what no other farmer from the UK has ever done before.
Jay and his wife Katja now produce oat milk instead of raising dairy cattle. They are working with farmers through a program called Refarm’d to transition from milk production to plant-based artisan dairy alternatives and in converting farmland into animal sanctuaries.
“We believe that by uniting together with farmers and providing them with the tools they need to move away from the animal trade, we are offering a viable new opportunity for their businesses to be part of the growing plant-based movement,” Jay said.
According to Vegconomist, oats are exploding internationally and have emerged as the most popular dairy alternative. In response to this, the Swedish oat-milk brand Oatly sees itself as a catalyst for helping farmers move away from animals to oat-milk production. The company supports farmers by sharing knowledge and helping them find solutions to challenges. They also share financial risks with farmers who are in their program and enter into long-term agreements with them to help stabilize the farmers.
Future Transitions
Future Transitions is an organization that is just beginning to form in Australia. The organization will help farmers and ranchers make structural changes to their farms as they transition away from animal agriculture. Some animal farms in Australia are currently being converted to blueberry farms.
Farmers For Stock-Free Farming
Farmers For Stock-Free Farming is a grassroots movement in Scotland that helps farmers transition out of livestock agriculture. Rebecca Knowles is the organization’s founding director who also founded Vegan Outreach Scotland to end animal exploitation. Rebecca is one of the presenter’s at the RAP Summit on July 24, 2021.
Nature Rising
In Ireland, the group Nature Rising is bringing together activists, individuals, farming experts, and environmental organizations to put pressure on governments to stop subsidies that go to animal agriculture and to help farmers transition their land to natural ecosystems and plant based agriculture.
Think tank predicts industrialized animal agriculture will collapse by 2035
From RethinkX, the Collapse of the Old
Data trends show that plant-based compassionate farming is the world’s future. A think tank called RethinkX predicts that industrialized animal agriculture will collapse by 2035. Organizations across the globe are springing into action to help traditional farmers transition to plant-based farming in response to these predictions and trending factors.
The Plant Protein Innovation Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, says plant-based proteins are more in demand than ever before as people have become more health conscious and concerned about the environment. Vegans and health-oriented consumers are among the main drivers for plant protein popularity, according to the center
“This has created a need to not only develop more plant-based protein ingredients, but to seek sustainable and environmentally friendly sources,” states the center’s website. Farmers and ranchers who want to transition from animal agriculture might be good candidates for growing crops needed to produce plant-based foods.
Alliances help ranchers and farmers transition to plant-based farming
Globally, farmers are switching to plant-based farming as they become aware of the negative effects of animal agriculture on humans, animals, and environment. The industry’s failure can be attributed to a number of factors including farm bills and large subsidies, climate, complicated supply-and-demand games, increased labor costs, health concerns, and changing attitudes about animal welfare to name just a few.
Current USDA policy disproportionately subsidizes agricultural products that emit the most greenhouse gases. The Agriculture Fairness Alliance (AFA) is a vegan-backed lobbying group that advocates for fairness in US agriculture policy and laws. The alliance aims to level the playing field in federal farm policy so that sustainable and alternative protein-based foods can compete fairly in the free market.
In the Midwest region of the US, Regeneration Midwest promotes and expands the organic and regenerative food and farming movements. The organization identifies and maps best practices and networks among best practitioners in a dozen Midwest states. Work includes facilitating farmer-to-farmer relationships, and educating consumers, policymakers and investors, as well as collaborating with stakeholders in order to make regenerative practices the norm, not the exception. However, to the dismay of most vegans, regenerative farming does not exclude animal grazing.
Regeneration International is a global alliance that promotes and facilitates the transition from animal agriculture to regenerative agriculture and land use. The alliances work together to accelerate the transition to regenerative agriculture in defined geographic areas around the world. Click here to see the global partner network.
Vegans can support the shift to compassionate farming
As vegans and vegan activists, we need to support the shift away from animal agriculture to compassionate farming. To begin with, we can support the farmers who are already making the changes we wish to see by buying their products, providing them with financial support, and sharing their stories.
We can also provide support by paying farmers to teach courses and attend conferences and by sponsoring young farmers to intern with them. Click here for a map of veganic farmers in North America that could benefit from our support.
Additionally, we can donate to farm animal sanctuaries or to people who are looking to start a sanctuaries since we need more safe havens for re-homed animals, especially in the Midwest. There are relatively few sanctuaries in the Midwest, despite its large agricultural presence.
Finally, we can support vegan activist organizations that are working hard to free farm animals from enslavement.
Do you know a cattle rancher or animal farmer who has made a successful transition to plant-based farming?
Renee King-Sonnen and her husband Tommy know first-hand the struggles that ranchers and farmers face when they transition from animal agriculture to plant-based agriculture. They created the Rancher Advocacy Program to help other ranchers and farmers make the transition by connecting them with businesses and investors.
Read next Cattle rancher’s wife Renee King-Sonnen becomes vegan and advocates for plant-based farming.
