OPINION: Veganuary is upon us and as is now the tradition, farming organisations like the AHDB are rallying the troops to ‘fight back’. Their weapons: the environment and B12. Does that mean we should shift our focus back to ethics?

Breaking news: the animal agriculture industry is lying to us about climate change. For those of you who follow us, this will be yesterday’s news, but for others, it will come as somewhat of a surprise to learn that ten of the world’s top companies and industry groups are borrowing tactics from the tobacco industry to deliberately ‘obfuscate the science’.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) came out fighting this Veganuary with its ‘Eat Balanced’ campaign, spending a reported £1.5 million on ads that specifically mention vegan diets and nutrients such as B12 and iron. There’s a strong focus on health, some mention of the planet, but nothing about the impact on animals. So, of course, we’ve released our own ad to set the record straight.