A former dairy farmer has made his company entirely plant-based.
Laurence Candy, 50, runs Northwood Farm in Manston, Dorset, which produced dairy products for 60 years but now grows oat, wheat, and fava beans.
The Biocyclic Vegan Standard, which forbids the use of livestock or animal byproducts, was granted to him in October 2022.
He claimed that the switch to an animal-free lifestyle had been "an enormous change for myself and my ailing father.".
The majority of the dairy cows were lost to bovine tuberculosis in 2017, according to Mr. Candy, who took over running Northwood Farm from his father.
He stated that when his contract for organic milk expired in the fall of 2020, he "had to decide either to give up organic farming or carry on organic but do something else.".
The solution was to convert his farm to a vegan one and strive to meet the Biocyclic Vegan Standard.
To the Norfolk-based Hillside Animal Sanctuary, Mr. Candy sold 38 of his dairy herd's cows.
I don't have any stock, and I'm not allowed to use animal manure or animal byproducts as fertilizer, he declared. ".
He said he will be sowing fava beans in the fall, and his farm currently produces wheat and oats.
It's a significant change for any livestock farmer to completely give up any kind of livestock, according to Mr. Candy.
"I've had to spend a lot of money on a combine harvester and other agricultural equipment, and then I had to turn the existing cowsheds into a grain source.
"You're constantly concerned about whether things will go as planned, and they have. ".
The milking parlor will be transformed into a milling and processing facility as the next step, according to Mr. Candy, so he can take the grains himself to market.
