Guardian columnist and environmentalist George Monbiot is calling for livestock farming to be stopped as it is a 'phenomenally profligate way' to make food.

In his new book 'Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet', he suggests the world turns to bacteria foods for protein instead of meat and dairy. Unsurprisingly the author's claims have been met with criticism from farmers who accuse Monbiot of having an ‘anti-rural agenda’.

Monbiot described farming as the ‘most destructive force ever to have been unleashed by humans', and that livestock farmers will not be able to sustainably keep up with global food demand. Instead the world should produce industrial quantities of protein powder using bacteria for foods such as ‘protein pancakes’.

Countryside Alliance chief executive, Tim Bonner, responded: “Without farmers, our countryside risks becoming a wasteland. George Monbiot is welcome to eat sludge manufactured in laboratories to alleviate his hysteria, but the future of a healthy countryside lies in a buoyant domestic market here in the UK for sustainable, grass-fed red meat.”