AGRICULTURAL leaders have said it was 'bonkers' and 'illogical' that students at Stirling University had voted to ban meat and dairy products from the Student Union's three outlets on campus by 2025.

A militant animal rights group celebrated the vote, which is a snub to Scottish farming and its increasingly green credentials. According to the Plant Based Universities campaign, which is run by Animal Rebellion – a splinter group of Extinction Rebellion – a ‘majority’ of the university’s student union body voted last week to transition to ‘100% plant-based catering by 2025', with union officials demanding that 50% of the transition was made sooner, by the 2023-24 academic year.

 

Students celebrating the motion passed by just 100 members of the Students Union to ban meat and dairy food from their outlets from 2025

Students celebrating the motion passed by just 100 members of the Student's Union to ban meat and dairy food from their outlets from 2025

 

Sources told The SF that only around 100 attendees took part in the meeting, despite the university having a student population of around 17,000.

Scottish National Sheep Association chair, Peter Myles, said: “I think it’s bonkers that a small number of students can impose their will on the majority of sensible young people at a great university. It is so sad.

"My daughter is a graduate of Stirling and the reason they are surrounded by such an environmentally glorious campus is because of the sheep that graze the hills nearby, not avocados or tofu processed and brought half-way round the world.

"The vegan diet is so unhealthy, unsustainable and damaging to the environment when it is vital our soils are refreshed by grazing animals, and as for milk, it literally just has to cross the road to the university.”

 

You cant get much greener and tastier than beef produced from Scotlands hills say industry leaders in response to the Stirling Uni student ban on meat and dairy products in its outlets

You can't get much greener and tastier than beef produced from Scotland's hills say industry leaders in response to the Stirling Uni student ban on meat and dairy products in its outlets

 

Scottish Beef Association chair, Paul Ross, said: “It is unbelievable and illogical AS it is following such poor science, and brainwashed by biased media. It is ridiculous that such a decision can be made with such a small percentage of students and it doesn’t seem fair.

"We are living in a Scotland where diversity is so important, but you are not supposed to eat beef when at university. For educated folks to be thinking they will save the planet when your alternative is eating avocados and soya produced and processed half way round the world, is nuts.”

Campaigners have welcomed, including Guardian columnist, George Monbiot and BBC presenter, Chris Packham. The group said it will now seek to target other universities across the UK.

This is thought to be the first Scottish students’ union to push ahead with a ban, with students at the University of Edinburgh rejecting a similar proposal in a campus-wide referendum in 2020. Of the 6000 votes cast there, 58% said 'no' to a proposal to impose campus-wide veganism in cafés and restaurants, despite its union narrowly passing a ban in the first instance, said the Countryside Alliance.

It said it hoped that the university would reject the motion, or ask its students to vote in an all-inclusive, campus-wide poll, similar to the one carried out in Edinburgh.

The Countryside Alliance believed the students’ union should opt for locally sourced meat and dairy with low air miles, rather than implement an ‘illogical’, all-out ban.

Mo Metcalf-Fisher, a spokesman for the organisation, said: “Obviously this is an attack on freedom of choice imposed by a tiny number of students on the wider student body, but it is also illogical.

"Stirling’s Students’ Union would be much better off sourcing sustainable local meat and dairy produce from Scottish farmers instead. How can an avocado flown in from South America have eco-superiority over a piece of grass fed beef from a local farm?

"Stirling University should demonstrate its support for Scottish farmers by ensuring it continued to supply meat and dairy, irrespective of what its Students’ Union decide to do."

Controversial eco-campaigner, George Monbiot, said: “It’s fantastic to see the next generation taking control of their future and putting humans, non-human animals and the planet first. The Plant-Based Universities campaigners at the University of Stirling are leading the way in tackling the climate crisis and creating a sustainable food system.”

Imogen Robertson (21), one of the campaigners at Stirling, added: “This vote is a clear sign that young people are willing to take decisive action on the climate and ecological emergencies.

"We are delighted that our fellow students decided to follow the scientific advice from world-leading academics and step into a brighter future. We hope this sparks a wave of bold action across UK universities to commit to just and sustainable plant-based catering.”