One of the most common retorts to veganism is that small animals are killed during the cultivation of plants, therefore a vegan diet kills animals.

And this is true. It’s not a myth.

Small animals such as rodents are killed by farming machinery during the harvest of some plant foods that are included in a vegan diet.

But veganism is not about being perfect. It’s about doing the least harm and the most good.

In a vegan diet, wheat, corn, and soy are used to produce meat alternatives. And yes, small animals are killed in the cultivation of those crops.

Combine machines indiscriminately plow the ground, and small animals can get caught up in the blades.

The absolute highest estimate of crop deaths for a vegan diet comes to about 7.3 billion small animals killed worldwide per year.

Many other studies have called this number into question, because 7.3 billion doesn’t take into account the fact that small animals flee crop fields when they hear machinery approaching.

7.3 billion assumes that all animals who disappear from crop fields are killed.

So in reality, the number is probably much lower. But for argument’s sake, let’s use 7.3 billion crop deaths per year worldwide for a vegan diet.

7.3 billion deaths seems quite high for a diet and lifestyle that are rooted in nonviolence toward all living beings.

But let’s examine the alternative.

In animal agriculture, massive amounts of wheat, corn, and soy are fed to animals. On average, it takes 16 calories of plant input to produce 1 calorie of meat output.

Soy is often associated with the vegan diet, but 77% of soy produced worldwide is actually fed to animals exploited by animal agriculture. About 16% is used for biofuels, industry, or oils.

Only 7% of soy production is used directly for human consumption in vegan products like tofu, tempeh, and soy milk.

In fact, animal agriculture utilizes 83% of the world’s croplands. So if a vegan diet kills 7.3 billion small animals through unintentional crop deaths…

Animal agriculture kills at least 35.6 billion small animals through unintentional crop deaths.

Animal agriculture intentionally raises and slaughters 80 billion land animals for food every year.

Add to that the amount of farmed fish raised every year - measured in tonnes, not individuals - 178 million tonnes.

Add to that an estimated 2.7 trillion sea animals killed every year either for food or as bycatch.

So in just one year, animal agriculture intentionally kills over 3 trillion sentient beings.

The 3 trillion figure also does not include the average of 210,000 wild animal species that go extinct every year due to habitat destruction and climate change, caused in large part by animal agriculture.

The amount of animals killed by animal agriculture is honestly incomprehensible. But it’s at the very least 3 trillion, but probably approaching something more like 4 trillion or even higher. Every year.

So at the very most, vegan foods unintentionally kill 7.3 billion small animals per year.

And at the very least, animal agriculture intentionally kills 3 trillion animals per year.

Which diet does the least harm and the most good?

It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being better.

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