What is the Biocyclic Vegan Standard?

The Biocyclic Vegan Standard is a certification that tells consumers that a farm’s produce has been cultivated using purely plant-based, organic practices. This means the farm excludes the following:
- any inputs of animal origin
- slaughtering of animals,
- all forms of commercial livestock farming,
- and agri-chemical inputs (synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, fungicides, etc.).
In addition to the Biocyclic Vegan Standard telling consumers what harmful practices a farm has excluded, it also tells them that this farm engages in positive practices that:
- close the loop on organic cycles,
- protect and regenerate the health of the soil,
- build up the levels of humus in the soil*,
- and promote biodiversity and wildlife.
Biocyclic Humus Soil
*Watch Dr. Johannes Eisenbach’s excellent talk on the creation and benefits of humus soil.
To get a better idea of what farming under the Biocyclic Vegan Standard looks like in practice, why not check out the many inspiring examples of Biocyclic vegan farms listed on their website. Not only do they showcase how this method of farming works for growing every different kind of crop, but also how to successfully grow at different scales, and in different climatic zones. For examples that we think are most to relevant to Scottish and UK farmers, read our own case studies on Zonnegoed in the Netherlands and Bio-Farmland in Romania (with hopefully many more to come in future!).
How does the Biocyclic Vegan Standard help…
If you are interested in becoming certified with the Biocyclic Vegan Standard you can contact them at this page here, or email us and we can forward along your enquiry. For more detail of what the certification entails, read the complete guidelines to the Biocyclic Vegan Standard here.
Why do Farmers For Stock-Free Farming endorse the Biocyclic Vegan Standard?
We support the Biocyclic Vegan Standard for a number of reasons. Firstly, from our experience of supporting our first farmer to transition from beef and dairy farming to veganic cereal farming we realised that the Biocyclic Vegan Standard takes into account the difficulty involved in such a transition and that it cannot simply be done overnight. The rules for their conversion process reflect this understanding, which for instance, allow forage/fodder material from up to 40% of the farm’s area to be sold as animal feed in the first 5 years since becoming certified. This provides some financial leeway as the farmer adapts to their new farming practices and secures new market outlets for their veganic produce.
Secondly, we believe that the Biocyclic Vegan Standard is helpful in distinguishing a farm’s produce and agricultural methods as being both beyond organic practices and based on vegan principles. Having the Biocyclic Vegan Standard label informs consumers that the product has been produced according to very high ethical and environmental standards, which can appeal to consumers regardless of whether they are themselves vegan.
http://www.biocyclic-vegan.org/