Today, I address a common “gotcha” aimed at vegans — the accusation that vegans are hypocrites because industrial grain harvesting kills small animals. The claim goes like this: if combines harm field animals during harvest, then vegans who eat plants are complicit in that harm.

But this argument ignores a crucial fact — the vast majority of grain grown globally is not fed directly to humans. It is grown to feed livestock. So if we’re going to talk honestly about agriculture’s impact on wildlife, we need to examine what actually drives large-scale grain production and where responsibility truly lies.

SPOILER: It’s not with vegans.