By Lukie Pieterse, Potato News Today

An exploration of how the potato sector is increasingly intertwined with animal welfare debates, just transitions out of intensive livestock systems, and the search for more humane, climate-smart farming models that respect both farmers and animals.

Potatoes rarely appear in public debates about animal welfare. When people think of humane farming, they picture barns, crates, feedlots, and pastures – not rows of green potato plants or a pile of russets waiting to become chips or fries. And yet, the potato sector is closely entangled with animals, whether through feed markets, manure use, plant-based protein development, or the lives of farmers trying to navigate a changing food system.

As concerns about intensive animal agriculture, climate change, and rural livelihoods sharpen, potatoes are quietly moving into a new role. They are no longer just a staple crop or a side dish. In some places, potatoes are becoming part of a broader conversation about how we farm – and for whose benefit.

This article is part of a new Potato News Today section, Potatoes and Humane Farming, where we explore how potatoes, animals, and ethics intersect in a changing food system. Readers can find more stories in this series here.

This is where the idea of humane farming enters the potato world: not as a slogan, but as a set of practical questions. How can potato-based systems help reduce pressure on animals in intensive conditions? What does a fair, just transition look like for farmers whose livelihoods have depended on livestock? And what new opportunities are emerging as plant-based markets grow and diversify?

Why humane farming belongs in the potato conversation

The potato industry has traditionally sat at some distance from animal welfare debates. Many specialized potato operations do not raise cattle, pigs, or poultry as part of their core business. At the same time, there are plenty of mixed farms where potatoes sit alongside beef, dairy, pigs, poultry, or other livestock. In other words, potatoes and animals often share the same balance sheet, even if they occupy different parts of the farm.

Across both specialized and mixed operations, there are at least four clear points of connection between potatoes and humane farming:

• Feed and byproducts: Off-grade potatoes and processing waste have long been fed to livestock.
• Fertilizer and nutrients: Manure from intensive animal systems often feeds potato soils.
• Plant-based proteins and ingredients: Potato protein and starch increasingly support plant-based foods that can displace some demand for animal products.
• Farmer transitions: In regions where livestock operations are under stress, potatoes can serve as a transition or diversification crop for former animal farmers.

Once these links are acknowledged, it becomes harder to treat potato farming as “separate” from questions about animals. Instead, potatoes become part of a wider ethical and economic landscape in which farmers, animals, consumers, and ecosystems are all affected by the same structural forces.

Farmers under pressure – economics, identity, and moral stress

Any serious discussion of humane farming needs to start with farmers. Industrial animal agriculture employs vast numbers of people and has been a crucial livelihood pathway in many regions. At the same time, many contract growers report feeling trapped by low margins, restrictive contracts, and the constant pressure to scale up.

For some, there is also a quieter strain: a sense of moral discomfort with aspects of intensive animal production that may not align with their personal values. That tension often remains unspoken in public, particularly in close-knit rural communities where “stepping out of line” can carry social and economic risks.

When organizations talk about moving toward more humane, sustainable farming systems, farmers understandably ask: What happens to us? Any transition out of industrial animal agriculture that ignores livelihoods, debt burdens, and local economies is unlikely to be either fair or durable.

This is where potatoes and other crops can enter as part of a just transition story. They cannot solve every problem, but they can offer concrete options – especially if farmers have access to technical support, financing, and reliable markets for plant-based products.

Lessons from ‘transfarmation’ and just transitions

Mercy For Animals’ Transfarmation Project has put this question of just transitions at the center of its work. Rather than only campaigning against factory farming, the initiative helps farmers repurpose their barns and skills for crops destined for human consumption, from specialty vegetables to plant-based ingredients. It is a farmer-led movement that tries to address both animal suffering and farmer suffering at the same time.

The core idea is straightforward but bold: instead of simply telling farmers what they should not do, help them build viable alternatives that align better with their values and emerging market demand. That means:

• Identifying crops and business models that fit each farm’s land, infrastructure, and region.
• Providing technical guidance on agronomy, storage, and processing.
• Facilitating access to buyers, co-packers, and food manufacturers.
• Supporting farmers emotionally as they navigate the identity shift from “livestock producer” to “crop grower”.

For potato regions, these lessons are directly relevant. The sector already understands long-term storage, logistics, and working closely with processors and retailers. In many cases, former animal farmers moving into crops could plug into existing potato-based value chains or develop new ones that use potato-derived ingredients.

Potatoes as a transition crop and plant-based building block

Potatoes are one of the most land-efficient staple crops in the world. They produce high yields per hectare, store well, and feed into a vast range of products – from fresh table stocks to fries, crisps, dehydrated flakes, and starch.

In the emerging plant-based economy, potatoes play at least three roles:

• Base ingredient: Potatoes are already central to many plant-forward prepared foods, from frozen sides and snacks to ready meals.
• Functional starch: Potato starch is prized for its neutral taste and excellent binding, thickening, and texturizing properties.
• Protein source: Potato protein has quietly become one of the more promising plant proteins, with a strong amino acid profile and growing use in sports nutrition, meat analogues, and high-protein snacks.

Market researchers now estimate the global potato protein sector in the hundreds of millions of dollars and growing steadily as plant-based foods become more mainstream. In parallel, global plant-based food sales continue to expand over the medium term, even as some segments go through a post-hype correction.

For farmers looking to move away from intensive animal production, this matters. Crops that feed into plant-based proteins and ingredients – including potatoes – are not just “nice ideas” anymore; they are components of a real, if still uneven, market. And because potatoes can fit into existing storage, transport, and processing infrastructure, they can be a relatively practical entry point for some “transfarmers”.

Feed, byproducts, and the ethics of waste

One of the more complex intersections between potatoes and animals is the use of cull potatoes and processing byproducts as livestock feed. This practice reduces food waste and gives farmers – both potato growers and livestock producers – a market for tubers and fractions that do not meet fresh or processing specifications. For livestock producers, potato byproducts can be a cost-effective energy source.

From a humane farming perspective, this creates a tension:

• On one hand, keeping edible calories out of landfill and valorizing byproducts is positive for sustainability.
• On the other hand, if those same streams help sustain highly intensive systems that cause significant animal suffering, the ethical picture is less straightforward.

The answer is not to condemn farmers who rely on these feed markets. Instead, the potato sector can ask pragmatic questions. For example:

• Are there ways over time to divert more byproducts into plant-based food ingredients, bio-based materials, or energy rather than into intensive feedlots?
• Can potato processors work with partners to create higher value, animal-free uses for waste streams that improve both farm economics and welfare outcomes?

These are not simple or immediate shifts, but naming the dilemma is the first step toward exploring new pathways.

What humane farming can look like in potato systems

When people hear humane farming, they think primarily of how animals are housed, transported, and slaughtered. In a potato context, the term needs to stretch further. Humane farming around potatoes can include:

• Reducing reliance on inputs tied to intensive animal systems, such as certain manure streams from large confined operations, where viable crop-based or composted alternatives exist.
• Protecting wildlife and biodiversity in and around potato fields by moderating pesticide use, preserving hedgerows and field margins, and timing operations to minimize harm to nesting birds and other species.
• Improving working conditions for employees in potato fields, storages, and processing plants, recognizing that human welfare is part of humane farming too.
• Supporting transitions for livestock producers who want to move into potatoes or mixed cropping, with respect for their experience and without shaming their past livelihoods.

In other words, humane farming in the potato world is about widening the circle of care – to include not only animals in barns, but also the wild creatures in the landscape, the people in the supply chain, and the farmers themselves.

Giving farmers a voice in the humane farming debate

Too often, conversations about humane farming and factory farming happen over the heads of farmers. Campaigns are launched, documentaries are released, and policy debates unfold, while the people whose lives are most directly affected feel misrepresented or ignored.

A potato-focused platform has an opportunity to do this differently. By hosting farmer interviews, transition stories, and open conversations, the potato sector can help ensure that:

• Former animal farmers who have “transfarmed” into crops can speak honestly about both the struggles and the relief.
• Potato growers – including those with livestock as part of mixed operations – who care deeply about animal welfare can share their perspectives without being caricatured as either villains or heroes.
• Advocates and researchers can present evidence and proposals in ways that acknowledge the realities of rural life, not just theoretical models.

In this way, potatoes become not just a crop but a meeting place – a way to bring different parts of the food system into dialogue.

Where potatoes, people, and animals meet

In the end, Potatoes and Humane Farming is not about turning potato farmers into activists or asking them to carry the entire weight of food system change on their shoulders. It is about recognizing that the potato world is already entangled with questions of animal welfare, climate resilience, and human dignity – whether we name that entanglement or not.

By bringing these threads into the open, the potato sector can do what it has always done at its best: adapt, experiment, and quietly push the system in a better direction. Potatoes can fuel plant-based foods that lighten demand on animals, provide income paths for farmers leaving industrial livestock operations, and anchor more regenerative, biodiversity-friendly landscapes.

The work is complex, and no single crop can rewrite the story of animal agriculture on its own. But as more farmers, advocates, and eaters look for ways to align their values with their livelihoods and diets, potatoes are increasingly part of the conversation.

If humane farming is about expanding our circle of concern, then it is hard to think of a crop better suited than the humble potato – rooted in the soil, feeding millions, and now helping to bridge the gap between animals, people, and the future of farming.

Further reading

Potatoes and Humane Farming – dedicated section on Potato News Today
https://potatoeswithoutborders.com/category/potatoes-and-animals/
Mercy For Animals – Transfarmation Project
https://thetransfarmationproject.org
Farmer Toolkit – practical resources for transitioning from animal agriculture
https://farmertoolkit.org/start-your-transition/
Mercy For Animals – “Transitioning Out of Industrial Animal Agriculture” report (PDF)
https://file-cdn.mercyforanimals.org/mercy4animals.wpengine.com/sites/450/2024/09/Transitioning-Out-of-Industrial-Animal-Agriculture.pdf
Good Food Institute – Plant-based food market research
https://gfi.org/marketresearch/
Global potato protein market overview – Grand View Research
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/potato-protein-market

Author: Lukie Pieterse, Potato News Today