Welcome to the Veganic Summit media page.
You will find the press release for the Veganic Summit, followed by photos and images that can be used by the media.
(If you would like to see the registration page for the Veganic Summit, please visit https://veganicsummit.com/)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, October 20, 2025
The third annual Veganic Summit, taking place online from November 7–9, 2025, will spotlight innovative plant-based farming and gardening projects from six countries: Uganda, India, England, Scotland, the United States, and Canada.
Veganic agriculture — also known as “stockfree organic” — uses plant-based methods to build soil fertility, without any animal byproducts or chemical fertilizers.
Animal byproducts like bloodmeal, bonemeal, manure, and fishmeal are commonly used as fertilizers by both organic and conventional farms.
Veganic farmers around the world are demonstrating the viability of an agricultural system that doesn’t depend on factory farming or animal husbandry.
“Veganic gardening and farming are crucial because they protect wildlife, restore soil health, and cut emissions, while offering practical and positive solutions to the climate and food crises,” says Juliet Gellatley, founder of the charity Viva! and key collaborator in the summit.
Featured speakers at the Veganic Summit include farmers, educators, and advocates sharing practical techniques and success stories from around the world.
Bob Rumanzi will show how his organization, the Vegan Village Society, has supported 50 women-led groups in rural Uganda in the creation of collective veganic gardens to improve food security.
Madhavi Kolte, co-founder of the organization Jeeva Bhavana, will give a virtual tour of her farm in India, which transitioned to veganic practices and grows mung beans, millet, and turmeric.
The Vegan Organic Network, a key collaborator in the Veganic Summit, has created the Vegan Organic World Map to highlight and connect veganic projects and supporters around the world. They will be presenting at the summit on practical ways in which people can bring veganic growing to their communities, from collective orchards to creating school gardens.
British farmer Iain Tolhurst, a pioneer in stockfree organic agriculture with five decades of farming experience, will show how he turned low-grade land into fertile soil by adding plant-based biomass that is grown directly on the farm, without buying in any fertilizers. Tolhurst Organic Farm uses green manures, which are nutrient-rich plants that improve soil health, as well as agroforestry techniques like ramial chipped wood.
Rebecca Knowles, director of Stockfree Farming in Scotland, will be screening a short documentary about three farmers who transitioned from animal-based agriculture to veganic practices.
Tamara Schiopu, author of My Vegan Farm Food, will teach fermentation skills at the Veganic Summit. Farmer Jenny Hall will show how to grow plant-based protein, and Rhonda-T Warren gives step-by-step instructions for growing seedlings veganically.
Canadian farmer Jimmy Videle, founder of Certified Veganic, will present a video tour showing how his farm has restored habitat and increased on-farm biodiversity. And US growers Helen Atthowe, Sydney Grange, and Madison Davarra will share self-sufficient strategies for veganic fertilization, from composting to living mulch.
“There are many effective ways to fertilize our farms and gardens without animal products,” says Meg Kelly, organizer of the Veganic Summit, “and plant-based fertilizers have so many benefits, from improved sustainability to reduced risk of contaminants.”
The Veganic Summit is online and free to join, and includes talks aimed at gardeners, homesteaders, commercial farmers, and the general public.
Event information:
Veganic Summit
Friday, November 7 to Sunday, November 9, 2025
Details and registrations: https://veganicsummit.com/
The summit is free to attend and open to the public, with all talks available online. An optional paid upgrade provides access to speaker Q&As and extra educational materials.
About the Veganic Summit:
The Veganic Summit is organized by Meg Kelly and Stephane Groleau from the Veganic Agriculture Network and Learn Veganic (based in Canada).
The Vegan Organic Network (UK) and Viva! (UK) are key collaborators of the Veganic Summit. Additional collaborators include The Vegan Society (UK), Certified Veganic (Canada), Vegan Village Society (Uganda), Jeeva Bhavana (India), and Stockfree Farming (Scotland).
The 2025 edition is the third annual Veganic Summit, and the previous edition in 2024 had over 3,000 registrants. The Veganic Summit is the largest event worldwide focused on veganic farming and gardening.
Social media:
Instagram @learnveganic
Facebook.com/LearnVeganic
Media contact:
Meg Kelly
Contact here:
The following photos can be used by the media when covering the Veganic Summit.
We can provide additional photos upon request.
Simply click on an image to enlarge it, and then you can save the image.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Quebec City, Canada – As climate change and the biodiversity crisis accelerate, and the demand for ethical food production grows, veganic farming and gardening offer a powerful solution for creating a sustainable, healthier, and compassionate food supply.
The second annual Veganic Summit, happening online from November 8-10, 2024, demonstrates viable paths forward for organic farming and gardening without the use of livestock or animal inputs.
“Switching to a plant-based diet is an important step in the shift away from animal agriculture”, says Meg Kelly, coordinator of the Veganic Summit, “though we also need to consider how plant foods are grown”. Both organic and conventional agriculture frequently use animal-based fertilizers to grow plant foods, including blood meal, bone meal, manure, feather meal, and fish emulsion.
This can bring contaminants to the plant food supply, even within organic agriculture. As Dan Graham, director of the Vegan Organic Network explains, “In the United Kingdom for example, there’s a derogation in organic agriculture saying if farmers can’t source organic manure, they’re allowed to source manure from non-organic farms, a place where the animals have been eating food grown with pesticides and chemicals, where the animals have been given worming tablets and antibiotics. So when we buy our organic food, we don’t know how organic it is.”
Veganic agriculture, also known as “stockfree” or “vegan organic”, goes one step beyond organic agriculture by maintaining soil fertility using entirely plant-based techniques, such as cover crops, alfalfa, chipped branch wood, and homemade compost.
“Veganic growing has so many benefits,” says Meg Kelly. “It leads to a safer food supply by reducing contaminants like E. coli and salmonella. It breaks the link between plant food production and animal farming, meaning we can grow plant foods without any dependence on factory farms or slaughterhouses. And for farms and gardens that are self-sufficient and create their own fertilizers, it takes a smaller land footprint to grow veganically than to incorporate farmed animals.”
The upcoming Veganic Summit features numerous veganic farming and gardening experts, including Iain Tolhurst, a British farmer whose 8-hectare farm produces food in a manner shown to be 90% more efficient than the production of conventional supermarket produce, according to an energy audit performed as part of a BBC Climate Change special programme.
The Veganic Summit also features the Ferme du Château in Switzerland, which grows veganic legumes and grains, and makes veganic pasta directly on the farm. And Canadian farmer Jimmy Videle, author of The Veganic Grower’s Handbook, will discuss how veganic farmers and gardeners can be more resilient in the face of climate change. The Veganic Summit also includes talks aimed at gardeners and homesteaders, so that all attendees can begin to put veganic techniques into practice.
The summit aims to address the broader adoption of veganic agriculture. The Vegan Society will be speaking about policy advocacy for plant-based farming, and the Vegan Organic Network will share initiatives aimed at expanding the reach of veganic farming and gardening.
Event information:
Veganic Summit
Friday, November 8 to Sunday, November 10, 2024
Details and registrations: https://veganicsummit.com/
The Veganic Summit is online and it’s free to attend to watch all the talks, with an optional paid upgrade for Q&As with speakers and additional educational resources.
About the Veganic Summit:
The Veganic Summit is organized by Meg Kelly and Stephane Groleau from the Veganic Agriculture Network and Learn Veganic (based in Canada).
The Vegan Organic Network (UK) is a key collaborator for the Veganic Summit. Other collaborators include The Vegan Society (UK), Certified Veganic (Canada), and media partner VeggieVision TV (UK).
The first Veganic Summit in 2023 had over 1,300 registrants and this year’s edition anticipates more than 2,000 registrants. It is the largest event worldwide focused on veganic farming and gardening.
Social media
Instagram @learnveganic
Facebook.com/LearnVeganic
Media contact:
Meg Kelly
Contact here:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 18, 2023
International Speakers Include Veganic Farmers and Authors
Quebec City, Canada – The first-ever Veganic Summit focused exclusively on veganic farming and gardening takes place from November 10 to 12, 2023. This summit is an initiative of the Veganic Agriculture Network and Learn Veganic. “Veganic” (also called “Stockfree”) refers to farming and gardening that uses entirely plant-based fertilizers, without any chemical inputs or animal byproducts like manure or bone meal.
“Many people are surprised to learn that our fruits and vegetables are often fertilized using the byproducts of animal agriculture, like blood meal and factory farm manure,” says Meg Kelly, teacher at Learn Veganic and co-producer of the summit. The event includes a variety of talks geared toward farmers, gardeners, homesteaders, activists, and anyone who would like to see food systems that are more compassionate, healthier, just, and low-impact. Organizers want to empower people to take their next steps in applying veganics.
Kelly continues: “Veganic farming and gardening has so many benefits. It’s kinder to animals. It creates a safer food supply by reducing contaminants like E. coli and heavy metals. And it uses less land, freeing up space for wildlife.”
Attendees will learn how:
Speakers include:
Veganic agriculture:
The Veganic Summit is free to attend and recordings will be available. For an additional fee, attendees can upgrade to the All-Access Pass, which includes online Q&A sessions and networking events, The Veganic Grower’s Handbook, the four most recent digital issues of Growing Green International magazine, and more.
Event information:
Veganic Summit
Friday, November 10 to Sunday, November 12, 2023
About the Veganic Summit: The inaugural Veganic Summit was founded by Meg Kelly and Stephane Groleau of the Veganic Agriculture Network and Learn Veganic (both based in Quebec, Canada), in collaboration with several international organizations: the Vegan Organic Network (UK), Certified Veganic (North America), and Biocyclic Vegan Network (Europe).
Social media
Instagram @learnveganic
Facebook.com/LearnVeganic
Media contact:
Meg Kelly
Contact here:
