We know the world is eating too much meat, and we know that we as individuals have to do something about it. So I was one of the record 250,000 people who signed up to Veganuary this year.

I haven’t actually eaten meat for 30 years, although I occasionally ate fish and felt bad about it. Two years ago, I visited a modern British dairy farm where the cows were kept in very clean conditions, indoors, all year round. I hated it. So I switched to oat milk, and last year gave up eating cheese. But there’s still plenty of animal products in cakes and biscuits. And so, until 1 January, I wasn’t vegan.

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I’ve learned a lot over the last month. Years ago, I was accidentally given a vegan meal on an aircraft and it was terrible. But I’ve found it a complete untruth that vegan food is tasteless. I’ve discovered so many new flavoursome foods: vegan pies, tofu sausages and some fantastic chocolate. Vegan cheese might not satisfy a cheese connoisseur, but it’s fine for a decent cheese sandwich.

I’ve also learned that our food labelling is extremely poor. Some foods labelled “vegetarian” are actually vegan, and many vegan foods are not labelled at all. Without Google, I would’ve been hopelessly lost – I’d check a brand and find the answer on a website somewhere. Perhaps a third of biscuits are vegan, but you wouldn’t know it. Original Hobnobs are vegan but some Digestives aren’t. Manufacturers are missing a trick.

So are snack food outlets. The likes of Pret, Costa and Eat all have vegan food, but try finding it when rushing through a crowded station cafe.

One of the triumphs of Veganuary is that I repeatedly tried to buy a Greggs vegan sausage roll and failed every time. While I was working in Bristol, I rang six branches of Greggs and all of them had sold out. There’s a huge appetite for vegan food, and restaurants and pubs are getting the message. I was surprised by how many are suddenly offering vegan menus – in Veganuary, at least. Chasing the vegan pound is increasingly smart business.

Which brings me to farmers. Will our changing diets put farmers out of business? The downside of my Veganuary was that I received a vicious backlash on social media from some meat producers. Several farmers made good critical points about me eating processed vegan food that has been flown around the world. I bought vegan food wrapped in plastic. Some vegan food is industrially farmed. Some vegan food contains palm oil. If we want to eat ethically, it takes a lot of research.

Ethical, environmentally friendly eating is a far more complex issue than just becoming vegan. If Britain switched instantaneously to a plant-based diet and we ripped out all the pastures and flower-rich meadows and hedgerows, and planted maize and sprayed crops with chemicals, it would be an ecological disaster.

But we’ve got to help farmers move towards higher animal welfare and environmental standards. Put simply: we have to create a distinction between good and bad farmers. During Veganuary, I was contacted by some farmers who are producing higher quality, less intensively reared, high-welfare meat to sell at a premium. I visited one organic farmer friend. He fears that meat-eaters will forsake his produce for industrially farmed meat from supermarkets, and that good farmers will go out of business. Labels on meat and dairy products showing the conditions in which the animals are reared – like those graphic warnings on cigarette packets – would help good farmers. And instead of bemoaning their lost heritage or berating me on Twitter, high-welfare, environmentally friendly farmers need to unite and develop a brand so consumers will choose their high-grade meat over factory-farmed rubbish.

I am not suggesting that we all go vegan overnight. Lots of people on social media told me they would go vegan three or four days a week. That, for me, is what Veganuary was all about.

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But because I haven’t declared all livestock farmers are evil, and because I’m not perfect, I also received vitriol from ultra-vegans. I was called a “cow rapist”. People told me I can’t be vegan and have my dog, Scratchy. The intolerance of ultra-vegans is so off-putting. You’re never going to win an argument by insulting and belittling people. A small minority make a lot of nasty noise.

Three days into February, I haven’t eaten anything non-vegan yet. I’m staying vegan. But I’m not listening to the ultras and I’ll draw my own lines in the sand. I don’t see a problem with eating locally produced honey, for instance. I’m not going to take Scratchy outside and shoot him. I’m not about to burn my leather belts and shoes. To do so would be a waste of resources and just leads to the thing we’re trying to avoid – more consumption. But when my leather shoes wear out, I’ll seek a “vegan” alternative. And I’m definitely going to continue devouring tofu sausages, vegan pies and that amazing chocolate.

• Chris Packham is a naturalist, nature photographer and author