Novelist and slaughterhouse journalist Upton Sinclair once wrote, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” A prime example of this is the “happy exploitation” narrative promoted by the meat, dairy and egg industries, with well-meaning consumers increasingly bombarded by a confusing litany of “humane farming” labels and rhetoric— from “humane slaughter” to “mindful killing” to “ethical butchery” to “regenerative grazing” , etc., ad nauseum.

But as our ever-growing collection of stories from former meat and dairy farmers attests, there can be no such thing as humanely exploiting or killing animals we have no need to harm at all. As former dairy farmer Cheri Ezell notes: “There is now for me a very clear distinction between humane farming and inhumane farming. Humane farming is cultivating a plant-based diet. Inhumane farming is breeding any sentient being for production and consumption.”

The following profiles are hope-filled proof that even those who stand to lose most by renouncing animal exploitation are capable of being brave and caring enough to do so. Stay tuned as we’ll be adding many new profiles here in the coming months. To be notified by email every time we publish a former animal farmer story, sign up here.