The NFU has spoken out against two cancer charities for hosting meat free months to raise funds

Farmers have criticised cancer charities for urging supporters to give up meat for a month.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) has expressed its concerns about Macmillan Cancer Support and Cancer Research UK encouraging to fundraise by getting participants to stop eating meat products.

The union has written to the charities over the “regrettable” fundraising, and says farmers have been caught up in an “ill-informed” debate about livestock, climate change and diet.

Bob Carruth from the NFU told BBC Radio Orkney: "The disappointment is that these are two charities [that are] loved and very well supported among the rural community, but with these fundraising initiatives, they've caused a great deal of anger and upset amongst farmers, and that's prompted the need for us to contact these organisations."

"If we were to turn it on its head, there was actually an opportunity here for these charities to have a far more positive campaign.

"If they'd had a campaign around healthy eating, or a campaign around people committing to only buy local produce, or eating their five-a-day, then all those in Scotland who produce meat and dairy, eggs, cereals, vegetables, soft fruit, would gladly have come in behind them."

Macmillan said its Meat Free March campaign has not attracted the number of supporters it had hoped for and it would no longer "actively promote" it.

Cancer Research's Veg Pledge runs throughout November. Sarah Pickersgill, head of marketing services at Cancer Research UK, said: "Veg Pledge is a short-term fundraising campaign which challenges people to go vegetarian or vegan for one month.

"For anyone that decides to take part on this month-long challenge, our focus is encouraging them to get sponsorship and raise money for life-saving research."