'We love farmers. We need farmers. Vegans and farmers can be allies'

Mr Glover, originally a double-glazing salesman in West Yorkshire, co-founded the movement, which sees people switch to a vegan diet for the month of January, in 2014.

Speaking at a British Guild of Agricultural Journalists event, he said: “We are all concerned about climate change and protecting the natural world. We all disagree with unnecessary suffering to animals, and want people to live longer healthier lives.

"But there does seem to be an us and them developing at times between vegans and the farming community, and also between vegans and the general public at large.”

He also condemned the actions of ‘militant’ vegans who ‘sometimes go too far’.

Mr Glover, whose family were involved in meat trading for many years, used the example of protesters who descended on restaurants to ‘shame’ people publicly for eating meat.

“That creates tension, I do not agree with those tactics,” he added.

Veganuary, which attracts large donations from individuals and organisations all over the world, started with 3,300 participants and has roughly doubled every year since.

Large brands and retailers have piggy-backed on the movement and it now has approximately 250,000 participants.