Animal-free agriculture, also known as veganic agriculture, stockfree farming or veganic farming, consists of farming methods that do not use animals or animal products. Animal-free growers do not keep domesticated animals and do not use animal products such as farmed animal manures or animal parts (bone meal, blood meal, fish meal) to fertilize their crops. Emphasis is placed on using green manures and plant-based compost instead. Methods Animal-free farming may use organic or non-organic farming methods. However, most detailed discussions of animal-free agriculture currently focus on animal-free organic variants. In the European Union, farmers have a financial incentive to use manure instead of animal-free fertilisers, since manure is subsidised. However, organic manure is not subsidised. Industrial agriculture with synthetic fertilizers is animal-free. In the United States, few industrial farms use manure. Of all U.S. cropland, only 5% was manured in 2006. Vegan organic farming Vegan organic farming methods do not use animal products or by-products, such as blood meal, fish products, bone meal, feces, or other animal-origin matter because the production of these materials is viewed as either harming animals directly, or as associated with the exploitation and consequent suffering of animals. Some of these materials are by-products of animal husbandry, created during the process of cultivating animals for the production of meat, milk, skins, furs, entertainment, labor, or companionship. The sale of such by-products decreases expenses and increases profit for those engaged in animal husbandry and therefore helps support the animal husbandry industry, an outcome vegans find unacceptable. Vegan organic growers maintain soil fertility using green manures, cover crops, green wastes, composted vegetable matter, and minerals. Some vegan gardeners may supplement this with human urine from vegans (which provides nitrogen) and 'humanure' from vegans, produced from compost toilets. Veganic organic farmers take measures such as refraining from making large disturbances in the soil of the land and cultivating a variety of plants in the ground. This form of farming "encompasses a respect for the animals, the environment, and human health." Some of the plant-based techniques used in veganic agriculture include mulch, compost, chipped branched wood, crop rotation and others. Farms certified as biocyclic vegan use preventative methods to manage insects. If these fail, however, the label allows them to use insecticides such as Bacillus thuringiensis, which starves larvae to death. Vegan organic farming is much less common than organic farming. In 2019, there were 63 self-declared vegan organic farms