( More under the cut )

Hey there!! I don't post here much but I do try to read all the posts. I have a question for all you people though.

I went veg about 7 months ago.  My reasons are a mixture of things. I grew up around cows and therefore befriended several. I had to dissect a pig in high school that one of my group mates named Wilbur. My dad got me pet goat that I named Katie but then when she got old he fed me a "Katie burger" literally. Aside from all that I try to live by the creed "harm none" as much as I can and being vegetarian (and eventually vegan) is right in line with that to me.

However I was discussing this with someone--how I want to lead a more cruelty free life and not contribute to factory farming etc--and I got the response of "not eating meat won't affect the meat industry at all". This person claims that grocery stores have a set budget for meat products and regardless of what I do or don't buy at them they are still going to buy the same amount of meat products thus still contributing to factory farming and such.

Now me, I kinda find this hard to believe as it would then mean that all the veg*ns in the world are doing absolutely no good in the fight for animal welfare. It's hard for me to believe that someone not eating meat doesn't affect the meat industry somehow.

What I'm wanting to know is, is this person right? Are grocery stores still going to buy the same amount of meat products regardless of me not buying a meat product from them? Or is this person just trying to justify their eating meat and making themselves feel better because they can't be on a vegetarian diet (their body won't accept it--they've tried before and gotten very sick from it)?

(I'll be back to check and reply to comments on Monday. I'm taking a bit of a internet breather after today).