- A new report from the Landworkers’ Alliance, Pasture for Life, Sustain and Hodmedod analyzes the different changes that could be made to the pig and poultry sectors in order to reduce soy consumption and thereby lower the U.K.’s overseas land-use footprint.
- The report modeled different scenarios in which the U.K. reduces its dependence on soy for animal feed, either through the use of food waste or by replacing it with alternative sources of protein like home-grown legumes.
- While the model analyzing the use of homegrown legumes revealed that it would require too much cropland, using waste as feed proved much more promising.
The soybean industry is one of the largest drivers of deforestation today, with over 75.5 million hectares (186.5 million acres) cultivated across the globe, according to the FAO. An overwhelming majority of it isn’t produced for human consumption but rather for livestock feed — as much as 80%.
The U.K. alone imports an average of 3 million tons of soy annually for animal feed, most of it from South American countries with fragile forest ecosystems, such as Brazil. And with soybean cultivation on the continent continuing to grow — it more than doubled between 2000 and 2019 — there’s increasing pressure on importers in the U.K. to reconsider soy consumption for the sake of the environment.
A new report from the Landworkers’ Alliance, Pasture for Life, Sustain and Hodmedod analyzes the different changes that could be made to the pig and poultry sectors in order to reduce soy consumption and thereby lower the U.K.’s overseas land-use footprint.
“Considering over three quarters of global soy demand comes from the animal feed industry, there is an urgent need in the U.K., and indeed the rest of the world, to explore alternative ways of feeding livestock that don’t cause deforestation and land-use change overseas,” said Karen Luyckx, a researcher for the report, at a press conference announcing the report findings.
The intensive poultry industry is the largest consumer of soy in the U.K. followed closely by the pig industry. Their largest suppliers have been some of the most egregious offenders of deforestation in South America, including Cargill, Glencore, Agrograin and Bunge.
The report modeled different scenarios in which the U.K. reduces its dependence on soy feed sold by these companies, either through the use of heated food waste or by replacing soy with alternative sources of protein like home-grown legumes. Each of them has varying implications on the country’s carbon footprint, economy and amount of cropland use, making some more feasible than others.
“If we could try and look at legislation in the U.K. and start reducing demand and coming up with alternatives, hopefully that will have an impact and influence in other European countries in places that import soy,” said Jyoti Fernandes, the Campaigns Coordinator for the Landworkers’ Alliance.
One option worth considering is that the pig and poultry industry replace soy-based feed with legumes and pulses, which could help reduce imported deforestation.
There would be some challenges, though. Legumes have less protein than soy, although they have more carbohydrates. And the U.K. would have to increase the amount of land dedicated to growing legumes by as much as 78%, which would be a challenge as climate change continues to reduce the amount of arable farmland in the region.
Another scenario tries to find a way of growing the extra legumes without increasing the U.K.’s total cropland area. But in order to do that, residents would need to eat 44% less poultry and 41% less pork, making the scenario much harder to achieve.
“The problem with this scenario, where we replace soy in feed with fava beans and peas — without increasing cropland used for feed — is that there is no land freed up to replace the proteins that were lost through the reduction in supply of pork and poultry products,” the report said.
But a third scenario looks more promising. It considers replacing soy in pig and poultry feed with food waste and other byproducts. The report said about 9% of food that’s lost during manufacturing, retail and catering could be turned into feed, replacing around 17% of what pigs and poultry consume.
However, modeling of this scenario found that it would require residents to reduce their pork consumption by 82% and poultry consumption by 86%, ideally replacing them with plant-based proteins grown in the U.K. That means, if the U.K. is going to realistically transition away from its dependence on soy, a majority of people will have to drastically alter their dietary habits.
“Our message coming from the farmers’ organizations is for people to eat less meat,” Fernandes said, “but also support the livelihoods of independent small and family farms that are trying to do the right thing sustainably. Maybe that’s paying a bit more for meat or eating less, but really valuing it when you eat it.”
Banner image: A soy field in the Bolivian Amazon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler
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