Report on sustainable animal feed released

Last week, over 50 companies and organisations connected through the platform FONEI presented their progress and reported on the current status of sustainable protein feed in Germany. Since its foundation eight years ago, FONEI stakeholders have been working on a more sustainable animal feed production by initiating several projects and initiatives. Since then, sustainability standards and certification systems have been upgraded to accompany EU regulations on the promotion of deforestation-free products.

According to the report, the volume of certified goods has increased in recent years, as has the range of information and best practice examples on the optimisation of feed rations. However, the availability of sustainable animal feed grown in Germany is still lacking.

Despite the growing production volume of domestic protein crops, challenges remain in order to provide sustainable animal feed practices. In Germany, the majority of protein feed is imported soy due to a lack of competitiveness and availability of domestic alternatives. According to the German Federal Statistical Office, 221,600 t of soybean meal and 3.5 million t of soybeans were imported in 2021, while 107,000 t of soybeans had been domestically produced.

The report also acknowledges the crucial price pressure on livestock production, which needs to be considered in the development and implementation of sustainable animal feed practices. A further area for future improvement is the supply chain transparency and traceability back to the crop fields, the report points out.