Key findings from an assessment of livestock supply chains from retailers representing 78% of the UK feed retail market. China is the largest consumer of soybeans in the world and consumes over half of the world's production. After the adoption of the CGF Resolution, many companies began designing their supply chains to answer this question.
Given the relatively low presence of soy in direct products, only animal supply chains were assessed in this assessment.
Approach
Harmonising an analytical method
How much soy is embodied in the
Where was the soy produced?
Has any soy been supplied certified to a zero
IN SCOPE
OUT OF SCOPE
Seven retailers1 representing 78% of the UK supermarket market worked with 3Keel to standardize a process to answer three primary questions (see right). From a retailer's perspective, this is a very useful approach to determining where their influence might lie when addressing different types of products on the shelf, but it is less useful when gathering information. Companies must be involved in feeding animals throughout their lives to know how much soy is used in their production.
There may be several companies involved in an animal's life - from breeding to finishing - with different feed rations and consumption at each stage. While a livestock producer may have access to the feed ration or to mix soy into the feed themselves, producers who produce prepared foods must not have any contact with the producers. A company that buys livestock products from other companies that have not been involved in direct breeding.
Because packers and producers do not have direct access to feed and soybean information in their supply chain—which can be decided by companies two or three levels behind their own operations—farm sampling and conversion rates were used to calculate the soybean content of the products. factors* supply. Where conversion factors were required, the appropriate value was chosen based on the type of protein and the country in which the livestock was reared.
Collecting soy information
All suppliers were required to provide evidence for any claim to use soymeal certified to one of the standards accepted by retailers as deforestation-free (see right). Certificates issued by the scheme for the claimed volume (eg company name in RTRS public register, CRS certificate).
Certifying ‘deforestation free’
Standards addressing forest and native vegetation conversion
Results
2018 UK Soymeal Footprint (1.37m tonnes)
2018 UK soymeal footprint split by protein
2018 UK soymeal footprint split by retail supplier type
Almost all traders in this sector have imposed requirements for ProTerra delivery only. Not certified deforestation free includes FEFAC, organic and other feed certifications that do not similarly define or prohibit deforestation in accordance with the CGF definition. Some of this soy can be considered deforestation-free based on its production origin (e.g. North America).
Certification Systems
Certifications claimed by protein group
Findings
Very few livestock producers or downstream actors in their supply chain currently have requirements for zero-deforestation soy that cover the entire supply chain. Where physically integrated supply chains are not present, the feed manufacturer's visibility of the use of certified materials is reduced. Suppliers often stated that the level of information regarding the origin of the feed was not available, and when there was little evidence, the certification status of soybean meal could be demonstrated.
However, there are now several studies that have been undertaken on the use of soya at national level for various livestock groups which can now be used where no other information is available to enable a reasonable estimate of its use. The difference between primary data and using these factors was generally less than 30%. Challenges remain in producers, traders and standards agreeing on the meaning of 'free from deforestation' and how it applies to animal feed.
For example, a company wishing to purchase a retailer's certified soymeal may view their general purchase of soy from that retailer as meeting the retailer policy requirement without recognizing that they may need to expressly request that the soymeal be delivered according to that retailer's deforestation-free standard. Virtually all livestock groups have examples of good practice in delivering deforestation-free soymeal within their operations. Despite the complex nature of the feeding system, there is no inherent 'protein' or 'sector'.
Key Findings
As this was the first year many of these companies were requested to provide information, this result is not unexpected and efforts to improve the transparency of supply chains are expected in the future. The retailers that have policies in place were the most likely to have certified deforestation-free soy flour in their supply chain. For example, one retailer may consider an ingredient in scope when it is more than 50% of the product, while another may have no threshold.
Of the few retailers that had launched soymeal deforestation policies prior to this assessment, the long-term view of what sustainable soy supply chains look like is not always clear. The primary defining feature is incorporating the physical flow of deforestation-free soy into these supply chains. While some retailers have vertically integrated supply chains that rely on only a few livestock producers, others have multiple locations where new suppliers or producers can enter.
Depending on the structure of a retail supply chain, the use of a livestock producer group or wider industry engagement may be more appropriate to promote solutions to the challenges identified in this report. Producers made up the majority of companies assessed during this project, but they contributed less than 20% of the total soymeal contained in these retail supply chains. Since these businesses are somewhat removed from feeding and raising livestock, policies may wish to provide separate expectations or requirements that reflect the ability of these types of businesses to respond and comply.
Retailers
Overall, at least one producer within each livestock group was able to demonstrate progress in addressing deforestation in the soymeal supply. In some cases this meant the development of a physical chain, in other cases it involved feed innovation. The growth of cross-industry initiatives and partnerships – such as the British Roundtable on Sustainable Soya – is also starting to have an impact on the level of knowledge and options for the transition to more sustainable systems.
Independent producer systems – such as beef, lamb, pork and dairy – may require alternative engagement approaches that go beyond direct supply chain communication of requirements. Many companies are unaware of how deforestation-free soy flour can be specified or purchased within their supply base. This included both the development of physical supply chains as well as the purchase of credits or.
Integrating and supporting the processes, steps, and evidence requirements of these systems will improve producers' ability to more quickly adopt deforestation-free soybean meal into their feed. This was particularly acute in the companies' subsidiaries, where the subsidiary could commit to entirely deforestation-free soymeal while the parent company did not. These inconsistencies led to confusion in the supply chain about the degree to which their offerings met retailers' requirements.
Industry
If 'any origin' soy is used, the origin must be documented and clearly communicated in the value chain. In some cases, the commitments, communications or policies of traders or feed companies were not consistent with what other parts of their organization could provide.
Recommendations
Leveraging your area of influence for change
FEED INDUSTRY
SUPPLY CHAIN
RETAILERS
POLICY MAKERS
Appendix
Some farmers do not use soy in their feed ration, while others have been studied to use up to 18%. For the retail supply chains assessed, the majority of beef in stores was sourced from UK or Irish production systems. British lamb suppliers have provided little information about their use of soya meal, but it has been assessed as having a high soya content.
The figures in this report assume that New Zealand lamb has no soya meal footprint due to the known production methods used in the industry and the lack thereof.
Beef & Lamb
0-unknown
This is an area of knowledge that should be improved by supply chain actors; where soybean meal was estimated to be present, no information was available on its origin or certification status. The companies responsible for reporting this information may produce dairy products from a variety of sources, which may not always be able to link back to the independent producer system from which they originate.
Butter & Cheese
Where producers could not provide this information, an average weight of 58g per egg was used to estimate the soymeal using a conversion factor.
Eggs
Some large dairy producers contract directly with farmers across the UK for most fresh milk and milk supply. The sector is largely consolidated with only a few large producers, some of whom have company policies to purchase credits and/or certificates for deforestation-free soybean meal to address the food impacts of soybean meal. Where companies use these systems, they often have their own food models to estimate food rations and usage within their supply chain.
Milk
The British pig industry is largely made up of independent producers who control their own feed supply. Depending on the supplier, quite wide variations in soy rations were reported within diets, even within the same company, due to indoor and outdoor growth, variety and longevity of the pig.
Pork
Poultry
These feed producers are largely committed to offering certified soy meal in their feed mixtures and thus contribute to the relatively high share of feed that is certified compared to other animal groups. Information regarding the transparency of this system is also fairly well established, with many suppliers able to identify the subnational region of soy production. However, as with other proteins, little evidence could be provided for salmon.
As such, this livestock group has a large proportion of corporate claims associated with its supply.
Salmon
