Mr Pedro Corrêa de Barros, FEFAC President, and Mr Ad Hectors, Member of the FEFAC Praesidium in charge of sustainability, presented publicly on 9 September 2009 the first FEFAC Environment Report.
Mr Ad Hectors stressed that "EU compound feed manufacturers are fully aware of the impact of EU livestock production on the environment and the contribution of feed consumption to that impact. A number of initiatives have been taken by compound feed manufacturers, either individually or collectively, at national or European level, to improve the environmental performance of their feed.
The FEFAC Environment Report provides an overview of the different angles under which the environmental sustainability of industrial compound feed should be considered, which will be useful not only for EU compound feed manufacturers but also to anyone interested in knowing more about the sustainability of EU feeding systems, including our livestock chain partners, environment organisations and policy makers".
The 28-pages report investigates the environment impact of feed production and feed use through three main topics, i.e. the sustainable management of feed resources (e.g. impact of soybean production, fishmeal & fish oil production and use, valorisation of by-products from the food and biofuel industry), climate change & energy use (methodology for calculation of the carbon foot print and evaluation of the environmental impact of production and consumption of feed, energy use in feed mills, etc.) and feed safety (detoxification of feed resources, preservation of hygiene status through good manufacturing practices). The report also provides examples of initiatives across the EU aiming at gathering information and also at providing operators with tools to improve their environmental performance.
Mr Corrêa de Barros underlined that "consumers often get the impression that modern livestock production systems are not compatible with climate change objectives. This is simply not true and an increasing number of studies tend to prove this point. The challenge as highlighted by FAO is to manage as well as possible the agricultural resources to ensure food security and be able to supply twice as much animal products as today within the next 40 years at global level, while minimizing impacts on the environment per unit of animal product. I do believe that this may only be achieved through ecologically intensive livestock production systems based on efficient compound feed supply. We have a role to play as FEFAC to share this vision with our chain partners and public authorities, with a view to the International Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen. This Environment Report is our first contribution to the upcoming EU and international debate and the work of the EU Food Chain Round Table on Sustainable Consumption and Production of which FEFAC is a founding member1 ".
Moreover FEFAC President recently declared that feed prices may increase significantly at very short notice due to the EU zero-tolerance policy for the presence of trace levels of not yet EU approved GM plants in imported feeds.
He referred to the potential total loss of important soya imports from the US following positive testing by German authorities of traces (dust in foreign material) of not yet EU approved GM maize in US soybeans and soybean meal. Of concern to the EU livestock industry is that it needs to source soybeans and soybean meal from the US at least until the next South American harvest in spring 2010.
Soya prices could rise by at least 20 €/t due to additional "risk premiums" for US origin and even significantly higher if the EU could no longer import from the US, due to the lack of alternative supplies from South America.
The EU is dependent for more than 80% on imports of vegetable proteins for which there are no substitution possibilities in the short term. EU imports of meat are all produced from animals which may legally be fed with not yet EU authorised GM plants.
In a letter to the EU Farm Council Presidency he stated that "at a time when most EU livestock producers were facing economic hardship, the EU opposition to provide a practical threshold for trace levels of not yet EU authorized GM plants in imported feed may drive EU livestock farmers and feed operators out of business".
Mr Pedro Correa de Barros stressed that "it is the EU's foremost responsibility to ensure vital protein feed imports for livestock farmers and thus food security for EU citizens while maintaining an economically viable and sustainable livestock sector".
[1] The Food Chain SCP Round Table is composed of representative organisations from the entire food chain, from the agro-supply sector to retailers, with the main objective to develop an harmonised environmental impact assessment methodology, to develop tools for consumer communication and to identify actions for further improvement of the environmental performance of the food chain.
For more information see the web site www.fefac.eu
