Farming Connect is a Welsh government-funded service which aims to provide farmers with information and support to help their businesses. As part of the project’s work to share the latest developments and thinking in agriculture with farmers in the field, experts from the University of Aberystwyth’s IBERS centre are producing a series of technical articles, which can be found here.

This latest story looks at alternative sources of protein for livestock animals.

• Vegetable based protein for livestock feed in the UK is primarily sourced from soy bean imported from South America.
• Reliance on this source is problematic from an economic, food security and environmental impact perspective.
• Alternative sources of ‘home-grown’ protein for livestock feed are necessary to reduce these effects.

By Dr William Stiles

A global increase in the demand for livestock products has driven a rise in demand for protein based animal feeds, which presents certain challenges. Of the vegetable protein sources currently utilised for livestock production, Soybean meal (SBM) is the most widely used in both agriculture and aquaculture. The value of SBM has increased significantly in recent years as demand from developing countries has grown, resulting in increases in the cost of SBM to UK businesses. In addition, SBM production is a concern due to its sizeable environmental impact, both during production and subsequently in distribution from supply sources predominantly in North and South America.

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