On Tuesday, Waitrose became the first UK supermarket to commit to securing responsibly sourced non-GM soya for animal feed from Europe, reducing its reliance upon South American supply and responding to customer concerns about genetically modified crops.

Waitrose said soya supplies used to feed their animals were always sustainable, and the retailer was recognised by conservation group WWF for its responsible sourcing of soya earlier this year, but Managing Director Rob Collins outlined plans for a switch at a meeting of the Waitrose Farming Partnership (the supermarket’s dedicated group of suppliers) on Tuesday.

In October, Waitrose took delivery of its first shipment of soya from the Danube region for its dedicated pork supplier, Dalehead Foods. Waitrose now plans to work closely with the Danube Soya Producers Association (Donau Soja) to improve the sustainability of its supply chain and Collins told the supply group that the company aims to source its animal feed from raw materials grown in the UK or Europe.  

Waitrose’s other plans for its livestock suppliers include using clovers and other forage proteins to replace imported soya for beef, lamb and dairy producers (this is already underway), and using soy alternatives such as faba beans for ducks, chickens and pigs (currently being trialled).

Commenting on the decision, Andrew Saunders, Director of Agriculture at Dalehead Foods said, “We have recently taken our first delivery of European soya.  A number of Waitrose supply chains have carried out trials on the use of European soya, and we are excited to be the first supply chain to use this source.’’

Reacting on Tuesday, Peter Melchett, Policy Director of the Soil Association, added, “We warmly welcome this very important development. GM soya from Latin America is linked to rainforest destruction, so sourcing from the Danube Region and using more UK-grown protein crops, is good for the climate, good for UK farmers, and good for consumers.”

The Soil Association claimed Waitrose’s announcement marks “The beginning of the end of the last large-scale use of GM crops in the UK,” and is hailing it as “The most significant move in the UK against the use of GM crops since 1999, when British supermarkets took the 70% of processed food that contained GM off their shelves, with it never to return.”

The Organic certifiers noted that in 1999, other retailers followed Iceland’s lead on GM ingredients “within a few months.” Meanwhile, in mainland Europe, France’s Carrefour (the third biggest retailer in the world) and the national poultry association (ZDG) and a handful of supermarkets have also moved away from GM feed over the past few years.

Just a week after farming minister George Eustice suggested that the government would likely green light commercial growing of GM crops post-Brexit (the UK government has pushed for the crops within the EU over the years, though the devolved governemnts have banned them from their territories), research carried out by the New York Times and published over the weekend shows that GM crops have mostly failed to live up to their hype in North America, where they are widely grown.  

The research, which uses UN data, shows that yields of major crops in Western European states France and Germany have at least kept pace with increases in the United States and Canada, which have comparably industrialised agriculture systems. In fact, yields of conventional sugar beet in Europe have outpaced North America, where most beet has been genetically modified. What’s more, over the period studied, European farmers have managed to drive down use of herbicides, insecticides and - until recently - fungicides, whilst their American counterparts have massively increased the use of herbicides (notably glyphosate).

The NY Times said that debates revolving around the health impacts of GM crops are distracting from the fact that the crops which allow Big Ag companies more control over food production are being outpaced by more adaptive management in Europe.