Coverage on deforestation and soya chicken feed

Coverage on deforestation and soya chicken feed

Written by Defra Press Office

There is coverage including in the Guardian and ITV online of an investigation including by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Greenpeace reporting deforestation is happening in Brazil to make way for soybeans grown for chicken feed.

Coverage reports this chicken is then ending up on the shelves of Britain’s leading supermarkets and fast-food outlets.

We depend on the natural world around us: rainforests cool the planet, provide clean air and water, and are a haven for some of the most endangered species on Earth – and so protecting them is a core priority for government.

On 11 November we announced world-leading new measures to protect forests and other natural areas would be introduced through the landmark Environment Bill.

Our new law will require larger businesses in the UK to make sure that the ‘forest risk’ commodities they use have been produced legally. Forest risk commodities are those commodities whose rapid expansion is associated with wide-scale deforestation, often in contravention of local laws, such as beef and leather, cocoa, palm oil, rubber and soya.

It will be illegal for these businesses to use these commodities where they have not been produced in accordance with relevant local laws. Businesses would be required to undertake a due diligence exercise. This would involve identifying and obtaining information across the supply chains of the forest risk commodities that they use, assessing the risk that relevant laws were not complied with during the production of those commodities, and mitigating that risk. They will also be required to publish information about their due diligence exercise annually. Businesses that do not comply with these requirements may be subject to fines.

A Defra spokesperson said:

We have introduced legislation that would make it a requirement for larger businesses to undertake due diligence on their supply chains where there is a risk they could be contributing to illegal deforestation. This is just one piece of a much larger package of measures that we are putting in place to tackle illegal deforestation.

While the UK is a relatively small consumer of commodities such as soya, businesses must take greater responsibility for ensuring the resilience, traceability and sustainability of their supply chains.

These actions support our work making nature one of the main themes for the UK’s COP26 Presidency to help increase investment in nature-based solutions and tackle the drivers of nature loss such as deforestation.

Last month, nearly 80 countries signed the Leader’s Pledge for Nature, committing to reverse the destruction of nature by 2030. The UK played a key role in crafting the pledge, and as hosts of the next and all important UN Climate Conference.

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[milkloss]

Primary use for soya is HUMAN USE!! FFS take responsibility for your own consumerism demands people.

chook feed is just a profitable by product.

 

[milkloss]

Are dairy cows and livestock behind the growth of soya in South America? | Sustainable Food Trust

Soya fed to dairy cows contributes to the destruction of rainforests, however grass-fed dairy offers a more sustainable alternative

sustainablefoodtrust.org

 

[teslacoils]

Ban imports of GM and its job done. Brexit and all that. Why have twelve laws when you can just say it can't come in.

 

[Chris F]

Ban imports of GM and its job done. Brexit and all that. Why have twelve laws when you can just say it can't come in.

I have made the same point numerous times on LinkedIn. Its seems totally lost on people.

 

[Jerry]

@Poorbuthappy

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Are dairy cows and livestock behind the growth of soya in South America? | Sustainable Food Trust

Soya fed to dairy cows contributes to the destruction of rainforests, however grass-fed dairy offers a more sustainable alternative

sustainablefoodtrust.org

I gave this link to Tom Clarke (who broke this story on ITV) when he visited us to film about our soya free chickens. The interview was edited down to very little so didn't really make any sense of what we're doing here other than to say its possible to rear broilers without soya.
I told him its no good just addressing the use of soya in livestock if human consumption of it is growing. He said he would look in to it.
I also told him I genuinely believe the anti meat drive will actually be counter productive to the fight against climate change which he seemed very interested in.

Yes, there are things we can do as farmers to help the environment, such as responsible use and sourcing of feedstuffs, and greater reliance on our strength of grass production in this country, but let's not let the baby get thrown out with the bathwater.

 

[Bury the Trash]

As further above but its grown in other places than reclaimed rainforest ,
Just to note , just for the record , Soya is not the villain

It's a brilliant food source.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

As further above but its grown in other places than reclaimed rainforest ,
Just to note , just for the record , Soya is not the villain

It's a brilliant food source.

There's plenty would tell you why its not all its made out to be.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

Are dairy cows and livestock behind the growth of soya in South America? | Sustainable Food Trust

Soya fed to dairy cows contributes to the destruction of rainforests, however grass-fed dairy offers a more sustainable alternative

sustainablefoodtrust.org

fascinating article, I had a feeling that getting my fat portion of my diet from animals was a better idea than palm & soya oil, but I had never seen it written before, this message should be getting out there to counter all this vegan stuff being parroted by the media all the time.

 

[Dead Rabbits]

Ban imports of GM and its job done. Brexit and all that. Why have twelve laws when you can just say it can't come in.

Banning gm imports won’t necessarily stop anything. Takes more management but it’s not hard to grow Non gm soybeans. They would have it figured out pretty quick.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Banning gm imports won’t necessarily stop anything. Takes more management but it’s not hard to grow Non gm soybeans. They would have it figured out pretty quick.

My feed rep told me (can't vouch for accuracy of this statement) that non gm soy was more likely to be grown on virgin rainforest land because of the lack of disease challenge.

 

[Chris F]

My feed rep told me (can't vouch for accuracy of this statement) that non gm soy was more likely to be grown on virgin rainforest land because of the lack of disease challenge.

Could be, for first season, but 95% plus of Soy out of South America is gmo.

Stat- Brazil and Argentina are the two largest grain growers in Latin America. In both countries, their use of GMO seeds for those two crops (soy and maize) is between 90-96%