FEDIOL-FEFAC Responsible Soy Workshop Stresses Need for Follow-up Action to Supply Chain Initiatives
Date
26 Oct 2017
Sections
Agriculture & Food
Brussels, 26 October 2017
On 25 October 2017, FEDIOL and FEFAC organised the 5th Workshop on Responsible Soy & Deforestation in Brussels, which attracted experts from soy value chain partners, public authorities and other stakeholders. The workshop showcased initiatives by (soy) farmer organisations in Brazil and Argentina to promote legal compliance and good agricultural practices while EU representatives from the soy supply chain showed the efforts made to foster the mainstream market transition of responsible soy production and trade. Representatives from the Brazilian government and the soy production chain presented the evolution of environmental legislation and its stringent enforcement over the past 10 years, with the ongoing mandatory implementation of the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) and its sophisticated analytical tools as the key instruments to tackle illegal deforestation.
The workshop pointed to the need for follow-up action by downstream chain partners to materialize the commitments to deforestation free supply chains into concrete market demand for responsible soy. In addition, increased engagement from EU and national governments was solicited to consider targeted environmental payments to provide for the necessary incentives to soy farmers to protect native vegetation beyond legal requirements. This is particularly the case for all agricultural activities in the Cerrado Biome, where the challenges as regards the native vegetation are very different compared to the Amazon Biome.
The Earth Innovation Institute representative congratulated the members of the MoU partnership on establishing the first large-scale collaborative approach towards sustainable jurisdictional sourcing, which may provide a vehicle for rewarding environmental performances by farmers thanks to initiatives such as the FEFAC Soy Sourcing Guidelines and the Soja Plus programme. IDH shared its perspective on a step-wise approach to sustainable sourcing, which starts with moving farmers into legal compliance.
Notes to the editor:
1. FEDIOL – The EU vegetable oil and protein meal industry association, represents the interests of the European oilseed crushers, vegetable oil refiners and bottlers. FEDIOL members are 12 national associations and associated company members in 5 other EU countries. With about 180 facilities in Europe, the sector provides 20,000 direct employments. Its members process approximately 55 million tonnes of basic products a year, both of EU origin and imported from third country markets. The sector processes notably rapeseed, sunflower seed, soybeans and linseed into oils and meals for food, feed, technical and energy uses essentially on the European market. Contact: Nathalie Lecocq, Director General, Tel. +32.2.771.53.30, nlecocq@fediol.eu
2. FEFAC, the European Feed Manufacturers’ Federation, represents 24 national Associations in 23 EU Member States as well as Associations in Switzerland, Turkey, Serbia, Russia and Norway with observer/associate member status. The European compound feed industry employs over 100,000 persons on app. 3,500 production sites often in rural areas, which offer few employment opportunities. Contact: Alexander Döring, Secretary-General, Tel. +32. 2.285.00.50, fefac@fefac.eu