for others to follow.


View From Europe


By Colin Ley


Bush fires rather than Brexit raise the temperature for the new decade


Welcome to a new year, a new decade and a new era of post-Brexit reality. 2020 already looks like a major new start for us all, with Brexit set to be done by the end of January, followed by the additional promise that all be fully dusted off on the trade front by the time the year concludes. Although we’re clearly embarking on a hugely significant 12 months domestically in the UK, focused mainly on leaving the EU and setting new trading relationships in place, the bigger picture globally appears set to be dominated by climate change concerns.


Raging bush fires in Australia and the devastation they have caused in recent weeks to people, their homes and their livelihoods, has heightened the climate change debate in that country and around the world. Coming on the back of rising deforestation issues in the Amazon and the massive media attention surrounding Swedish climate campaigner, Greta Thunberg, the darkened skies over Australia have served as a sharp reminder of the challenge we face. Pitching Brexit trade negotiations between the UK and EU into that mix, especially with what will effectively be an eight-to-nine-month working window for the negotiating teams, does rather give 2020 a special status feel.


Often in January, of course, it seems that we start off at a gallop with great intentions, bold new resolutions and a determination to do things differently in the year ahead. All too soon, however, daily pressures invade, life returns to normal and the bad habits of the past start to take over again.


Maybe this time, though, driven by some pretty extreme circumstances, we really are at the beginning of a major life change, with no option but to keep our new domestic and global resolutions rolling into February and March and the months beyond.


Encouraging signs


There are already some encouraging climate-awareness signs on the feed business front, headlined by Nutreco’s recent pledge to commit long-term financial support to help protect the Brazilian Cerrado region against deforestation.


Claiming to be the first feed company to support efforts to help end the soy-associated deforestation of one of world’s most important areas of biodiversity, the Dutch company’s commitment of €1 million over five years to the ‘Funding for Soy Farmers in the Cerrado’ initiative, is undoubtedly a welcome development.


Providing sufficient financial incentives, of course, for the region’s farmers to produce soy only on existing agricultural land, while halting deforestation in the process, is estimated to require total funding of around US$250 million. Although that puts the project value of Nutreco’s pledge into perspective, the company’s commitment is certainly a marker


PAGE 18 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 FEED COMPOUNDER


“Soy is a key ingredient in global animal and aquaculture feed production and I hope that other companies, particularly within the feed industry, will come forward and commit to this initiative over the coming months,” commented Nutreco CEO Rob Koremans. For those who may be contemplating giving similar support to the region, it’s worth pointing out that 250 million tonnes of carbon is released annually as a result of recent deforestation in the Cerrado. That’s equivalent to the emissions produced by 53 million cars. The region is also one of Brazil’s most important areas of water production, being responsible for 40% of the country’s freshwater supplies. As a source of soy, meanwhile, the Cerrado’s established cropland contains 18 million hectares of soy production. In addition, it’s estimated there is currently a further 22 million hectares of readily available agricultural land in the region that is highly suitable for soy expansion. That means the Cerrado’s farmers could more than double their current soy output, meeting growing global demands for soy for many decades to come, all without the need for further deforestation. This is certainly a 2020 issue which deserves the industry’s urgent


attention. Seaweed power


Farm livestock have increasingly been drawn into the climate change debate due to their role in releasing methane, largely by cattle and sheep belching the gas as part of their eating and digestion process. Speaking from an openly declared feed and farming perspective, there has been a lot of poor science and biased reporting of this issue, much to the annoyance of the many livestock rearers and finishers who are seeking to operate according to carefully balanced carbon neutral systems. Even so, anything that addresses the methane issue at source has to be welcome, such as the increased use of seaweed in livestock diets.


This a research and development line being pursued in Scotland at present, based on international study evidence that farm animals that have a percentage of seaweed in their diets belch a reduced amount of methane than animals which are fed solely on grass or other commercial feeds.


As is clear from the 2000 or so sheep which have existed on seaweed alone for the last 200 years on the Orkney island of North Ronaldsay, the idea of feeding a seaweed-based diet to livestock is neither particularly new or crazy as a concept for further development. Producing a diet that livestock will happily accept, with the essential capacity to deliver good growth rates is another matter, of course. In this context, a partnership project involving the Dundee-based James Hutton Institute and Davidsons Animal Feeds, located at Shotts, near Glasgow, is currently being run to explore the possible use of UK- harvested seaweeds as a replacement for some of the ingredients used in the production of ruminant animal feeds. This is being done with the aim of creating associated benefits in terms of meat quality, alongside the additional prize of helping to reduce the livestock sector’s carbon footprint.


Pointing out that different types of seaweed are eaten regularly by ruminants in the wild, the project partners are attempting to pinpoint which are the best ideal seaweeds for inclusion in commercially viable


Comment section is sponsored by Compound Feed Engineering Ltd www.cfegroup.com


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