“Although soya beans are no longer grown on deforested land,


View From Europe


By Colin Ley CLOSED AGAIN – BACK SOMETIME!


The British press have always referred to August as the ‘silly season’ for the simple reason that with so many of the country’s leaders on holiday, little or no sense emerges from government offices and next to no decisions are either taken or announced. As such, it’s the time of the year when silly stories take over the news pages and nobody really bothers to complain. Joining what was then the Common Market was no help either,


given that Brussels also shuts in August. In fact, the bureaucrats of Europe run their shutdown much more efficiency than is the case in Britain, effectively closing their shutters so tightly for their holiday month that absolutely nothing gets in or out. September is therefore a welcome return to normal for journalists,


business leaders and even politicians, or it usually is. This year, however, as we approach the business end of the ‘Ghost of Brexit present’ we appear to be changing the habits of a lifetime by prolonging (or proroguing, I suppose) the traditional shutdown until October 14. While journalists can always write about the injustice of such a


move and politicians can busy themselves by explaining why it’s all perfectly normal, the business leaders who actually live in the real world must be going mad. Forward ordering raw material feed supplies, making sure you have enough fuel to deliver whatever end products you manage to manufacture and getting ready for a no-or-maybe-sometime- never deal can’t be prolonged, prorogued or anything else.


AMAZON FIRES AND SOYA SUPPLIES Silly stories or not, the real world doesn’t stop turning, not for August, politicians, presidents, dictators or anything else, as the blazing fires of the Amazon rainforest have proved so graphically and so depressingly. According to a report issued by a global body called the


Sustainable Foods Summit (SFS), it’s estimated that up to 80% of the forests involved are being cleared by cattle ranchers, and that’s with Brazil already having become the world’s largest beef exporter by shipping 1.6 million tonnes per year around the globe. In the midst of calls to stop beef imports from Brazil until there


is a moratorium on deforestation, with the late-August G7 Summit in France yielding threats of halting the EU-Mercosur trade agreement because of the burning Amazon, there are claims that the recent rise in demand for soya is also linked to deforestation. “Brazil is seeing a surge in exports to China, which has imposed


tariffs on American agricultural products,” stated SFS, adding that the prolonged US-China trade war is making Brazilian growers ramp up production.


PAGE 12 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 FEED COMPOUNDER


cattle ranchers in the Cerrado region of Brazil, the south and east areas of the rainforest, are moving out to make way for soya bean cultivation.” Just one point of view, obviously, but another twist to the Amazon


debate, highlighting the fact that little happens in the world without triggering a series of knock-on impacts which, in this case, carry long- term soya supply implications for us all.


SCOTS SORTED FOR SOYA Speaking of soya, the word from Aberdeenshire is that ‘we’re all sorted’ on that front, thank you very much. Following up on our previous report (July 2019) concerning an


organic oilseed rape pilot project which was being run at the time by five North East Scotland dairy farmers and local feed firm, Norvite, the latest is that everyone involved is confident that the protein rich feedstuffs they have been sourcing from overseas can now be replaced by a home grown alternative, with no adverse effects on cow health, milk yields or quality. While dairy farmers in Britain have long relied on imported soya


to ensure cows have the required levels of protein in their ration, the new feedstuff, developed by Norvite, is produced from locally grown oilseed rape. Bruce and Jane Mackie, who run an award-winning yogurt business


at Middleton of Rora, Peterhead, are certainly convinced they can now go entirely local when feeding their 250 pedigree dairy cows. “In trials over a five-month period, our cows were fed a ration


containing NEOlac (the new locally produced feed) for a six-week trial period. This was followed by a short transition period before a further six weeks when the herd was fed a soya meal ration. “We are pleased with the results. NEOlac, made here in


Aberdeenshire from oilseed rape grown on local farms, has proven to be great for our cows. They’re producing the quality milk required for our natural yogurt and doing so every bit as well with NEOlac as with soybean meal imported from thousands of miles away.”


WORLD MYCOTOXIN FORUM For those who think running a feed business is easy, current politicians please take note, October 14 (again) will produce a sharp reminder of the need for effective mycotoxin management controls and initiatives to be put in place along the food and feed chain. That’s because October 14 marks the start of the 11th World


Mycotoxin Forum, which takes place in Belfast, Northern Ireland, running through to October 16. Adopting an event theme of ‘looking beyond horizons’ the Belfast


gathering is set to fully and openly debate the need to place more emphasis on those countries where mycotoxins continue to present a concern to human and animal health. The Forum programme also includes a planned session on the


possible impact on mycotoxin development of the ‘grand challenge of climate change’. Due to be delivered by Professor Manfred Grasserbauer of the Vienna University of Technology, Austria, the session will presumably by-pass the climate denial arguments of some of the world’s presidents and country leaders, in favour of exploring


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


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