Increasing production of pulse crops and reducing the amount of imported soya bean meal fed to livestock, could drastically reduce the UK’s agricultural carbon footprint, bringing a raft of other social and environmental benefits too.
New data presented at ‘From Soya to Sustainability’ in Peterborough on Wednesday 22nd January showed 3.4Mt of CO2 equivalent could be saved which would cut the agricultural industry’s footprint by 7%.
The revised figures, from a study by Farm Carbon Toolkit, suggest the potential to cut carbon emissions through better use of home-grown pulses is more than 2.5 times previous estimates.
The reduction can be achieved by increasing pulse production to 20% of the current total cropped area and replacing 50% of the imported soya bean meal currently being fed to livestock, explained John McArthur, managing director of McArthur BDC. Showing what can be achieved by this shift are the twin aims of the NCS Project – a four-year, £5.9 million project funded by DEFRA’s Farming Futures R&D Fund.
“That saving is driven by four main factors – fuel use, synthetic nitrogen fertiliser use, both directly and indirectly, and swapping imported soya bean meal to UK pulses,” he said.
The 17 partner organisations in the project had initially set out to show its twin aims would achieve a net target carbon reduction of 1.5Mt. But data processed since the project began in April 2023 have revealed the potential gains that can be made from a move away from imported soya to UK grown beans are far greater than previously estimated.
Philip Lymbery, Global CEO of Compassion in World Farming International spoke about the need for farmers to be part of the solution to climate change: “There needs to be a change, but don’t pile it on farmers and farming to find a way out and to fund it. We as a society need to get behind the farming community, to get behind the leaders that are bringing together the innovators, and make it happen. Enable them and bring public money forward.”
Philip Lymbery, Global CEO, Compassion in World Farming International
Gemma Hoskins, UK Director of Mighty Earth highlighted the link between imported soya and deforestation in Latin America. Estimates of deforestation and conversion-free soy volumes quoted by traders like Cargill, use “maths jiggery pokery” with little publictransparency of the data used to calculate their claims, she said. EU deforestation legislation coming into force on 30th December 2025 would cover a range of commodities and covered both illegal and legal deforestation, she said, whereas the delayed UK legislation fell short by only covering illegal deforestation
“To confirm if you have legal or illegal deforestation within your supply chain, you require farm-level traceability data from your soy exporters.”
Gemma Hoskins, UK Director, Mighty Earth
Certification has been designed to signal market demand for deforestation-free soya, but traceability was an issue here too, she warned. “The credibility of certificates and the ability to drive a ‘clean supplier’ approach has been really limited within the soya supply sector.
“What we want to see now is farmers and the feed companies at the heart of this conversation and to empower them to put pressure on traders for deforestation and conversion-free soy.”
