Danish feed production ambitions support FEFAC’s Sustainability Charter

The different events which have occured during the year have highlighted the need for the EU’s feed industry to continue and expand its environmental goals.  FEFAC’s progress report highlights and assesses this year’s progress towards its 2030 sustainability goals. Shortages and soaring prices have highlighted the need of integrating resilience into sustainability goals. An approach that FEFAC included within its original Sustainability Charter when these goals were drafted during 2020. However the Russian invasion of Ukraine has forced the the industry to review how feed is currently produced. Evaluating the role of required inputs such as: fertilizers, additives and energy sources.

Within this scenario the Danish Grain & Feed Association (DAKOFO) has expressed its commitment to fully support FEFACs Feed Sustainability Charter 2030. Besides manifesting their engagement with the five ambitions of the charter, DAKOFO is dedicated to fulfilling several important commitments both on a national and European level. These efforts, are contributing to more sustainable feed production through enhanced resource efficiency, reduced environmental and climatic footprints. As well as generating greater responsibility and commitment amongst different players within the industry.

Through such actions, the Danish feed industry aims to support the livestock sectors in their transition to a more sustainable production. Therefore, in order to ensure a sustainable direction for the future, DAKOFO has established 10 key priorities:

A sustainable protein mindset

1. Increase the national protein supply toward 2030 with 350.000 t Danish produced proteins with low environmental and climate footprint. This will be guided by DAKOFO´s protein strategy building on 6 pillars boosting protein production.

2. Promote responsible sourcing practices through FEFAC Soy Sourcing Guidelines. No later than 2025 all soy sourcing to Denmark will follow the SSG and deliver on ”no conversion”.

3. The feed sector will develop precision feed solutions that has the potential to reduce protein levels in the feed while maintaining the productivity. This will be achieved through further investments in research, innovation and through new innovative feed processing technologies.

Improve and innovate feed efficiency and feed materials

4. The feed sector will exploit further potentials
within the concept of circular feed providing
an optimized nutrient recovery through
animal nutrition. The feed sector is committed
to enhance resource use efficiency by
increasing the use of co-products (nonhuman consumable feed materials).

5. The feed sector is committed to supply feed solutions that will support an improved feed conversion rate (+ 1 % yearly) for pigs. Hence, improving the resource use efficiency at farm level through innovative feed solutions.

6. In 2022 zinc oxide can no longer be used for piglets. The feed industry is committed to provide feed solutions that support healthy
piglet weaning – without an increase in the use of antibiotics (at weaning).

7. The feed sector is committed to support the resilience in the livestock sectors through activities supporting safe, secure, and robust sourcing of feed materials that provides security in the supply chain for the livestock sectors.

Strategies for reducing environmental and climate footprint

8. The feed sector will exploit potentials for increasing the use of knowledge from feed related research in order to boost science based innovative feed solutions that will directly lead to a reduction in the loss of nutrients and lower the emissions from livestock production.

9. The feed sector is fully engaged in the implementation and further development of tools to evaluate the environmental and climate footprint of feed solutions.

These tools are already gradually being implemented by the industry. However, there is still a need for further development.

10. The feed sector is committed to find solutions to decrease the use of plastic packaging materials, and to develop and implement an industry model for the recycling and reworking of packaging materials in order to decrease the footprint from the use of fossil-based plastic packaging material.

Source: This excerpt was taken and modified from “FEFAC-Feed Sustainability Charter -Progress Report 2002”.

You can access the original report here.