EU pushes for greater feed protein self-sufficiency
The European Union is increasingly treating livestock feed resilience as a food-security issue, as dependence on imported high-protein feed intersects with climate risk, volatile commodity markets and geopolitical disruption.
In July 2026, the European Commission adopted its first EU Livestock Strategy alongside a new Protein Action Plan. Together, the initiatives aim to strengthen the competitiveness and resilience of livestock farming while reducing strategic dependencies in the European protein system.
By 2035, the EU wants 35% of the oilseeds and protein crops used in animal feed to come from EU production, up from 25.8% today.
Why feed resilience matters for food security
Livestock production depends on large quantities of protein-rich feed to support poultry, pigs, dairy cattle and other production systems. The EU livestock sector currently uses around 74 million tonnes of protein as animal feed each year.
Europe is largely self-sufficient in lower-protein feed sources such as roughage and cereals, but the picture changes sharply for high-protein materials. According to the European Commission, 74% of the oilseeds and protein crops used as high-protein feed are imported, with soybean meal remaining particularly important.
This concentration creates several vulnerabilities:
- Commodity-price volatility in global soybean, oilseed and grain markets.
- Exposure to trade restrictions and changing tariff policies.
- Climate shocks affecting production both inside and outside Europe.
- Logistical disruptions affecting ports and international shipping.
- Dependence on a relatively limited number of major exporting regions.
Feed security is ultimately food security: sustained disruption to protein ingredients can quickly translate into higher costs for producing meat, milk and eggs.
A new Protein Action Plan
The Commission’s Protein Action Plan is designed to increase resilience, strategic autonomy and sustainability across the EU protein system.
Its central target is to increase the share of EU-produced oilseeds and protein crops used in animal feed from 25.8% to 35% by 2035.
The plan is built around several complementary actions:
Support for pulses, soybeans, oilseeds and other crops suited to local European conditions.
Greater investment in processing, storage and infrastructure for European protein crops.
Reducing reliance on a small number of origins through broader strategic partnerships.
Investment in crop breeding, seeds, production efficiency and protein-value-chain development.
The Commission also plans stronger monitoring of protein dependencies and regular dialogue with Member States, using the 35% EU-sourced high-protein feed target as a benchmark for progress.
Protein resilience and livestock strategy converge
The Protein Action Plan was launched alongside the EU Livestock Strategy because the two issues are closely connected.
The Commission describes livestock as a strategic part of Europe’s food system and rural economy, supporting around 7 million jobs across the value chain and accounting for approximately 40% of EU agricultural added value.
However, livestock farmers are simultaneously facing higher production costs, animal-health challenges, environmental requirements, climate change and volatile markets. Feed dependence adds another layer of exposure.
The Commission’s strategy treats protein availability not as an isolated crop issue, but as part of the long-term competitiveness and resilience of European livestock farming.
Climate pressure exposes domestic vulnerabilities
Greater domestic production alone will not eliminate feed risk. European agriculture itself is increasingly exposed to heat, drought and changing rainfall patterns.
The European Commission reported that temperatures during parts of July 2026 reached 5°C to 12°C above seasonal averages in several countries. Heat stress reduces livestock feed intake and grazing activity while raising water requirements, but it can also directly affect forage and crop production.
The Joint Research Centre’s July 2026 drought assessment reported deteriorating conditions across central, eastern and western Europe, with low soil moisture, reduced river flows and heat and water stress already affecting vegetation and crops.
Crop-monitoring data also showed repeated heatwaves shortening grain filling in winter crops and lowering yield forecasts for several spring and summer crops, including maize and sunflower.
Protein self-sufficiency cannot mean simply producing more crops domestically. It also requires varieties, farming systems and supply chains capable of remaining productive under increasingly variable European weather.
Ukraine remains central to regional feed security
The war in Ukraine has provided another reminder of how quickly feed and grain supply chains can be disrupted by geopolitical events.
Ukraine remains a major exporter of grain, oilseeds and related agricultural products, making continued access to international markets important both for Ukraine and for importing regions.
The EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes, created in 2022, have provided alternative transport routes through rail, road and inland waterways when conventional Black Sea trade has been constrained.
By April 2026, the Solidarity Lanes had enabled the export of approximately 101 million tonnes of Ukrainian agricultural products since their launch, including around 93 million tonnes of grain, oilseeds and related products.
The Black Sea nevertheless remains highly important. In April 2026, around 90% of Ukrainian grain, oilseed and related exports moved through the Black Sea, compared with approximately 10% through the Solidarity Lanes.
The lesson for Europe is diversification: resilience comes from maintaining multiple production areas, suppliers and logistics routes rather than depending heavily on any single corridor.
More local protein could reshape formulation
For feed mills and livestock producers, greater European protein production could gradually increase the availability of ingredients such as:
- Rapeseed meal, already the EU’s largest domestically produced protein-rich crop source.
- Peas, broad beans and other pulses.
- European-grown soybean meal.
- Sunflower meal and other oilseed co-products.
- Locally adapted protein crops suited to different climates and farming systems.
This does not mean imported soybean meal will disappear. Its high protein content, favorable amino acid profile and established global supply chain remain difficult to replace entirely, particularly in poultry and swine formulations.
The likely outcome is not complete protein independence, but a more diversified formulation portfolio with a larger European component and less exposure to any single imported ingredient.
Co-products can help close the gap
Protein resilience also extends beyond dedicated protein crops. European feed systems already make extensive use of co-products from oilseed crushing, biofuel production and food processing.
Rapeseed meal is one clear example: oil production generates a protein-rich co-product that can be incorporated into livestock feed, linking Europe’s energy, feed and agricultural value chains.
The new Protein Action Plan explicitly recognizes these connections between food, feed, energy and industrial uses, creating opportunities to capture more value from crops already being processed within the EU.
A more resilient protein system will depend not only on producing more crops, but also on extracting more feed value from the crops and co-products Europe already produces.
Infrastructure is part of protein self-sufficiency
Expanding domestic protein production is only useful if the supply chain can handle it.
Farmers need markets for pulses and oilseeds, while feed businesses require reliable volumes, standardized quality, processing capacity and predictable logistics.
For that reason, the Protein Action Plan includes support for storage and processing infrastructure and encourages stronger contractual relationships between farmers and other actors in the protein-crop value chain.
Growing more protein crops will not automatically create feed resilience. Europe also needs the processing, storage and commercial infrastructure required to move those crops efficiently from field to feed mill.
What it means for feed businesses
For European feed manufacturers, the policy direction points toward a more flexible sourcing model.
Key implications are likely to include:
- Greater use of EU-grown protein crops and oilseed meals.
- Closer relationships with regional crop producers and processors.
- More emphasis on ingredient characterization and flexible formulation.
- Broader geographic diversification of imports.
- Greater consideration of climate and logistics risk in purchasing decisions.
- More use of co-products and circular feed ingredients where nutritionally and economically appropriate.
Resilient formulation increasingly means being able to substitute ingredients without sacrificing nutritional precision or animal performance when prices or supplies change unexpectedly.
Outlook
The EU’s new protein strategy reflects a broader recognition that stable livestock production depends on stable feed supply.
Increasing domestic protein production from 25.8% to 35% will not make Europe completely self-sufficient, nor is that the stated objective. Instead, the strategy combines more European production with diversified imports, stronger value chains, research and innovation, and improved monitoring of strategic dependencies.
That distinction matters. In a market exposed simultaneously to climate extremes, geopolitical instability and changing trade conditions, resilience is less about eliminating international trade than about ensuring that no single disruption can destabilize the entire feed system.
Europe’s feed-security challenge is not simply to replace imported soybean meal. It is to build a protein system with enough domestic production, supplier diversity, infrastructure and formulation flexibility to keep livestock fed when markets, climates or trade routes change.
Sources and references
- European Commission. Protein Action Plan – Reducing the plant protein deficit of the EU, July 2026.
- European Commission. EU Livestock Strategy, July 2026.
- European Commission. Supply and demand of proteins for food and feed, July 2026.
- European Commission / Joint Research Centre. Drought in Europe – July 2026 and JRC MARS crop-monitoring bulletins.
- European Commission, DG MOVE. EU–Ukraine Solidarity Lanes statistics and transport updates, 2026.
- European Commission agricultural market outlook and feed-protein balance sheets.