Soy for Animal Feed
Animal agriculture is a major cause of deforestation, and the vast majority of soy crops are grown/used for animal feed
Last updated
Animal agriculture is a major cause of deforestation, and the vast majority of soy crops are grown/used for animal feed
Last updated
Estimates of what percentage of soy is grown for animal agriculture varies, but what doesn't vary is the clear conclusion that the vast majority of soy is grown for feed in animal agriculture. Estimates are typically between 70% and 90%. Because of this excessive land use for animal agriculture, there is massive deforestation occuring, including in the Amazon Rainforest. 82% "About 85% of the world's soybeans are processed annually into soybean cake and oil, of which approximately 97% of the meal is further processed into animal feed" (97% * 85% = 82% of soy is for animal feed) The animal agriculture soy crops grown for animal feed in Brazil alone is responsible for 29% of all greenhouse gas emissions (with another 1% of all GHGe being caused by cattle ranching in Brazil). "We find that 30% of the carbon emissions associated with deforestation were exported from Brazil in the last decade, of which 29% were due to soybean production and 71% cattle ranching." 77% - USDA, FAO 75% - World Wide Fund For Nature "most of the world’s soy crop ends up in feed for poultry, pork, cattle and even farmed fish." From the infographic: "of the 284 million tonnes of soy produced globally in 2013/2014, 75% was used as animal feed [...] 93% of the soy consumed by Europeans is in the form of animal feed [...] we need to reduce our consumption of meat and other animal products." 70% "livestock consume 6 billion tonnes of feed (dry matter) annually [...] soybean cakes, which production can be considered as main driver or land-use, represent 4% of the global livestock feed intake"
4% soybean * 6 billion tonnes of feed = 240 million tonnes of soybean cake feed
343.41 million tonnes of soy was produced globally in 2017 (when the relevant ScienceDirect study was published) according to a Statista publication
240/343.41 = 70% of soy production was for animal feed (2017)
"The highest percentage of soybeans goes to the animal feed industry."