---
description: >-
  Animal agriculture is a major cause of deforestation, and the vast majority of
  soy crops are grown/used for animal feed
---

# Soy for Animal Feed

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.\
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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)\
[https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac74d7](https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac74d7)\
\
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).\
[https://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/why-tofu-consumption-is-not-responsible-for-soy-related-deforestation/](https://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/why-tofu-consumption-is-not-responsible-for-soy-related-deforestation/)\
"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."\
[https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/024005](https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/024005)\
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77%\
\- USDA, FAO\
[https://ourworldindata.org/soy](https://ourworldindata.org/soy)\
[https://talkveganto.me/en/facts/soy-fed-to-livestock/](https://talkveganto.me/en/facts/soy-fed-to-livestock/)\
[https://web.archive.org/web/20190618093258/https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/3t945q76s/7s75dn66b/f1881w33j/wasde0519.pdf](https://web.archive.org/web/20190618093258/https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/3t945q76s/7s75dn66b/f1881w33j/wasde0519.pdf)\
[https://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/why-tofu-consumption-is-not-responsible-for-soy-related-deforestation/](https://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/why-tofu-consumption-is-not-responsible-for-soy-related-deforestation/)\
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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."\
[https://web.archive.org/web/20180429014751/https://wwf.panda.org/what\_we\_do/footprint/agriculture/soy/consumers/](https://web.archive.org/web/20180429014751/https://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/agriculture/soy/consumers/)\
[https://web.archive.org/web/20170121013053/http://wwf.panda.org/\_core/general.cfc?method=getOriginalImage\&uImgID=%26%2AB%3C%27%21%2EK%3F%0A](https://web.archive.org/web/20170121013053/http://wwf.panda.org/_core/general.cfc?method=getOriginalImage\&uImgID=%26%2AB%3C%27%21%2EK%3F%0A)\
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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)

[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211912416300013](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211912416300013)\
"The highest percentage of soybeans goes to the animal feed industry."\
[https://www.statista.com/statistics/263926/soybean-production-in-selected-countries-since-1980/](https://www.statista.com/statistics/263926/soybean-production-in-selected-countries-since-1980/)
