First 100% guaranteed deforestation-free soy for feed delivered

The first shiploads of guaranteed deforestation-free soy were recently delivered in Drachten, Netherlands.

Towards 100%

In addition to the current RTRS certification of the soy products in the feed used by the member-dairy farmers of FrieslandCampina who are supplied by Agrifirm, both cooperatives are jointly seeking more guarantees. When the soy is transported - from small and large farms and soy suppliers - different loads can come together. As a result, it is less clear whether 100% of the soy that eventually arrives in the Netherlands meets the additional requirements and guarantees. "It could also be 99.5%. Or perhaps 99.9%. But we want to work towards 100% certainty as standard. That requires guarantees that the various soy loads really are physically separated and that this process is also properly monitored. There are other implications and we are investigating these in this pilot with an independently monitored and physically closed soy chain," says Guus van Laarhoven, Regenerative Agriculture Lead at Royal FrieslandCampina.

Ruud Tijssens, Group Director Public & Cooperative Affairs at Royal Agrifirm Group, adds: "When we started, the ambition was to work with several large soy cooperatives in South America, who have demonstrably been cultivating in the same areas for years. Of which we know from satellite images and independent inspectors, among other things, that the landscape or forests here have not recently been converted to farmland for soy. Then we had to make sure that we could also physically separate the loads. That was not easy. At such times, there are fewer guarantees for a transparent and traceable soy flow. That means a lot of research and looking for alternatives. This pilot project is the result of that.

Clear definitions

FrieslandCampina and Agrifirm are currently working on clear definitions to create a framework for an independently monitored and physically closed soy chain that more parties can work with. After all, both cooperatives would like to see the entire dairy farming sector involved. So that the entire chain can make the transition from 'almost entirely secure' to 'entirely secure' deforestation-free soy for feed.