Is soy grown for human food or for animal feed?

Soy: for animal feed or for human food? This is a false debate that needs to be clarified in order (finally) to discuss the real ecological problems of soybean cultivation.

As we know, in terms of ecology, soy is not exactly a good student. Its cultivation is relatively intensive (especially in monoculture, and all the more when it is GMO), and it sometimes involves the deforestation of large areas of forest, especially in South America. There are countless associations or organizations denouncing the negative impacts of intensive soybean cultivation on the environment, biodiversity and the ecosystem in general.

As a result, soy has become the subject of intense questioning in terms of environmental protection, and it is increasingly singled out. However, in the midst of these controversies, certain false data continue to circulate and prevent the holding of a real debate on the ecological problem of soy. The first is how soy grown around the world is used. Some claim that the overwhelming majority of soybean production in the world is used to feed livestock (which would contribute to delegitimizing animal husbandry), while others claim that on the contrary the bulk of soybean is used for human food (which would help to delegitimize the consumption of soy products).

So what is it really? Let's do a check in.

Soybean, soybean meal, soybean oil, human food or animal feed?

Before starting, it seems necessary to make a point to understand exactly what the soybean industry is and what it produces. Because in reality, neither humans nor farm animals consume soy. In any case, not raw soy (seeds), or very little. In the case of humans, we mainly consume processed soy products: soy oil (mostly), but also (to a lesser extent) tofu, soy protein, soy milk. Sometimes bean sprouts or soy beans (edamame) but rarely soybeans. In the case of farm animals, it is not the soybean that is consumed either, it is a by-product derived from soybeans called meal. Cake is the residue of an oilseed (this can be soybeans, but also rapeseed or other oilseeds) obtained after extracting part of the oil and water. It is a type of paste (for the least processed) or powder (for the most common) that contains high levels of protein.

In other words, the soybean industry is used to produce many products, which are sometimes consumed by humans, sometimes used in animal feed. But then who consumes the most? We ? Or our farm animals? When we look at the figures put forward by certain organizations such as the WWF, we learn that 70% of the soy produced in the world is used for animal feed. Is this number correct? To find out, let's take a look at the global soybean production figures (which may vary slightly depending on the organization). According to the USDA, the world produces about 290 million tons of soybeans per year. At the same time, again according to the USDA, it is estimated that an average of 190 to 200 million tonnes of soybean meal is produced (98% of which is used for animal feed). By comparing these figures, bingo, we arrive at the result of 70%! 70% of 290 million tons, that's about 190 – 200 million tons. Except that this result is a shortcut that completely distorts the reality of the soy industry.

How soy products for food and feed are made

And yes. Because what these figures forget to mention is that the use of soy for animal feed is not opposed to the use of soy for human food. On the contrary, these two uses are complementary and go hand in hand. Indeed, the production of soybean meal for livestock is the result of the production of another soybean by-product: soybean oil, which is intended for human consumption. According to global soybean trade data published by the Nature Conservacy, 85% of global soybeans are used to make soybean oil (for humans) and then meal (for animals).

Soybean oil is one of the oldest man-made oils (dating back to 2000 BC in China). To make it, we triturate and grind soybeans to extract the oil. Once the oil has been extracted, a more or less fatty and more or less protein-rich residue is obtained, which is called cake. One ton of soybeans contains about 170-200 kg of oil, the rest (700-800 kg) being soy protein which can be used as a meal.

But in the world, soybean oil is the second most used oil in human food, just behind palm oil. It is widely used in the manufacture of industrial foods, the preparation of sauces for salads, the production of margarines. In fact, often when it says "vegetable oil" on a product's ingredient list, it's either palm oil or soybean oil. According to the USDA, 50 million tons of soybean oil are produced worldwide every year. Knowing that soybeans contain about 17-20% oil, this corresponds well, roughly, to 250 million tons of raw soybeans. That's almost all (85%, as indicated by Nature Conservacy data) of the world's soybean production.

In other words, soybean production is used both for human food and for animal feed. We start by extracting the oil from the soybeans that we cultivate, then we give the rest to the animals. This debate is therefore largely unfounded.

Soy for food or feed: why this debate is problematic

However, this controversy is extremely problematic because it prevents us from having a real intelligent reflection on the ecological impact of soy. Indeed, on the one hand, we have consumers who blame vegetarian and vegan consumers because their consumption of soy is responsible for the ecological problems of soy, when this is not true. And on the other hand, there are certain discourses that accuse meat consumers of being responsible for the ecological problems of soybeans, when this too is false.

In reality, there is no one responsible: livestock farming is just as responsible as the food industry, which produces vegetable oils. The responsibility for the ecological impacts of soy is in fact shared by the whole of society. Because if the cultivation of soya has become so predominant, it is above all because it makes it possible to produce all kinds of food at low cost: vegetable oils, food for animal husbandry, and even other products such as paints, inks… It is therefore industrial and intensive food that should be called into question: intensive farming, intensive production of processed food products and vegetable oils, mass food production. The ecological impact of soybean cultivation should encourage us to imagine agriculture on a smaller scale, more extensive, which relies less on the use of fats of agro-industrial origin, more sustainable farming, much less intensive, where the animals would be fed naturally.

But today, the question of soybean cultivation has become the simple object of a sterile controversy and reciprocal guilt that no longer serves any ecological interest. The problem is our entire intensive, industrial and low-cost agricultural model, which has already been denounced many times in reports by the FAO and other experts. Rather than pointing fingers at each other, it would be in our interest to imagine together a transition model for the agricultural world: a more sustainable livestock model, in pastures, a less industrialized agri-food model, dependent on vegetable oils. In short, a globally extensive and sustainable agricultural model.