Estonian field beans could replace costly imported soy, Finnish professor says

Europe should grow more field beans, peas and other protein-rich legumes for animal feed as competition with China pushes up the price of imported soy from South America, according to Frederick Stoddard, a professor of legume science at the University of Helsinki. ERR reported his remarks.

“Europe as a whole imports 35–40 million tonnes of soy, grown mainly in Brazil, Argentina and the United States on around 13–14 million hectares,” Stoddard said.

European farmers have used soy protein as cheap animal feed for decades. Over 60 years, chicken production increased 16-fold and pork production eightfold, largely on the basis of soy feed, he said.

China became the world’s largest soy buyer after 2008, and its import market is now three times larger than Europe’s. Stoddard said this was forcing Europeans to look for cheaper sources of protein.

“We understand that we are contributing to deforestation and land degradation abroad. So we have reason to take care of our protein needs both economically and morally,” he said.

In a recent conference presentation, Stoddard proposed growing more legumes in the Nordic and Baltic countries. He discussed suitable land for bean and pea cultivation, the drought resistance of different varieties and farmers’ readiness to adopt new crops.

Data from Germany and surveys conducted by Stoddard’s team showed that it takes three to five years to establish new crops successfully, he said.

Finding alternative protein sources

More than 95 percent of soy in Europe currently goes to animal feed, although plant proteins are an important part of the diets of people reducing their meat consumption.

Stoddard said developments in plant-based food products were promising but would not be enough on their own.

“People will still want to eat many meat products in the coming decades, and something must be done to make meat production more reasonable,” he said.

In his view, Europe could grow more legumes instead of expensive soy imports with a heavy environmental impact. Field beans and field peas are better suited to the Nordic countries, while countries in the Danube basin could grow more soy within Europe. Three lupin species are also rich in protein and comparable to soy in amino acid content, but they do not yet have a sufficiently large market.

Stoddard has studied field beans for 45 years. Under suitable conditions, they can produce five tonnes per hectare in Finland, he said. In Ireland, yields can reach eight tonnes per hectare with a protein content of 29 percent, equivalent to 2.5 tonnes of protein per hectare.