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Upon first inspection, the story of Ireland’s native protein supply appears to be a success story. The country has increased its main protein crop area by 285% since 1997. This has led to a 465% increase in total tonnage from our two main protein crops, beans and peas, from 19,400t in 1997, to over 90,000t in 2017. This is in part due to steady increases in crop yields, over 1.5t/ha during the same period.
However, the introduction of a coupled aid scheme for the production of nitrogen fixing crops such as peas, beans and lupins, has been the main contributor to this increase.
The lure of a share of the €3,000,000 allocated for the scheme was enough to increase protein crop area from 3,500ha in 2014 to over 10,700ha in 2015 and over 12,000ha in 2017.
However, this 90,000t indigenous protein supply only makes up a small amount of our total protein needs. For example, according to the Department of Agriculture, of the 3.47m tonnes of animal feed imported in 2017, soya and soya products alone accounted for over 470,000t which is a 65% increase on 1997’s import figures.
Countries of origin include Argentina, Brazil, and the USA where the cultivation of GM soya bean is standard practice. With a reduction of nearly 4,700ha in protein crop area and with reduced crop yields this year, indigenous protein supply is expected to be significantly lower for the coming season.
Soya and soya by-product imports are already running 25% ahead for the first half of this year versus the same time last year.
Work is currently underway to determine novel solutions for our protein needs, such as the trialling of soya beans, but much more work will have to be done in this area if Ireland is to reduce its reliance on protein imports.
This sentiment is echoed across the EU as we await further details of the upcoming EU protein plan expected next November.
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