ENSA members largely sources their agricultural raw materials from Europe: soybeans from France, oat from the Nordic countries, almonds from Spain, yellow peas from Germany to name a few examples.
Specific attention is given to the sustainable sourcing of soy: it has to be free of GMOs and not come from deforested land. Finding sustainably grown soy for food is not an easy task: three quarter of the world’s soy is used to feed animals, while only 6% is used as food for human consumption.
Protein crops have a role to play in a sustainable European agriculture, thanks to their nitrogen fixing properties that make them fit well in a crop rotation system. ENSA members support national and regional projects to help farmers grow more protein crops in Europe.
As of 2018, two thirds of the whole soybeans used by our members are sourced from European farmers through direct contracts to provide stability to their income.
ENSA’s position paper on the EU Protein Strategy
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