The European Feed Manufacturers’ Federation (FEFAC)

Europe

Tool Type

Advice | Commitments | Risk assessments | Standards

Risk Type

Climate change | Environmental

Feed Ingredients

drawing of an algae cell

Algae

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Animal proteins (LAP/PAP)

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Aquaculture trimmings

line drawing of wheat sprigs

Cereals

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Insects

line drawing of a palm with an oil droplet

Oil palm

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Single-cell proteins (SCP)

line drawing of soy pods

Soy

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Vitamins & minerals

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Wild capture fisheries

What is it?

The European Feed Manufacturers’ Federation (FEFAC) was founded in 1959 by five national compound feed associations from France, Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Since June 2020 FEFAC has an adapted governance structure.

The goal of the guidelines and the accompanying benchmark system is to provide transparency to market operators interested in purchasing responsible soy and to give suppliers and farmer organizations an incentive to develop their approach for responsible soy cultivation together with their farm base.

Guidelines

The FEFAC Sourcing Guidelines are not a new soy standard or soy program. The Guidelines rather give the items that have to be in soy standards/soy programs according to FEFAC and are established to create a base level in the market. The base level will become stricter in time.

The guidelines focus on the following six pillars – containing 73 criteria, 54 of which are considered essential (obligatory) and 19 are desired (optional). 

  • Legal compliance;
  • Responsible working conditions;
  • Environmental responsibility – including no illegal conversion and no conversion of natural ecosystems after cut-off dates;
  • Good agricultural practices;
  • Respect for legal land use; and,
  • Protection of community relations 

Each scheme must meet the obligatory and at least 8 out of 19 desired criteria to pass the benchmarking exercise. In addition, verification requirements must be met. The schemes that successfully pass the benchmarking exercise are displayed on the benchmarking tool.

Benchmark Tool

The benchmarking tool provides more details (including the issues covered, scheme profiles, and geographic scope) on the standards that have passed the exercise and currently include:

  • ADM Responsible Soybean Standard
  • Agricultura Sustentable Certificada + Module on Non-conversion
  • Amaggi ORIGINS FIELD
  • Bunge Pro-S Assuring Sustainable Sourcing
  • COFCO International Responsible Agriculture Standard
  • CSQA Sustainable Cereal and Oilseed Standard (DTP 112)
  • Cargill Triple S Soya Products
  • Cefetra Certified Responsible Soya Standard
  • Donau Soja
  • Europe Soya
  • FEFAC Soy Sourcing Guidelines 2021
  • FEMAS Responsible Sourcing Module 2021
  • SCC EU
  • Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) Program for Sustainable Agriculture
  • PROFARM Production Standard
  • ProTerra Europe
  • ProTerra Foundation
  • Round Table on Responsible Soy Association – RTRS
  • SODRU Sustainable Soy
  • Sustainable Farming Assurance Programme – Non-Conversion (SFAP)
  • U.S. Soy Sustainability Assurance Protocol

In 2016, FEFAC adopted a Vision on the road towards 2030 for the animal feed industry. This highlights the innovative products and services the feed industry offers to livestock farmers to stay resilient in the face of the future’s societal challenges and global drivers. The three main angles to the vision are Animal Nutrition, Feed Safety Management, and Sustainability.