From 2012, feed for organic pigs and poultry must be 100% organic. This ruling will make it more difficult to meet the dietary needs of these livestock species, especially their protein needs, as important protein sources will no longer be permitted as feed ingredients.
The Swiss farming sector currently only produces about 3% of the protein required for organic feeds. The main protein feed ingredient used is organic soya imported from overseas (primarily from China). Not only for reasons of resource conservation would it be desirable to stop soya imports but product quality considerations also impose constraints on the amount of soya that can be used to meet protein needs (e.g. fat content in pork carcass grading).
Organic feed production therefore needs alternatives to organic soya imports as well as to non-organic components such as maize gluten and potato protein. While Swiss components should be given priority, components from other European countries are also given consideration where they can not be sourced in Switzerland. This project therefore aims at promoting the production and use in compound feeds of lesser known and less used protein feed components “made in Switzerland”.
Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund
