Recording & presentations from Webinar on Circular Feed: The future potential of nutrient recovery through animal nutrition now made available

The 6th edition of the FEFAC Charter 2030 Webinar Series, took place on the 31st of March 2022. This webinar focused on the concept of circular feed, wherespeakers from the insects, algae, phosphorous and former foodstuffs processing sectors were invited to present their ambition to supply the feed industry with nutrient resources recovered from the circular economy, while upholding the highest standards of feed safety. In the opening, FEFAC President Asbjørn Børsting pointed to the current Ukraine crisis situation, which demonstrates the vulnerabilities in the EU food and feed system and their dependency on Third Countries supplies. This illustrates the importance of exploring the potential for harnessing alternative nutrient sources from the European circular economy, focusing on long-term strategies to boost the ‘EU feed autonomy’

Dr Martin Scholten from Wageningen University presented an introduction to the circular feed concept as a means to increase feed autonomy and minimizing nutrient losses. These 2 objectives were granted a high level of priority in the EU Commission communications on the Farm to Fork Strategy and the Circular Economy Action plan, in particular, the nutrient management action plan. Scholten underlined in his keynote speech the essential role of the livestock sector in optimizing the sustainability of whatever food system and that a circular food system enables to produce more animal proteins with less land. He nevertheless invited the animal feed sector to improve its present circularity rate that he estimated at 60%.

Speakers from the insects, phosphorous recovery, algae and former foodstuffs industries showcased emerging technologies with the potential to safely recover nutrients from untapped streams with a potential feed use. Legislation, access to finance, energy requirements and market access were quoted among the critical factors for upscaling activities. Angela Booth, Chair of the FEFAC Feed Safety Management Committee, emphasized FEFAC’s commitment to facilitate the reflection on how policy-making could address these critical factors with a view to creating a more sustainable and resilient food system while reminding that this should by no means take place at the expenses of feed and food safety.

Please find below the presentations from the event:

• Asbjørn Børsting (FEFAC President)
• Martin Scholten (Wageningen University)
• Christophe Trespeuch (Chairman of the IPIFF Working Group on Feed Hygiene and Animal Nutrition)
• Floris Schoeters (Thomas More University) & Peter Bleyen (Province of Antwerp – Experimental Poultry Centre)
• Sara Stiernström (Easy Mining)
• Chris Thornton (ESPP)
• Alexander Romme (Vice President of EFFPA)

You can also watch the full recording of the webinar: