Panorama et futur de la filière du soja français

Soybean is cultivated in Europe as a GM free cultivation. In spite of a growing demand in identity preserved (IP) seeds and of the high environmental benefit of the soybean in the crop rotations,a great decrease of the soybean acreage has been observed in France and in Europe since 2002. That’s why in 2007, Cetiom and Onidol, two bodies of the French oilseed crop organisation decided to carry out a comprehensive survey on the different actors of the soybean production chain from the farmers until the feed and food soybean users. The study showed that 12% of the total acreage is planted under organic farming and that most surfaces are still grown under IP process. It also highlighted that the decrease of soybean’s surfaces till 2008 was mainly due to an insufficient economic competitiveness compared to other crops. The survey proved that the French production gained market shares between 2002 and 2007 for the soyfood industry supply (from 5 to 25% of the total acreage). The remaining production is processed in small or medium extrusion plants for the local animal raising. The needs of the industry were described in details showing that the main asset of the French production is the good control of the whole production chain, the high quality management by the farmers, the good protein content and shorter logistic chains compared to the imported soybean. For the future, the increasing environmental constraints and the larger demand of European soyfood industry but also of local high-quality feed and animal raising could lead soybean to recover between 100 000 and 150 000 hectares in France.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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