Processing breakthrough

Research from SRUC demonstrated that de-hulling and toasting faba beans eliminates the production performance issues historically associated with higher inclusion rates in broiler and layer diets.

ABN's senior poultry nutritionist reported that "broiler and free range layer flocks fed de-hulled bean rations performed on par with those on conventional soya-based diets."

Scale requirements

The UK would need approximately 1.6 million tonnes of beans to replace half of current soya usage in animal feed, according to The Andersons Centre modelling.

Thirty Pulse Pioneers are conducting paid trials, with many growers exceeding national yield averages by around 1 tonne per hectare.

Impact goals

Increasing bean inclusion from 5% to 10% in poultry diets could significantly reduce UK agriculture's carbon emissions while supporting the NFU's Sustainable Proteins Plan to enhance farm resilience and reduce reliance on imported soya.