Sustainable Soy
The Challenge
Rising global demand for soy, primarily as animal feed, has resulted in global production doubling over the last two decades, partially met by yield improvement but also by production expansion, leading to conversion of forests, savannahs and grasslands in certain producing regions. Supporting responsible soy production and minimizing negative impacts on native vegetation, natural habitats and local communities is a priority for LDC.
Our Approach
As non-producers, we work with a wide range of stakeholders and partners, within the industry and beyond, to promote sustainable soy production, processing and trade, aiming ultimately to address global climate change pressures and protect natural ecosystems.
What we do
- We promote responsible soy production and the elimination of deforestation and native vegetation conversion for agricultural purposes within our own soy supply chains;
- We actively promote progress toward responsible soy production via sectoral initiatives and collaborations;
- We explore innovative solutions to incentivize land conversion beyond legal requirements, in partnership with producers and other partners.
Sourcing Responsibly
We collaborate closely with our suppliers and key stakeholders to uphold compliance with our Soy Sustainability Policy, while supporting the adoption of sustainable production practices.
Our Priorities
Supply Chain Risk Assessment
In Latin America, LDC predominantly exports soybeans from Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. With the support of Proforest and The Nature Conservancy, we developed a risk-based deforestation- and conversion-free (DCF) methodology that guides our deforestation and conversion risk assessment and mitigation across all commodity supply chains, including soy.
Following this methodology, we identified a number of priority municipalities in South America where further supply chain traceability, deforestation and conversion due diligence and monitoring are required, as follows:
- Argentina: 340
- Brazil: 345
- Paraguay: 61
Reinforcing Traceability and Due Diligence
Recognizing traceability as a prerequisite for responsible sourcing, we require soy traceability to national, sub-national, facility and eventually farm level, in accordance with corresponding deforestation and conversion risks. In priority regions, we strive for full traceability to farm level for direct sourcing, and to facility and eventually farm level for indirect sourcing.
Traceability of indirect sourcing has been particularly challenging, given lack of awareness and commercial confidentiality concerns among indirect suppliers. To address these concerns in Brazil and Paraguay, we have deployed third-party platforms for indirect suppliers to upload farm polygons and conduct deforestation due diligence. We are looking to expand such partnerships in Argentina.