UK livestock producers are looking to local pulses as alternatives to imported soya for animal feed. Innovations and trials show processed faba beans may rival soya’s performance in poultry diets. Collaboration among farmers and supply chains aims to drive widespread adoption.
Accelerating feed protein innovation
A new initiative aimed at accelerating the UK’s shift towards home‑grown, sustainable protein took centre stage at the From Soya to Sustainability (FSTS) conference. A fresh delivery model designed to turn research progress into commercial reality for livestock producers was unveiled.
Organisers announced the launch of ‘Pioneer Pods’ – small, focused groups of arable and mixed farmers drawn from the Nitrogen Climate Smart (NCS) project’s Pulse Pioneers. These pods will work to speed up adoption of UK‑grown pulses, particularly faba beans, and strengthen routes to market for domestic protein crops.
The move is intended to provide a practical mechanism to help deliver the NFU Sustainable Proteins Plan, which calls for a major scale‑up of pulse production to cut reliance on imported soya, boost farm resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions across UK agriculture.
Nutritional value of pulses
A key theme for poultry producers was whether UK pulses can finally match the nutritional performance of soya in commercial diets. Historically, concerns around digestibility and performance penalties have limited inclusion rates of British pulses in monogastric feed. However, new evidence presented at the conference suggests those barriers can now be overcome.
Professor Jos Houdijk, monogastric nutrition specialist at SRUC, shared feeding trial results showing that de‑hulling and toasting faba beans remove the production dip traditionally associated with higher bean inclusion rates in both broilers and layers.
Professor Houdijk said the trials showed that both in laying hens and broilers, processing beans helped increase the soya replacement potential of faba beans. These findings are already being tested commercially.
Performance in poultry diets
ABN senior poultry nutritionist Brian Kenyon confirmed that broiler and free‑range layer flocks fed de‑hulled bean rations performed on par with those on conventional soya‑based diets.
Kenyon reported no adverse impact on performance when using a trial flock on a bean-based ration alongside a control group fed a conventional soya-based diet. “There has been no real impact on egg size from introducing beans into the ration,” he told the conference in Peterborough.
Bean inclusion rates increase
He added that the poultry sector was becoming more accustomed to using beans to feed poultry, adding that increasing inclusion from 5% to 10% of the poultry diet would have a large impact on UK agriculture carbon emissions.
Beyond nutrition, speakers highlighted the scale of change required to reduce soya dependency across the livestock sector. Modelling by The Andersons Centre suggests the UK would need around 1.6 million tonnes of beans to replace just half of the soya currently used in animal feed.
On-farm trials and adoption
To help drive this shift, the NCS project has appointed 30 Pulse Pioneers to carry out paid on‑farm trials focused on improving pulse yields, consistency and crop performance. Many of these growers are outperforming national yield averages by around 1 t/ha, according to independent benchmarking from ADAS YEN.
The new Pioneer Pod model aims to turn that momentum into coordinated action. Each pod will unite small groups of Pulse Pioneers facing similar agronomic challenges – from stabilising yields to improving nitrogen benefits for following crops, or producing consistent volumes for feed and food markets.
By pooling data and collaborating directly with supply chain partners, the pods aim to shorten the distance between on‑farm innovation and commercial uptake.
