Soybeans are great in many ways. They contain 38% protein, twice as much
as pork, three times as much as chicken and 12 times the amount in milk. For
being a plant, that is pretty amazing. They contain complete proteins, meaning
it has all the essential amino acids, and soybeans also contain a lot of
healthy unsaturated fats. It is understandable that it has become so popular.
You probably use several great soy products such as tofu, soy sauce, tempeh and
veggie burgers. For vegans, it is really a great and convenient food, stuffed
with high-quality protein. But did you know that an average citizen of the EU
consumes 61 kg of soy per year? That is almost up to the meat consumption per
capita, which is a bit above 80 kg. How is this possible you might ask? Even as
a vegan, getting up to 61 kg is a challenge. That is a whole lot of tofu.
Well, here it is, the not-so-secret secret about soy. It’s in
everything. Soybean oil is a cheap and handy vegetable oil used in a lot of
products. Soy lecithin is probably the most used emulsifier and can be found in
most everything. Still, this doesn’t add up to those 61 kg. Here’s the secret:
93% of all that soy is consumed indirectly, as it is fed to the animals that
people eat. Worldwide, soy is the biggest protein source, and of the 284
million tons that are produced, 75-80% is used to feed livestock, especially
chickens. This is happening while many people in the world are starving and the
population is growing at a way to rapid pace. That logic.
So next question, under what conditions are soybeans produced? It is the
second most grown crop in the US (after corn of course), and takes up 85.1
million acres of farmland. At that large of a scale, things are rarely done in
a sustainable fashion, unfortunately. In 2011 the US, China, India and Brazil
produced 85% of the world’s soybeans. Most of the soybeans consumed in the EU
are from South America, where the production has tripled the last 20 years and
is expected to double again before 2050. How is this possible then? Well, in
order for the production to increase savannahs, grasslands and forests are
converted to farmland. In order to plant more soy we (not so slowly) chip away
at the Amazon, the Credo savannah in Brazil, Chanco and the Atlantic forests in
South America. It is approximated that deforestation like this is responsible
for 15% of all the greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans.
Deforestation is not the only environmental impact of soy. I know I talk
about monocrops in close to every post that is not a recipe, but it is truly a
big problem. When growing soy on an industrial scale field after field is
planted with soy and nothing else. This soy is often genetically modified to
suit the region, be resilient to insecticides and adapted to certain
fertilizers. All to increase the yield. This way of growing soy causes soil
erosion, pollutes fresh and ground water and is horribly disruptive to
biodiversity. I’ve said it before, I know, but this in not good and not
sustainable!
There are social impacts of this kind of farming too. Large-scale
agriculture is seldom good for small-scale farmers. It is harmful to local
jobs, as the not-so-local growers, buy all the land, use not-so-local
contractors, and then ship the soy off to be process far from where it was
grown. In Brazil, soy production has largely replaced cotton, which required more
human labor. When the big monocrop fields are sprayed with insecticides, both
from the air and from the ground, it affects the local water supply as well as
villages close by. These chemicals can give both cancer and birth deformities.
It should be said though that soy is not always the great villain. In some
cases soy production has increased local profit, compared to keeping livestock.
So what should we do? Sometimes it feels like we should all just stop
eating and stop breading and stop most everything, because it’s all just
harmful. But there is no need to be that drastic. Good news is that the best
way to cut your soy consumption is to stop eating animals and animal products.
And that is not all too hard. You can make sure to buy as sustainable soy as
possible. There are certifications for soy such as ProTerra and Round Table on
Responsible Soy (RTRS). RTRS bring together producers, industries and society
to discuss how soy is produced. They use third party auditors to certify their
soy, making sure it is “environmentally correct, socially appropriate and
economically viable”. Also because of all the pesticides used, it is good to
buy organic soy. Fact of the matter is that it’s been proven that growing soy
organically can actually give larger yields and more profit, as well as being
more environmentally friendly. So it’s good to support organic production.
I’m sorry that so many of my posts paint such a gloomy picture of what
we’re doing to our planet and how we’re producing our food. But unfortunately,
this is what’s happening. Good thing about it though, is that the more vegan
food you eat, the more sustainable you live in general. There are many small
steps to take to treat the world in a more sustainable way. I want to leave you
with this: don’t be afraid to eat soy products. By eating vegan food you’re
already contributing to less soy being “wasted”. As I started off by saying,
soy is nutritionally a great food in many ways. I will not go into all the
health pros and cons of soy, but as long as it’s not the sole thing you eat,
it’s good. So don’t be afraid of eating soy products, but when you do, make
sure it’s sustainable. Good soy doesn’t have to be bad. And when there is a
more sustainable alternative, such as oat milk instead of soy milk, you might
want to choose that.
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