The German production of animal feed showed a modest growth in 2024, after 2 years of decline. According to the German organisation of feed producers Deutscher Verband Tiernahrung (DVT), the sector will face many challenges in 2025. “We’re looking sceptical at the future, any positive development will depend strongly on the political decisions. It’s mainly wait and see, while we try to bridge the coming uncertain times with business as normal,” DVT-spokesman Hermann-Josef Baaken says. He refers to the recent fall of the German government and the upcoming general elections in his country.

One of the main challenges comes from Brussels in the form of the European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). The EU has recently decided to postpone the implementation of the new rules until January 1st, 2026. However, many open questions remain, Baaken says. The DVT also stresses that it’s environmental scope is much wider than just the EUDR. “The EUDR aims to protect against deforestation but all other important aspects of a sustainable development are overlooked while we in DVT and in the feed industry try to reach complete sustainability. We are working sector-wide on a concept for a universal assessment of the environmental side of livestock farming.

The German feed industry asks the new government to acknowledge agriculture and the necessity of production in Germany. Export of products should not be influenced by political motivated considerations. According to Baaken, free access to products and goods is needed worldwide. They reject duties that will only lead to a shift in the flow of goods As for the recent trade treaty between the EU and the South-American bloc Mercosur, DVT welcomes the outcome in which all parties agree on standards. On a more national level, the DVP asks for more flexibility in the rules for working on Sundays in order to guarantee the supply of animal feed, a lessening of the administrative burden and the recognition of new technological developments to avoid a competitive disadvantage with countries that do already take such steps.

Defra Secretary of State Steve Reed has given the green light for the government to progress legislation to allow crops that have been developed through precision breeding or gene editing to be grown in England. Speaking at a conference in Oxford in the first week of January 2025, Reed confirmed that secondary legislation will be introduced to Parliament by the end of March 2025. Primary legislation, the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding Act) had been passed by the previous Conservative administration in 2023. There had been concern that EU-UK realignment talks could delay or even block plans to press ahead with the new gene editing rules in England, which prompted the letter.

The all-party parliamentary group on Science and Technology in Agriculture (APPGSTA) has welcomed the decision. Its chair George Freeman said the new legislation is progressive, coherent and evidence-based, and would “help unlock the promise of these critical technologies in accelerating access to the agricultural innovation needed to boost food security, make our farming systems more resilient, support nature recovery and reduce the climate and environmental footprint of food production.” Freeman said delays and speciation were potentially damaging for the confidence of prospective investors and innovators: He added that the Government should bring forward parallel implementing rules for farmed animals at the earliest opportunity. It is urgently needed to enable research using gene-editing techniques to tackle virulent livestock diseases.

Arable farmer Tom Allen-Stevens, who runs BOFIN (The British On Farm Innovation Network), said farmers are currently breeding gene-edited seed for wheat and barley to be used in field trials starting this autumn. Speaking to BBC Farming Today, Allen-Stevens said farmers were interested to see how the technology would work: “Until we can see how the technology works I don’t think many farmers will really understand the benefits or get it and likewise until food manufacturers have actually seen what they can do, they are not necessarily going to ask for them.” Allen-Stevens said he hoped that advantageous traits could be found that would be desirable, such as wheat that is fine for celiacs, which would take three times longer to bring to market conventionally. Europe is working at this at a slower pace, which could give UK farmers a competitive advantage, which would set up the sector well in the future.

Operators across Europe’s non-GMO supply chain are uniting against proposed deregulation of new genomic techniques (NGTs), with a strong call for choice and transparency emerging from the recent non-GMO Summit in Frankfurt. Organized by key industry groups—Verband Lebensmittel ohne Gentechnik (VLOG), ARGE Gentechnik-frei, Donau Soja, European Non-GMO Industry Association (ENGA), and ProTerra Foundation—the event​​ drew attention to the need for consistent non-GMO standards as regulatory pressures mount.

Alexander Hissting, managing director of VLOG, emphasized the enduring strength of Europe’s non-GMO market, affirming that the sector “is here to stay.” He is closely watching the debate on deregulation of NGTs​​, which could influence the non-GMO market. However, this discussion hasn’t yet reached the everyday operations of food producers or retailers, he claimed. While some have been informed and even signed letters regarding possible deregulation, they feel there’s no need for immediate action until concrete regulations are in place, he noted. 

Hissting also noted that the topic has minimal media coverage and limited public awareness; most consumers likely haven’t heard about NGTs and, therefore, have not altered their purchasing habits.

He expressed concern about the future impact on non-GMO labeling standards if deregulation allows NGT crops to enter the European market without labeling. This scenario, he told us, would add complexity to maintaining non-GMO quality assurances. He emphasized that detection tools are crucial for tracking NGTs in the food chain, highlighting the importance of having affordable and practical options available.

Additionally, ENGA wants a clear liability framework based on the “polluter pays” principle, ensuring that any contamination of non-GMO products is addressed financially by those responsible.

Furthermore, the organization supports an opt-out mechanism allowing individual EU countries to restrict NGTs within their borders. Although this proposal has not yet been included in EU policy discussions, said Heike Moldenhauer, secretary general of ENGA.

Iranian company Kimia Life has developed a technology for manufacturing single-cell protein from petroleum raw materials. A local publication, Hakim Mehr, quoted Kimia Life CEO Mr Pourkazem, who expressed confidence that the developed technology could significantly boost Iranian food independence.

“We produce feedstuff suitable for livestock, poultry and fish by using hydrocarbon resources,” he said, not diving deeper into technical details.

The Iranian feed industry has been grappling with persistent feedstuff shortages in recent years. The cash-strapped Iranian economy lacks foreign exchange currency to pay for grain and feed additives, which are mostly imported.

“All livestock and poultry feed and feed protein are imported, which is a huge problem. We can use the country’s rich hydrocarbon resources to produce animal and poultry feed protein inside the country so that the country does not need to depend on foreign supplies any longer,” he added. In addition, he revealed that the development technology is cost-effective and allows the obtained feed protein to be cheaper than imported.

“The successful development of the prototype production unit of animal and poultry feed from petroleum hydrocarbons is a significant milestone for our group. No company has achieved such a feat in Iran until today,” said Pourkazem, noting that both methanol and flare gas are available in Iran in abundant quantities. Processing them in animal feed is also a sustainable practice since both substances are considered pollutants. The company has sent first batches of obtained feed protein to livestock companies and got generally positive reaction, Pourkazem said, again refusing to disclose additional details.

This is not the first attempt of Iranian scientists and business to come up with a solution to the feed industry crisis. Over the last couple of years, technologies for feed production from lignocellulosic and agricultural waste have been rolled out in the country. However, none of them have reached a scale sufficient to make a difference in the industry yet.

BRICS members welcomed the proposal of establishing an inter-organisation grain exchange, according to a declaration passed following a three-day bloc summit in Kazan, Russia. In the document, BRICS members affirmed the need to develop a fair agricultural trading system and implement resilient and sustainable agriculture.

“We welcome the initiative of the Russian side to establish a grain [commodities] trading platform within BRICS and to subsequently develop it, including expanding it to other agricultural sectors,” the declaration stated.

During the past year, Russia has been lobbying for the idea of setting up infrastructure for building BRICS, an alliance of 9 emerging economies (at the beginning of 2024, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates joined the BRICS alliance, so the enlarged alliance is referred to as BRICS+). The Russian Union of Grain Exporters described the proposed grain exchange as an analogue of the international oil cartel for the global grain market. This suggests that the exchange could potentially have a significant influence on global grain prices and trade dynamics.

However, it was not entirely clear whether other BRICS members would buy the idea, since unlike OPEC the organisation consist of not only grain exporters, but also of the biggest importers. This diversity of interests within BRICS could potentially lead to challenges in reaching consensus on the structure and function of the exchange.

Speaking during the Kazan summit, Putin once again reaffirmed his intention to take the project off the ground. He claimed that among other things the BRICS grain exchange “will help protect national markets from “negative external intervention, speculation and attempts to create artificial food shortages.”

Trading of agricultural and related products on a BRICS commodity exchange could exceed $1 trillion in future, the CEO of Russia’s Grain Exporters Union, Eduard Zernin, head of the Russian Union of Grain Exporters, said in a follow-up statement. Beating this goal, Zernin continued, would make it one of the world’s largest markets for agricultural products and a serious factor in strengthening BRICS influence in the area of global food security.

Zernin also added that mentioning the Grain Exchange in the Kazan declaration would facilitate the start of work on establishing the relevant infrastructure. “Now it is possible to begin the practical implementation of the project. This will require substantial organisational efforts, not only from agricultural agencies but also from the financial authorities of BRICS countries, since exchanges, including commodity, are in their area of responsibility,” Zernin said.