**Part 1**

**Food, Nutrition and Health** 

**1** 

*France* 

**Soybean in the European Union,** 

*1Inra SPE, route de Saint Cyr, 78 026 Versailles cedex, 2Inra, route de Saint Cyr, 78 026 Versailles cedex(retired)* 

Originating from China, soybean is currently the most important agricultural commodity traded around the world, both in terms of volumes and money. This crop also shows the most important changes over the last decades by the predominance of genetically modified (GM) crops, dominated by herbicide tolerance traits, and its worldwide cultivation. Due to its important protein content and the increasing demand for proteins in relation with the intensification of livestock production, the soybean surfaces have dramatically increased in several South American countries, such as Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia when compared to the surfaces of soybean in the USA, and at a less extent in Canada (James, 2011). China is still the main (non-GM) soybean producer but the main exporters of (GM) soybean are the USA, Brazil and Argentina. China which was, until the 1930s, the main worldwide exporter but was dethroned in the 1950s by USA exporting soybean as

The success of GM soybean can be explained by the ease of cropping due to GM trait in countries with large fields, particularly for farmers for whom weed management and soil

This segmentation of market between food and feed use is still prevalent into the international trade: Asia mostly cultivates and uses non-GM soybean as a food component while other regions of the world mostly use GM and non-GM soybean as feed component (Birthal et al., 2010). However, since a few years, this trend is changing with the improvement of the living standards of Asian countries such as China, which now imports huge quantities of soybean for livestock feeding due to an increased demand for meat. Currently, the soybean daily price is at its second highest peak after the 2007/2008 peak. Altogether, the soybean daily price increased of only 83% over the 3 last decades due to the

Despite the fact that several other sources of protein are available for livestock, the flexibility of soybean in feedstuff preparation, particularly for pork and poultry productions, drives the international trade. Its use in bovine production, meat or milk, can be more easily

basis of feedstuffs and China is now the main importer with ca 60% of US soy.

current prices' peak (IndexMundi, International Monetary Fund. April 20, 20111).

replaced by alternative protein sources, or simply be replaced by pasturage.

1 http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=soybeans&months=360

**1. Introduction** 

erosion have always been an issue.

**Status and Perspective** 

Yves Bertheau1 and John Davison2
