UFOP warns EU classification of soy as high-ILUC feedstock does not help primeval forests but instead harms production

The German Federal Statistical Office expects a sharp expansion in grain-legume area for the 2026 harvest.

Production of dry peas, broad beans and soybeans has been expanded noticeably in Germany.

The Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen e. V. (UFOP) fears that the European Commission’s plan to classify soybeans as a high indirect land-use change (ILUC) feedstock will result in massive collateral damage to soybean cultivation in the European Union.

UFOP has called on Alois Rainer, the German minister of agriculture, and members of the EU Parliament to stop the draft delegated regulation.

According to the German Federal Statistical Office’s latest forecast of grain-legume cultivation area for the 2026 harvest, the dry-pea area in Germany has expanded to approximately 147,400 hectares, representing a 14 percent rise compared to the previous year.

With the exception of Lower Saxony, Rhineland Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt, all German states are recording increases in production area.

Baden-Wuerttemberg is expected to record the biggest expansion in area with an increase of 40.7 percent, reaching 3,800 hectares.

Schleswig-Holstein and Bavaria are projected to see increases of 18.8 percent and 18.4 percent, respectively.

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the most important German state in terms of area, is expected to record an increase of 7.6 percent, bringing the pea area to 36,700 hectares.

The German Federal Statistical Office also anticipates a substantial expansion in broad-bean area.

The 2026 broad-bean area is estimated at 70,300 hectares, representing an increase of 13.9 percent compared with 2025.

Changes, however, vary by region.

Whereas expansions prevail in the northwest, some declines have been recorded in other regions.

Soybean cultivation is also expected to have grown significantly Germany in 2026.

The soybean area is expected to reach around 51,000 hectares, representing an increase of 17.8 percent year on year. 

Production remains mainly located in southern Germany, with Bavaria reporting an area of 24,100 hectares (up 5.7 percent) and Baden-Wuerttemberg 7,700 hectares (up 4.1 percent).

The largest percentage increases are expected in eastern Germany, with Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania doubling its area to 1,600 hectares (up 100 percent), and Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony expanding the soybean area to 6,200 hectares (up 87.9 percent) and 2,600 hectares (up 36.8 percent), respectively.

In general, all German states are expected to see expansions in area.

UFOP said it regards the trend in production area as confirmation that the agricultural sector is increasingly expanding the diversity of crops in crop rotation to include grain legumes as atmospheric nitrogen-fixing flowering plants, thereby unlocking new potential for added value in arable farming.

According to UFOP, for the positive trend to continue, however, it is essential that growing these crops remains profitable for farmers.

The association has therefore welcomed the protein strategies announced both by the EU Commission and the German ministry of agriculture, which aim to support production through a wide range of business incentives and thus make a sustainable contribution to protein supply.

The plan by the European Commission’s directorate-general for energy to classify soybeans worldwide as a so-called high-ILUC feedstock, however, has been met with little understanding, UFOP said.

“This could seriously undermine the desired development of farming in Europe,” the organization stated.

UFOP has called upon government to stop the draft regulation. 

“From UFOP’s perspective, it is downright absurd that the fact that soybeans contain only 20 percent oil should classify them as a high-ILUC feedstock when used for biofuel production,” it said. “This would also deprive EU-grown soybeans of an option for creating added value. What is more, the regulation would also effectively hold European soybean cultivation responsible for a misguided international policy on rainforest protection. The UFOP has therefore called on Federal Minister Rainer to support Austria’s initiative at the Council of Agriculture Ministers in order to stop the draft. UFOP has also called on the European Parliament to put a stop to this regulatory nonsense and instead develop a ‘polluter-pays’ approach to effectively tackle deforestation in South America.”