The European Union (EU) earlier this year announced four soybean events are now approved for food and feed use, opening the door to more marketing opportunities for U.S. farmers. The list includes Plenish High Oleic Soybeans (305423 :1:40-3-2), Enlist Soybeans (DAS-68416-4), Enlist E3 Soybeans (DAS-44406-6) from Dow AgroSciences and DuPont Pioneer, along with the stacked herbicide-tolerant soybean (FG72:x.A5547-127) developed by Bayer CropScience and MS Technologies that is expected to be released in 2019.
“This would not have been possible without the strong support of soybean farmer organizations, who helped us reach out to EU and U.S. officials to make the case for final approvals,” says Matt Rekeweg, Dow AgroSciences U.S. industry relations leader.
The soybean products all received favorable scientific assessments from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The authorizations are valid for 10 years. Any products produced from the soybeans will be subject to the EU’s labelling and traceability rules.
The U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) is one of the soybean organizations that worked with EU and U.S. officials to dear the way to import approval.
“Much like all market access work, USSEC worked closely with our industry partners to convey the importance of the approvals to the European Commission,” says USSEC secretary and Illinois Soybean Association (ISA) director Sharon Covert from Tiskilwa, Ill.
“These approvals benefit both sides by avoiding any disruption in trade. U.S. farmers can continue to grow a safe, affordable soybean supply with little environmental impact and EU customers can purchase reasonably priced, quality protein for their animal sector,” she says.
To read the full article from the Illinois Soybean Association, click here.
