Feeding field beans (grown on-site) to broilers

The BroilerNet project involves a bottom-up approach to identify challenges and innovation needs for broiler farmers in Europe, and to collect promising and already successfully implemented Good Practices to meet the challenges in question. The top Good Practices selected by experts within the three thematic areas (animal health management, animal welfare and sustainability). In broiler diets, soy, including hulls, is commonly used. The use of soy is under scrutiny due to deforestation for its cultivation and its sourcing from continents other than Europe. Additionally, there is increasing demand for circularly produced products, and the use of so called 'cover crops' in arable farming is being more frequently mandated in EU regulations. On Karin's farm, experimentation with field beans, a crop historically used before the arrival of soy, alongside wheat in the feed mixture, has been ongoing for several years.