Grass protein for organic feed - can Sweden become self-sufficient?

There is a great need to develop more sustainable and domestically produced protein for both feed and human consumption. Especially organic pig and poultry production today suffers from a lack of suitable alternative protein streams for feed production, which do not consist of imported soy. Extracting protein from ley grass and legumes is a way to meet this demand, which is also in line with the goal of increased food security and degree of self-sufficiency. Grass-legume mixtures are crops that is well suited for cultivation in large parts of Sweden and there are many advantages to increase the cultivation from a climatic and ecological perspective. Press juice from grass-legume mixtures can be a source of protein for monogastric animals such as pigs and poultry. The protein-rich fraction is separated from the fiber-rich fraction because most monogastric animals cannot digest plant fibers efficiently. A prerequisite for completely replacing soy with grass-legume protein concentrate is that the quality is on par with soy flour. In the project, a compilation was made of the fodder value and amino acid composition of grass-legume protein, as well as the potential to replace soy in organic pig and poultry production. In addition, information was compiled on various existing facilities for protein extraction from grass-legume mixtures and knowledge about different types of extraction processes for grass-legume protein. Scenario calculations were carried out to calculate the organic pasture potential nationally and the potential at farm level for an organic pig farm and an organic crop farm. Chemical analysis show that the grass-legume protein has similar amino acid profiles to soy and that it is expected to be able to replace traditional protein sources for monogastric animals, such as pigs and poultry. The potential is confirmed by several feeding trials for pigs and poultry where soy has been replaced with grass-legume protein without negative effects on the animals. The calculations in the project show that it is theoretically possible to replace the existing use of organic soy for monogastric animals in Sweden with grass-legume protein. But when it comes to feed optimization, it will probably be difficult to replace soymeal in all different contexts with grass-legume protein. On the organic pig farm, it is possible to adapt the existing crop rotation to replace a little more than 40% of the farm's use of soybean meal for the pigs with grass-legume protein. On the organic crop farm, it is possible to produce between 1 627 tons of grass-legume from 34 ha (20 tons dry matter (dm) of grass-legume protein) and 2 314 tons of grass-legume from 52 ha (28 tons dm of grass-legume protein) which could potentially be sold to a local or regional green biorefinery for protein extraction.