Why use "soy free feed" for farm animals?

Since we announced that we are diligently working on solving the problem of how to get soy free animal feed, I have been asked many times "why?". That is a very good question! While I don't pretend to be an expert on nutrition for animals, here is what I know today:

1. Soy is among the top ten allergens of people in America

Soy is a very common food allergy in America. Some say it is due to the overuse of soy products, but regardless of the reason the allergy exists. Unfortunately soy allergies do not exhibit as other allergies in humans. It's not the case that most people can eat a soybean and break out in a rash. A common soy food allergy has minimal yet significant symptoms which develop over time and diminish over time. Its a slow process and therefore difficult to identify as cause and effect. Nevertheless there is a growing number of people who have realized that soy is the source of their allergy and by eliminating or lessening the amount of soy in their diet, they alleviate a variety of symptoms.

The other problem with soy as animal feed specifically is that soy protein, the component responsible for the allergies, transfers into the animals products created by the soy fed farm animal. For instance chickens eggs from chickens that are fed soy for protein contain identifiable soy protein in the eggs. Many people that are allergic to eggs are apparently not actually allergic to the egg, but the soy protein present in the egg from the animal feed. Remove the soy protein from the animal feed and the egg allergy goes away. This is apparently also true of meats produced from an animal fed soy protein as a major component of their diet.

2. Soy is not the natural diet of farm animals in the concentrations provided

Our philosophy at Little Sprouts is to duplicate and manage nature and natural processes. Soy is not a food that most farm animals would be exposed to in the wild, and certainly not as their primary protein source. This in itself is enough reason for us to change feed from conventional to something more in tune with how the animals receive nutrition in nature.

3. Soy is not used in animal feed in a form that is healthy

We have learned in a number of cases that there are at least three aspects to food nutrition... the fundamental makeup of the food, the growing conditions of  the food, and the processing of the food.  It is the latter of these that also concerns us. Soy as a positive diet component of the Asian peoples was typically fermented, a process that changes the nutritional makeup of the food (cabbage to sauerkraut, barley to beer, cucumbers to pickles, etc). It is apparently consumption of soy without fermenting that introduces the negative aspects of the plant. In addition, the process of turning a whole soybean into soy meal to be pressed into a food pellet again alters the nutritional makeup in a negative manner. Therefore again, soy protein as presented in the dried compressed food pellet bears little resemblance to a soybean with or without fermentation.

4. Soy is used extensively in food products today creating an imbalance in our own diet without our knowledge

Today there are 2 primary food sources grown in American agriculture: corn and soy. Most people do not realize this, but the byproducts of these two crops are responsible for the bulk of food consumed in America by both humans and farm animals. Most if not all processed food humans eat contain large amounts of either soy, corn or both. Speak with someone struggling with a soy food allergy and you will see the extreme measure required for them to avoid soy in the American diet.

Soy, or corn for that matter, are not usually identified as soy and corn on most food labels. The government has allowed food manufacturers to list the names of derivatives of whole foods instead of the whole foods. in some ways this makes sense because there is actually no real food present in processed manufactured food. A quick look at the label for contents demonstrates this fact as you read through a list of words often too large to pronounce. The bottom line here... there isn't "food" in these manufactured products, only chemical by products produced by the disassembly of real foods into components, to be mixed in unnatural combinations and made to look like food.

So, because soy and corn are so prevalent in our diet (in virtually every dish you consume unless you cook whole foods yourself without store bought condiments), there is an overabundance of soy and corn in our diet today. Of these two, soy is the more dangerous imbalance due to the food allergy risk and the processing methods used. By providing at least meat and eggs without soy, we offer a way for our customers to lessen the impact of soy on their health.

5. There is a large market for soy free foods

For all the reasons above and probably plenty more, there is a huge market for soy free farm products. People that study nutrition aside from "commonly accepted and passed along theories" are adamant about lessening today's soy in the human diet. Since there are few sources of soy free foods available, the demand for soy free products is huge. One of the business theories we are testing at Little Sprouts is that the small farm is in a unique position to be the leader in food product science by providing the foods that tomorrow will become the staple. This creates a much better business model than raising a commodity today and selling wholesale, being kept slave to the whims of the commodity market. Freedom for the small farmer comes in a realization that we have a unique opportunity to be the leaders, the innovators, and leave the common shackles of commodity farming behind to be truly independent entrepreneurs.

I personally see nothing wrong with proclaiming that small farmers are worthy of a decent wage for their labors, if they provide better a product. Anyone in business will tell you , if they are being honest, that they are in business to make a living... a profit. Without that truth, there is no reason to continue. This, I think is one of the  reasons that the number of local farms has dwindled over the last few decades. American is built on capitalism, but somewhere along the way the farming industry forgot that making a profit is a prerequisite to staying in business.



So... there you have it.. some of the positive reasons to eliminate soy from animal feed. You may be asking "OK, but what about corn? It seems almost as bad". my answer is .. i know.. but there are only so many hours in the day! We can't solve all the problems at once, so we are tackling them one at a time. After soy is resolved, corn will be the next feed component addressed. It may be that over time, Little Sprouts will find it necessary to move away form commercial feeds even further and rely on a variety of whole foods instead. This is thoughts for another blog post, but suffice to say for now that this is a process. This industry has fallen so far from what it was that a majority of wisdom and knowledge has been lost over the generations. It takes time and energy to regain that wisdom  and knowledge. Stay tuned and learn with us, explore with us, and help us to keep moving towards the goals together by purchasing our products as available. My personal promise to you, as our customer, is that the products will continue to improve in quality and nutritional value over time.