BRUSSELS, BELGIUM — FEFAC said it welcomes the open spirit of cooperation among all soy value chain partners at the Seventh International Conference of the Roundtable for Responsible Soy (RTRS), RT7, held in London, England on May 23-24.

FEFAC President Patrick Vanden Avenne congratulated RTRS for the working progress achieved, noting that FEFAC will continue supporting the objectives of the global roundtable for responsible soy, as a credible multi-stakeholder platform. He highlighted the need for a practical roadmap for a stepwise implementation of the RTRS standard, including a comparison project on existing programs for responsible soy.

“We consider at FEFAC that the roadmap to success for RTRS will involve tackling the current bottlenecks to make it work better in order to overcome the ‘chicken & egg’ situation in the market place. RT7 has provided an important impulse in this direction,” Avenne said.

Jaap Oskam, RTRS president, highlighted in his concluding remarks that RT7 provided further momentum to the ongoing process of providing mainstream market solutions for the production of responsible soy and its delivery via supply chain partners and retailers to the final consumer. He noted the strong engagement from all soy value chain partners, including producers and retailers and stated that RTRS would maintain its focus on meeting growing market demand for responsible soy.

FEFAC said it will support, in particular, the new RTRS working group on pesticides, which is seeking to strengthen professional recommendations on good agricultural practices for the use of agrochemicals. FEFAC’s own Task Force on Sustainability will develop a follow-up roadmap to assist RTRS efforts to gain further market awareness and acceptance in the E.U. through its RTRS outreach program.

For more information on RTRS and the RT7 outcomes, see www.responsiblesoy.org