BioMar and Cefetra want to demonstrate how agriculture and aquaculture can collaborate to deliver measurable environmental benefits and stronger supply chains.
Photo: BioMar UK.
Aquafeed producer BioMar and the leader in agricultural supply chains, Cefetra, announced they have formed a partnership to reduce carbon emissions from key vegetable-based ingredients in aquaculture diets. The goal is that, by cutting emissions at the source, benefits extend from crop to coast.
As both companies highlight in their joint release announcing the partnership, in 2022, aquaculture surpassed extractive fishing for the first time, contributing 51% of the total global output of aquatic animals. However, although aquaculture already has one of the lowest feed conversion rates in animal farming, more than 80% of fish emissions are linked to feed and raw material sourcing.
Therefore, reducing these emissions and improving supply chain resilience is a shared challenge for the sector that BioMar and Cefetra are tackling head-on with this initiative, which combines expertise in agriculture and aquaculture to deliver measurable environmental benefits and stronger supply chains, from the soil to the seafood.
The collaboration between the aquafeed producer and the agricultural supply chain company focuses on reducing emissions at source, supporting farmers in the transition to regenerative practices, and strengthening the link between agricultural production and fish farming.
Specifically, starting in the UK, the initiative targets the carbon footprint of vegetable-based feed ingredients such as wheat, which form an essential part of fish diets.
The partners explained that, through Cefetra Ecosystem Services, launched in 2023 in partnership with Soil Capital, British farmers are supported in adopting practices that improve soil health and generate verified carbon reductions.
Farmers receive financial rewards for these improvements, thereby reducing the risks of transition and enabling companies such as BioMar to achieve their climate targets through measurable, on-the-ground results.
"Cefetra's unique position allows us to aggregate demand from hundreds of buyers across industries. This enables us to create long-term solutions that put soil health and carbon removals at the core," explained James Neilson, Supply Chain Director at Cefetra Ecosystem Services.
"With our deep knowledge of the supply chain, we can ensure improvements on the farm translate into real climate benefits for downstream sectors like aquaculture," he added.
For its part, BioMar was the first aquaculture feed company to adhere to the 1.5°C trajectory of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and is committed to reducing the carbon footprint of its feed by one-third by 2030. Thus, when the aquafeed company presented its 2024 Sustainability Report in March this year, it had managed to reduce them by 14.4% compared to the 2020 baseline.
As Ivana Russo, Formulations Manager and Sustainability Lead at BioMar UK, now pointed out, this partnership with Cefetra will help the aquaculture feed manufacturer make further progress toward meeting its goal.
"At BioMar, we believe that responsible growth in aquaculture starts at the source. By partnering with Cefetra Ecosystem Services, we are reducing emissions where it matters most, while supporting farmers and building more resilient food systems," Russo said.
"This collaboration is an important step towards meeting our science-based climate targets and delivering low-carbon feed solutions to our customers," concluded the Formulations Manager and Sustainability Lead at BioMar UK.
