Mr. Shay Phelan:

There are two ends to that story. On whether it is cheaper, soya sets the price internationally. The price of native Irish proteins is based on soya.

On the use of beans, for example, in feed, there is an upper limit of how much can be included in the diet, after which there are problems with inclusion rates, tannins, feed quality and all those types of things. Peas are an alternative which have a higher inclusion rate. There are opportunities there, for sure. The big problem is that the merchants and co-operatives do not have the infrastructure to take in all the extra beans. That is especially so in the smaller mills that do not have the capacity because they were built to take the likes of cereal grains.