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Yelo
de-bottlenecked the facility and increased production of our processed oil . The lower processing impact of our pressed refined oil means that our refined oil has a longer shelf life than extracted refined rapeseed oil in the traditional markets of crisps and snacks . The UK uses far less imported sunflower oil as a result . When we started the project , we were processing around ten percent of the UK ’ s rapeseed crop , but today we process around 25 percent of the crop , which is estimated to total around 900,000 tons this year .”
Best of British
As our conversation closes , Doug shares his view on the current market and his goals for Yelo moving forward . “ The current price variation of rapeseed in Europe and the UK is concerning , and farmers are growing less rapeseed since the EU ban on neonicotinoid pesticides , which are particularly effective against a devastating pest , cabbage stem flea beetles ,” he says .
“ In the longer term , we ’ d love to see all major supermarkets follow Marks and Spencer and Waitrose in removing soya in the production of all their dairy offerings . NovaPro would then be a fantastic alternative . Since inception with Novapro , at least a quarter of soya has been replaced by our product in dairy feed : why not make the UK ’ s dairy feed soy free ?”
Doug concludes : “ As one of very few independent , fully integrated processors in the world , we don ’ t have any intention of being sucked into a major conglomerate and we ’ re instead focused on ensuring the site runs efficiently and sustainably for many years to come , championing the best of British innovation .” ■
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