Faba beans (Vicia faba), or field beans, are a traditional crop in Europe used as field beans (V. faba minor and equina) for animal feeding and as broad beans (V. faba major) for direct human consumption. They are also an important crop in Mediterranean countries as a source of protein for human consumption. In the EEC the area planted with faba beans and their production gradually declined until the late 1970s when the EEC fixed a target price for faba beans. Since then production has increased and is now about 0.35 Mt a−1. The EEC policy of encouraging the production of faba beans (and other grain legumes) was a response to the doubling of fish meal prices and the trebling of soyabean prices in 1972 and the embargo subsequently (1973) imposed by the USA on the export of soyabeans.

Of the total oilseed cake and meal (i.e. feeding-stuffs ingredients rich in plant protein) used in making animal feeds in the EEC in 1980 (19 Mt), about 60 per cent was imported. Much of the importation was soyabean (as seed or meal), with smaller quantities of cotton seed, copra, groundnut, palm kernel and other meal. In terms of the protein from oilseeds, the percentage imported was considerably more, being 92 per cent in 1982. Maize gluten is now widely available and is a partial substitute for the traditional oilseed cakes and meals. In addition to high protein meals from plants, EEC countries also imported about 20 Mt of animal and fish meals in 1980 for inclusion in feeding-stuffs.