According to LEG-ITA, a project working to increase legume crop yields in Italy, less than 5% of European utilised agricultural area is devoted to grain legumes. Consequently, European self-sufficiency in plant proteins is poor, with the region relying mainly on imported soybeans.

To address this, a two-year LEG-ITA study conducted in partnership with the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies aims to identify key factors influencing the yield stability of grain legumes. Low yield stability is one of the most prominent reasons why farmers prefer other crops, and solving this issue could incentivise more growers to choose legumes. In turn, this could play an important role in improving the sustainability of the food system.

The researchers will collect data on growing conditions for grain legumes, cultural practices used in growing, and other factors that influence yields. Research will be conducted both on farms and in experimental university fields.

The project is coordinated by Elisa Marraccini, associate professor of agronomy and herbaceous and horticultural systems at the Department of Agri-Food, Environmental, and Animal Sciences at the University of Udine. It will be funded by Italy’s Ministry of University and Research as part of the PRIN 2022 program, which finances projects of significant national interest.

“Paramount importance”

An increasing body of research supports the idea that legumes could be vital to the sustainable protein transition. In 2021, the EU-funded Smart Protein Project identified four crops that could improve food security, three of which were legumes (lentils, chickpeas, and fava beans). These were described as “orphan crops”, meaning they are under-researched and not cultivated according to modern agricultural methods. A previous EU project, PROTEIN2FOOD, found that many legumes are suitable for cultivation in the EU, despite being predominantly imported from elsewhere.

“Recent studies on grain legume yield stability have underlined that in Northern Europe, the grain legume yield is as stable as in other major spring crops like spring cereals or rapeseed,” says LEG-ITA on its website. “At the moment, knowledge about grain legume yield and yield stability at the farm level in Italy is poor. For this reason, it is of paramount importance to increase our knowledge of the conditions (site characteristics and crop management techniques) that result in higher and more stable yield to support a larger adoption of grain legumes in Italian and European cropping systems.”