1.To conduct 18 case studies across Europe based on established field experiments, which inform about and validate new cropping system designs and provide a focal point for the local development on the role of legumes in new cropping systems.

2.To design new cropping systems for Europe’s pedoclimatic zones using model-drawing from data of the case studies networked by the project.

3.To identify the wider environmental effects (e.g. carbon and nitrogen cycling, greenhouse gas emissions, soil quality, biodiversity, effects on pests and diseases) of legume use within farming systems, including systematic measurements of nitrous oxide emissions.

4.To provide a comprehensive and complete assessment of the potential of legumes in the non-food sector and the implication of this potential on the design of cropping systems.

5.To facilitate access to the wider knowledge base on legumes and disseminate information about new agronomic, environmental and social impacts of legumes in farming systems.

6.To develop and enhance legume knowledge resources through the collection and linkage of data and knowledge leading to the establishment of a European Legume Crop Biological Resources Centre.

Case study on cropping system: field long-term experiment “Malagón” (located in Córdoba, Southern Spain).

1. A network of regional experimental sites and case studies.

2. New system designs that optimize the contribution of legumes within European farming systems and that contribute positively to environmental, economic and social objectives.

3. Evaluated evidence relating to the resource conserving effects of having legumes in rotations and systems, in particular the amounts of biologically fixed N and the amounts of fossil carbon saved by legume-supported cropping systems.

4. The quantification of the economic, social and environmental effects of the legumes in farming systems.

5. Analysis of the contribution of legumes to environmental, economic and social objectives at different scales, ranging from individual fields to continental Europe.

The aim of this research is to deliver an integrated knowledge base that will enable legumes to contribute fully to the sustainable development of European farming systems. European farming currently consumes the equivalent of about 45 million tons of soybeans and uses about 11 million tons of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer . In addition to the economic costs of these resources, these two inputs alone represent the root cause of key environmental burdens arising from the European agricultural systems. In addition, European cropping systems have become less diverse in terms of the species they use, contributing to declines in farmland biodiversity.

Agronomía de leguminosas

Code PAIDI: AGR-140

Rafael J. López-Bellido Garrido. Socio. 

Universidad de Córdoba

Budget of Andalusian group: € 147,000.00

www.uco.es