Uncovering Legume Soil Fatigue for Sustainable Expansion of European Grain Legume Cultivation

Legume fatique, organic farming, pea, crop rotations

36 months: 01/05/2024 – 30/04/2027

Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 - 7

Introduction

Though beneficial in many aspects, grain legumes are still not widely grown. One of the main reasons is "legume fatigue", which limits the expansion of legume cultivation in many European environments. The exact causes of legume fatigue are not known: in some farms and/or regions legume fatigue is not reported to be a problem, while in others it severely limits legume production. The project aims to identify the reasons for these observations through assessments in a network of 120 practical farms covering a geographical transect from Norway to northern Italy.

Background

Both productivity and sustainability of organic farming systems are largely dependent on plant biomass formation, where N supply is the main limiting factor, which in turn is almost completelly dependent on symbiotic N fixation by legume crops. Especially in Farms without livestock, Legume cropping is limmited (beside economicl factors) by legume fatigue, which constricts the farmers to reduce the proportion of legumes in the rotations, with negative impact on yields and soil organic matter.

Main project activities

  • Establishment of a network of farms in different European countries, including farms with and without legume fatigue problems

  • Detailed surveys of all farming practices, including crop rotations, environmental conditions and farmer experience

  • Comprehensive chemical soil analysis, including all micro-elements

  • Comprehensive root health assessments, including identification of major pathogens

  • Comprehensive analysis of soil microbial diversity, including bacteria, pathogenic, mycorrhizal and saprophytic fungi, protists, nematodes and others.

  • Development of strategies to increase the share of legumes in crop rotations

  • Extensive dissemination activities

Expected social impact

The project will contribute to increasing legume production in Europe, not only in organic farming systems, thus reducing the need for imports of protein feed, increasing biodiversity and improving the overall productivity and sustainability of organic farming systems. As a result, it will also help to increase the area under organic farming.

Implementation and plans to reach target groups

The target groups are farmers, advisors and farmers' associations, and applied research organisations. Farmers are largely involved from the beginning as the research is based on farm surveys and assessments. Workshops are planned in Italy, Germany, Luxembourg and Norway to discuss the results and possible strategies for increasing legume production, involving farmers, extension services and applied scientists. Public field days will be particularly important to reach a wide audience.

Partners of the project

  • Universität Kassel - Fachgebiet Ökologischer Pflanzenschutz, Germany

    Jörg Peter Baresel

    • Radicetti University of Ferrara, Italy - Prof. Emanuele

    • Institut for Organic Agriculture, Luxembourg - Dr Sabine Keßler

    • Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Norway - Dr Heidi Udnes Aamot

    • Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway - Prof Lars Olav Brandsaeter

    • Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany

    • Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, Italy

    • Luxembourg National Research Fund, Luxembourg

    • The Research Council of Norway, Norway