Legumes for the Agriculture of Tomorrow (LEGATO)

Despite the nutritional value in terms of protein they furnish for both humans and for livestock, the cultivation of grain legumes in Europe has been constantly decreasing over the last 40 years. It has become urgent to reverse this trend, since legumes play a key role in developing future sustainable farming systems, notably but not exclusively in terms of their potential to mitigate the adverse effects of agricultural production on the environment through: their unique ability to fix atmospheric N2 via a symbiotic relationship with soil bacteria (Rhizobium) and therefore to have no requirement for N-fertilizers, their diversifying effect in cereal-rich cropping systems and hereby reducing the requirement for pesticides. Fuente: Legumes for the Agriculture of Tomorrow País: France