Grain legume production and use in European agricultural systems

ISBN(print) 978-0-12-812419-2; Editor DL SparksThere is a great demand for high-protein materials for livestock feed in Europe and European agriculture has a deficit of about 70% high-protein materials of which 87% is met by imported soybean and soy meal. This reflects the fact that grain legumes are currently under represented in European agriculture and produced on only 1.5% of the arable land in Europe compared with 14.5%on aworldwide basis. Several grain legumes have the potential to replace at least some of the soya currently used in the diets of monogastric animals, ruminants, and fish. There are also opportunities for greater use of legumes in new foods. Here we review the contribution of ecosystem services by grain legumes in European agriculture startingwith provisioningservices in termsof food and feed and moving on to the contribution theymake to both regulating and supporting serviceswhich are in part due to the diversity which these crops bring to cropping systems. We explore the need to understand grain legume production on the time scale of a rotation rather than a cropping season in order to value and manage the agronomic challenges of weed, pests, and diseases alongside themaintenance or improvement of soil structure, soil organic matter, and nutrient cycling. A review of policy interventions to support grain legumes reveals that until very recently these have failed to make a difference in Europe. We contrast the European picture with the interventions that have allowed the development of grain legume production in both Canada and Australia. Whether farmers choose to grow more legumes will depend on market opportunities, the development of supply chains, and policy support aswell as technicalimprovementsof grainlegumeproductionsuchas breeding of new varieties and management development to improve yield stability. However, to really increase the production of grain legumes in Europe, the issues are far more wide reaching than agronomy or subsidy and require a fundamental rethinking of value chains to move grain legumes from being niche products to mainstream commodities.Peer reviewe

Online determination tool for pests

Stock pests can cause severe damage to agricultural products. In addition, it is sometimes difficult to determine the pest and know what measures would be most helpful.. The online tool helps determine the pest and provides information on its biology and suitable measures. It contains data on more than 40 storage pests, and it is being expanded continuously. First, the pests can be filtered by organism group, location of infestation and infected product. Thus, only matching pests are displayed in a list. For each pest, there is a description of its appearance and biology, its pattern of damage and suitable control strategies. The tool only suggests measures that are permitted in organic farming. Therefore, it can be quite helpful for organic farmers, but it might also be of use to conventional farmers

Magnitude and farm-economic value of grain legume pre-crop benefits in Europe: A review

Grain legume production offers multiple environmental benefits and can enhance sustainability of European farming, but their production area is declining constantly. Grain legume competitiveness is frequently constrained by lower gross margins compared to agronomically suitable cropping alternatives, but it can be improved by appreciating their ability to increase yield of subsequent crop(s) and, potentially, to reduce input requirements (fertiliser, biocide, tillage). Information on the magnitude of grain legume pre-crop effects is diverse and has not been synthesised for European agriculture. This paper reviews research on pre-crop benefits to yield and input requirements of subsequent crops, and the farm-economic profitability of grain legumes in European cropping systems. This includes an analysis of the magnitude of pre-crop benefits to cereal yields measured in 29 experiments in Europe; and 19 studies on grain legume gross margins ranging from crop to cropping system level are assessed. In the available studies, yield benefits of legumes to subsequent crops are highest under low nitrogen fertilisation to subsequent crops and fertilisation can be reduced by 60 kg N ha−1 on average under maintenance of acceptable yields. With the aim at maximising yield potential, nitrogen fertilisation following grain legumes can be reduced by 23–31 kg ha−1, and cereal yields are mostly 0.5–1.6 Mg ha−1 higher than after cereal pre-crops. With adequate estimates of pre-crop benefits, gross margins of full crop rotations can better assess grain legume competitiveness. In the studies reviewed, 35 of 53 modelled crop rotations with grain legumes were competitive with comparable non-legume rotations. Grain legume rotations were more competitive under conservation tillage systems if gross margin calculations accounted for cost savings arising from adjusted machinery requirements. In conclusion, grain legume pre-crop value is a crucial component of their farm-economic profitability in European cropping systems, but further experimental research is required to ascertain its magnitude. Expanding profitability measures to consider pre-crop effects substantially increases the number of situations where grain legumes can compete with cereals, and has a small positive effect on their competitiveness with alternative break crops. Besides a better consideration of the pre-crop value, further genetic and agronomic improvement in legume cropping, supportive market development, and policy support are required if Europe is to utilise environmental benefits of legumes and increase the sustainability of its farming

Grain legume decline and potential recovery in European agriculture

<p>Sustainable development of agriculture is at the core of agricultural policy debates in Europe. There is a consensus that diversification of cropping would support sustainable development. However, a reduction in legume cultivation has been observed in the EU during the last decades. This decline has induced, in turn, a deficit of proteins and a reduction of ecosystem services provided by legumes. Therefore, we analysed the mechanisms that shape agricultural systems to identify leverage points for reviving European legume production. Specifically, we reviewed the factors that affect the market and non-market value of legumes and the relevant agricultural policies. We characterized the decline in legume cropping as an outcome of the dominance of economic forces that favour specialization of production systems over diversification. We found that the value of market outputs of legumes per unit area is relatively low and volatile, with a 25–78 % variation in pea gross margins, which reduces market competitiveness. We observed that the value of system-internal outputs of legumes such as the nitrogen fixed, of 130 to 153 kg N ha⁻¹; crop protection services that reduce agrochemical costs, by 20–25 % in cereals; and yield enhancements of subsequent crops, of 0.2 to 1.6 t ha⁻¹ in cereals, are often underestimated. In addition, markets fail to translate external effects of legumes such as biodiversity enhancement, reduction in emissions, of up to 50 % in N₂O, and soil improvements into economic benefits. Current policies support legumes through selected mechanisms such as ecological focus areas, agri-environmental programmes and sparse coupled support measures. Domestic cultivation of legumes could be supported through trade policies such as import restrictions on genetically modified soybean or new mechanisms to appreciate non-market outputs including payments for ecosystem services and carbon markets. In addition, development of new value chains, niche markets, scaling-up of plant breeding efforts and dissemination of information is required.</p