We need better legume crops to help farmers meet Europe’s demand for plant protein and support a protein transition. The newly launched project Legume Generation aims to reduce the European protein deficit by boosting plant breeding to make legumes more productive and profitable for European farmers. Breeders will join forces in Legume Generation with research organisations to boost the breeding of soybean, lupin, pea, lentil, common bean, and clover. This will increase crop diversity, enable all the other benefits of legumes, as well as support the EU Biodiversity and Farm to Fork strategies.

Donau Soja is proud to be one of 32 partners from 16 countries.
The project lasts from September 2023 to February 2028 and has recently been awarded 7 million Euros from the European Union and the United Kingdom. The total value of the new project is 8.6 million Euros.

Despite all the benefits and the need to change how we source and use plant protein, legume crops are relatively rarely grown by European farmers, accounting for only 2-3% of the cropping area. Part of the reason for this is that investment in the breeding is constrained by low rewards for the private plant breeding of these crops. The Legume Generation consortium addresses this by creating new structures for collaboration between legume plant breeders and public research. Find more information on the project here: Legume Generation – Donau Soja