Grain legume production in Europe for food, feed and meat-substitution

Partial shifts from animal-based to plant-based proteins in human diets could reduce environmental pressure from food systems and serve human health. Grain legumes can play an important role here. They are one of the few agricultural commodities for which Europe is not nearly self-sufficient. Here,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Global food security Vol. 39; p. 100723
Main Authors:	van Loon, Marloes P., Alimagham, Seyyedmajid, Pronk, Annette, Fodor, Nándor, Ion, Viorel, Kryvoshein, Oleksandr, Kryvobok, Oleksii, Marrou, Hélène, Mihail, Rurac, Mínguez, M. Inés, Pulina, Antonio, Reckling, Moritz, Rittler, Leopold, Roggero, Pier Paolo, Stoddard, Frederick L., Topp, Cairistiona F.E., van der Wel, Jop, Watson, Christine, van Ittersum, Martin K.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Elsevier B.V 01-12-2023 Elsevier
Subjects:	Agricultural sciences Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use Faba bean Food engineering Food Science Life Sciences Livsmedelsvetenskap Miljö- och naturvårdsvetenskap Pea Protein production Sciences and technics of agriculture Soybean Yield gap analysis Soybean Protein production Faba bean Yield gap analysis Pea
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Summary:	Partial shifts from animal-based to plant-based proteins in human diets could reduce environmental pressure from food systems and serve human health. Grain legumes can play an important role here. They are one of the few agricultural commodities for which Europe is not nearly self-sufficient. Here, we assessed area expansion and yield increases needed for European self-sufficiency of faba bean, pea and soybean. We show that such production could use substantially less cropland (4–8%) and reduce GHG emissions (7–22% current meat production) when substituting for animal-derived food proteins. We discuss changes required in food and agricultural systems to make grain legumes competitive with cereals for farmers and how their cultivation can help to increase sustainability of European cropping systems. •Yield increase of ∼60% needed to close the exploitable yield gap of grain legumes.•This yield increase will make Europe self-sufficient in grain legumes for food.•Increasing grain legume areas by 5.5 times results in food and feed self-sufficiency.•Huge environmental gain when European grown legumes are used as food not feed.
ISSN:	2211-9124 2211-9124
DOI:	10.1016/j.gfs.2023.100723