To become more sustainable, Europe must diversify its agri-food systems. According to one EU project, this starts with promoting the cultivation and consumption of home-grown legumes.

Food systems have a substantial carbon footprint, accounting for one third of greenhouse gas emissions globally. As such, there is an urgency for the sector to become more sustainable. Tiny legumes could make a big difference. “Most of agriculture’s emissions come from livestock, such as cows and pigs, and the use of synthetic nitrogen-based fertilisers,” says Pietro Iannetta, an agroecologist at the James Hutton Institute. “Legumes, on the other hand, are a sustainable source of nutrition, for both food and feed, that can also be used as a natural nitrogen fertiliser.”