Our participatory farmer call is now open. Become a legumES farmer – together, we will provide evidence for the ecosystem benefits of legume crops.
We are seeking Participatory Farmers from Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK to measure legume-related benefits following easy-to-use monitoring methods.
While some ecosystem benefits can be measured directly, such as crop yield or nutritional content, others can be more difficult to quantify, such as biodiversity or soil health.
In these cases, we use ‘indicators’ as indirect measures. For example, we might use worm counts as an indicator of soil biodiversity, or disease incidence as an indicator of pathogen control, or water infiltration through soil as an indicator of soil susceptibility to runoff and erosion.
The legumES project will test these indicators in farm trials of legume crops. The farm trials are an important first step in learning how we might place a value on ecosystem services from legumes.
Be part of the initiative to increase legume growing and consumption in Europe! Find out more here.
Financial support, as well as agronomic guidance, will be made available to all farmers involved. Register your interest by emailing legumES@hutton.ac.uk with your name, email address and country of residence to be put in touch with your local legumES scientist, who will provide more information and an application pack in your local language.