Valorization Legumes Related Ecosystem Services

VALERECO target is to promote adoption and understanding the value of legume crops towards transition to sustainable, productive, climate-neutral, environment-friendly and resilient farming systems.

The project aims to quantify and enhance the environmental and economic value of ES provided by 4 minor or underutilized and 8 major legume crops.

It seeks to encourage diversification of farming practices throughout the EU and Associated Countries, which can contribute to healthier and sustainable diets and climate change resilience.

The identification will be achieved through: (1) a thorough analysis on the ecosystem-services legacy and (2) the investigation of gateways for penetration of legumes and their associated ES to the new CAP.

The valorization will be implemented through the establishment of nine Living Labs (LLs) to conduct: (1) behavioural design strategies to promote the adoption of legumes in production and consumption, (2) on-station participatory trials to assess the performance of major and minor-underutilised legume crops in diversified farming systems, (3) to demonstrate and co-create technical economically and environmentally assessed solutions for legumes inclusion in cropping systems.

The dissemination will be realized through: (1) the development of a Digital Legume Information Hub (DLIH) to upscale and maximize the uptake of VALERECOs results, (2) the development of a Decision Support System (DSS) to support the decision-making of farmers and advisors for legumes adoption, and (3) the generation of capacity building material made available to the public through an E-learning Platform.