Motivations and observed benefits and limits from farmers growing legumes
Creators: name: Pelzer Elise
name: Modotti Martina
name: Ballot Remy
name: Jeuffroy Marie-Hélène
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: survey, ecosystem services, benefits, limits, grain and forage legumes

description: The diversity of legume species and management types (e.g. sole crop, intercrop, cover crop) should allow their cultivation in various pedo-climatic contexts. But legume crop areas have strongly decreased since the 1990s in Europe. Yet, some farmers still grow legumes. The aims of our study were (i) to understand the reasons why farmers grow legumes, (ii) to describe the benefits and limits they observe in their field, and (iii) to analyze if they are fully satisfied with their legumes or what kind of additional information they need. An on-farm survey was conducted with farmers within the LegValue EU H2020 Project. It concerned (i) the description of their farms and farming systems, (ii) the grown legume species and their management, (iii) the description of cropping systems in which legumes are included, (iv) the motivations of farmers to grow legumes, and the benefits and limits they observe in their fields, (v) their overall satisfaction with legumes and legume-based cropping systems and the criteria on which they based their judgment, (vi) the additional information they need about legumes to improve their practices. Interviewed farmers were not chosen to be representative of European agricultural systems. We received 134 answers, from 10 countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, United Kingdom. 40% of the interviewed farmers had an organic farm (among them 55% with livestock) with an average of 3.4 grown legumes species. Conventional farmers (58% of the interviews, among them 68% with livestock) grew an average of 1.5 legumes. 2% of the farmers had a mix farm (organic and conventional) without livestock and an average of 3.3 legumes. 14 legume species were recorded in the whole survey. The 6 most cultivated were faba bean (20% of occurrence), pea (19%), clover species (18%), alfalfa (12%), vetch species (7%) and soybean (9%). Legumes were mostly grown as sole crops (67% of the answers), but also as intercrops (25%) or as cover crops, companion crops or relay crops (8%). The most cited motivations to grow legumes concerned agronomy category: system diversification, soil biological quality (micro-organisms, organic matter, etc.) and structure, N supply, yield and quality of the legume or of following crops, and finally weed, pest and disease control. The second category cited was economy and management: improved farm profit (e.g. feed self-production), input use efficiency (e.g. less fertilizer use). Social and environmental categories came last. Motivations differed slightly between organic and conventional farmers, between farms with or without livestock, and between annual grain and perennial forage legume species. For instance, organic farmers insist on agronomical benefits such as N supply or improved yield and quality whereas conventional farmers insist on economical benefits such as subsidies and reduction of fertilizer inputs. Concerning observed benefits, they were in accordance with expected benefits. The most cited were: yield and quality of the legume or of following crops (e.g. improved yield of subsequent crop), soil structure, weed, pest and disease control (e.g. improved weed suppression), N supply, system diversification, input use efficiency (e.g. less fertilizer use), and improved farm profit. Some observed limits of legumes were also mentioned: appearance of new diseases or weeds, lack of outlet for legumes, variability of legume yield, use of additional inputs, negative impact of legume on soil structure and fertility. Again, small differences appeared between organic and conventional farmers, between farms with or without livestock, and between annual (grain) legume species and perennial forage species. For instance, organic farmers insist on observed improved yield and quality whereas conventional farmers stressed out problem of low legume price. 73% of farmers were satisfied with their legume crop, crop management and crop performances, but only 59% with the benefits brought by legumes at the cropping system scale. Supplementary information needed varied according to the level of satisfaction. Farmers satisfied with their legume crop and cropping system still lack information on crop management, particularly weed, pest and disease control. Those not satisfied also lack information on crop management, but above all, they require cooperation and information sharing: feedback from other farmers experience, collective discussions and exchanges, particularly at local scale, experiments conducted with researchers in farmer fields, field visits and practical demonstrations, etc. This survey allowed us to understand what are the motivations of farmers growing legumes, and what benefits they observe in the field. We assume that farmers adapt their legume crop management and insertion in cropping systems to reach their targets, and this will be the next step in analysis. <strong>Acknowledgement:</strong> The LegValue project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N°727672. We would like to thank all the partners that carried out the survey in their country.