United Kingdom
February 10, 2015
Alnarp, Sweden, 26th of February 2015
There is increasing recognition that grain legumes (GL) such as peas, beans and lentils are welltasting, healthy and environmentally sound food sources, and increasing the proportion of legumes in our diets will have positive consequences for the sustainable development of agriculture and food systems. This awareness is gradually being translated into policies favoring legume cultivation and consumption. Among the challenges are re‐introducing legumes profitably in modern cropping systems, and increasing legume consumption in European diets where they are currently largely absent. The European project LEGATO (LEGumes for the Agriculture of Tomorrow, 2014‐2017) includes major efforts on developing legume‐based cropping systems adapted to regional needs throughout Europe, a focus on exploiting natural sources of disease resistance found in legume gene banks, and development of legume‐based foodstuffs.
In this context, a workshop has been organized by LEGATO conjointly with the LegSA, the network “Legumes for Sustainable Agriculture” promoted by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). The workshop will attempt to answer questions such as: What potential do European‐produced legumes for food have to supply our protein needs? And how can their production and consumption be promoted?
The workshop, which is specially addressed to stakeholders (agricultural and food and feed industries, environmentalists, technicians, agricultural policy advisors, scientists, etc.), will include sessions like “Optimizing GL for human consumption”, “Which traits for human consumption? – Consumer perception”, and “Experience and feedback from the food industry”.
The LEGATO stakeholder workshop will be from 8.45 to 12h. In the afternoon, the Annual LegSA meeting will take place, with a keynote presentation on “Innovation by changed use of traditional feed legumes – the example of tasty food from Great British peas and beans” followed by selected short presentations by participants and a general discussion.
Registration is free of charge.
More Information:
The organizing partners: http://partnerskapalnarp.slu.se/konf/20150226.aspx & http://www.legato‐fp7.eu/
Contacts:
Georg Carlsson georg.carlsson@slu.se
Lisa Germundsson lisa.germundsson@slu.se
Richard Thompson thompson@dijon.inra.fr