Boosting innovation in breeding for the next generation of legume crops for Europe

The Legume Generation consortium is dedicated to enhancing legume breeding in Europe by fostering collaboration between entrepreneurial breeders and an inventive research community. Our approach involves six breeder-led innovation communities, each focusing on a specific crop species or type: soybean, lupin, pea, lentil, phaseolus bean, and white and red clover. These communities drive innovation by connecting practical breeding with cutting-edge research in a transdisciplinary framework.

Our activities include gathering intelligence on ideotype concepts, beneficial traits, and breeding methods; creating and validating novel resources; screening and testing germplasm and new cultivars in different regions; and providing training to support breeding gains. We also develop governance and financial models, business plans, and facilitate internal and external communication through the European Legume Hub.

With over 40 breeding and pre-breeding programmes, we aim to significantly boost these by accelerating the production of novel germplasm. Our goal is to innovate up to the point where newly bred germplasm and cultivars are proven for use on farms, supporting the expansion of legume production. The innovation communities are open to all relevant actors, ensuring direct dissemination of results to other users and stakeholders. Sustainable practices beyond the project’s life will be facilitated through robust business plans.

Project frame

Funding: Horizon Europe (EU), United Kingdom, Switzerland, New Zealand, United States of America

Programme: HORIZON-CL6-2022-BIODIV-02-two-stage

Grant Agreement No: 101081329

Coordinator: Lars-Gernot Otto, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK)

Scientific coordinator: Donal Murphy-Bokern

Duration: September 2023 – February 2028

Legume Generation on Cordis
Legume Generation on the Legume Hub

News

Second National Legumes Congress in Leipzig

Second National Legumes Congress in Leipzig

In the congress, legumes, such as beans, peas, lupins and clover were discussed. How can research gaps of cultivated legumes such as beans, peas, lupins and clover be closed? How can necessary measures for implementation in practice be tested? These and other...

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Legume Generation project overview

Legume Generation project overview

Our goal is to boost the breeding of the major food and feed legume crops in Europe to support the EU Biodiversity and Farm to Fork strategies by making legume crops more competitive on European farms and in value chains. This will increase crop diversity and enable...

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