H2020 TRUE Project: Transition Pathways to Sustainable Legume-Based Systems in Europe
- Type Project
- Status Filled
- Execution 2017 -2021
- Assigned Budget 4.999.927,5 €
- Scope Europeo
- Main source of financing H2020
- Project website Proyecto TRUE
TRUE (Transition Pathways to Sustainable Legume-Based Systems in Europe) is a consortium of 22 partners encompassing business and societal stakeholders, from legume production and processing to citizens. TRUE is underpinned by scientific excellence in the natural, social, and human sciences. Its main objective is to identify and facilitate transition pathways to successful legume-based production systems and agri-food chains. This is achieved through: a multi-stakeholder approach that balances environmental, economic, and social security while minimizing environmental impact; optimizing diversity and resilience in commercial and environmental terms along the supply chain; and providing excellent nutrition to ensure maximum well-being and health of people and animals.
TRUE will achieve this through a series of 15 agricultural networks and seven supply chain-focused innovation case studies to characterize key mechanisms and associated ecosystem service indicators. This will boost the production of popular and novel legume-based products, based on improved market prospects and capabilities, including short supply chains. Advanced mathematical approaches using Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and socioeconomic and multi-attribute modeling will create unique Decision Support Tools to identify optimal transition pathways and ensure that legume-based systems are profitable from ramping up production to attracting supply chains, markets, and consumers.
Crucially, the TRUE approach will also advise and facilitate policy changes that promote the adoption of new agricultural, processing, manufacturing, and retail practices, aligned with the societal considerations of the Responsible Research and Innovation model: policy-making informed by cutting-edge science. The TRUE approach is also complemented by an Intercontinental Advisory Council of 10 international pulse supply chain and policy experts from around the world.
TRUE has established the Pulse Innovation Network, building on an inclusive project approach and robust outreach activities. Its strict adherence to Open Access and data sharing means that all results are presented on the TRUE website and the TRUE Community pages on Zenodo, and are also shared on social media.
The content includes: an extensive peer-reviewed evidence base covering all aspects of the food system, from production to policymaking; Practice Summaries; methods (referred to as SOPs or Standard Operating Procedures); and data from experimental trials of TRUE's innovative Work Packages and Case Studies (CPs). The 24 CPs have served as excellent, practical models, highlighting the breadth of knowledge and capabilities across the value chain needed to transition to local pulses. Insights from the CPs have been compiled into key reports, including the TRUE-Innovation Catalogue, e-book, and brochure. These resources are complemented by key peer-reviewed scientific reports on socioeconomic and market conditions, as well as policy recommendations, that will facilitate local pulse-based farming systems.
The LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) tools developed and implemented by TRUE have also considered the environmental and nutritional impacts and benefits of new legume-based products. Critically and collectively, TRUE's efforts have highlighted the lack of sufficient capacities for local legume processing, especially across different regions, and for human food quality. TRUE also highlights that greater efforts are urgently needed to ensure that innovations and enabling measures are integrated or combined into value chains. Furthermore, this effort includes identifying indicators of the functioning of local legume-based food systems at the national and subnational (or bioregional) scales. Reference values for these indicators should identify current states and acceptable thresholds, beyond which interventions are necessary.
The TRUEs Pathfinder decision-support system can help in this regard, as it has been developed to guide companies, academics, and policymakers on the factors that determine the extent to which pulse-based value chains are truly sustainable.
Agriculture accounts for 25% of total (global) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Animal production for meat and the application of synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizers are the largest contributors to agriculture's GHG budget. Fortunately, legume crops such as beans and clover are a sustainable source of highly nutritious food and feed and can also be used as natural N fertilizers, thanks to their "biological N fixation" capacity, which converts atmospheric N (N2) into biologically useful N.
Therefore, legumes require very low levels of synthetic N fertilizers, and often none at all. Legumes can also contribute to nutritional security by countering malnutrition and unbalanced nutrition, which impose a financial burden on healthcare costs, through the effective implementation of sustainable legume-based diets. Europe's food systems are heavily dependent on legumes, but the human and environmental health benefits are lost as EU demand for legume grains is imported and used primarily for animal feed; often, genetically modified soybeans sourced from what were previously biodiverse rainforest and/or cerrado regions. Therefore, grain legumes occupy only a very small percentage of European cropland.
Furthermore, there is a need to increase the use and efficiency of forage legumes (in grazing systems). More diverse agri-food systems based on native legumes are required to help safeguard environmental and nutritional security. This transition demands greater cooperation among all actors in the agri-food system. The EU-H2020-funded TRUE (TRansition paths to sustainable legume-based systems in Europe) project was designed from the perspective that scientific knowledge and societal desire for more sustainable legume-based agri-food systems exist, but that co-innovation among supply chain actors to identify, implement, and prioritize transition pathways remains to be achieved.
Therefore, TRUE seeks to collaborate with all actors in the supply chain, including civil society organizations, to identify and facilitate transition pathways that contribute to the creation of more sustainable legume-based agri-food systems. TRUE is composed of 24 academic and non-academic partners spanning the entire agri-food system to offer a diverse set of research and innovation strategies in parallel and within a transdisciplinary context.
TRUE (Transition Pathways to Sustainable Legume-Based Systems in Europe) is a consortium of 22 partners comprising business and social stakeholders from the production, processing, and community sectors of legumes. TRUE is based on scientific excellence in the natural and social sciences, as well as in the humanities.
TRUE's primary objective is to identify and enable transition pathways to achieve successful legume-supported agri-food production systems and chains. This is achieved through: a true multi-stakeholder approach that balances environmental, economic, and social security while minimizing environmental impact; optimizing diversity and resilience in commercial and environmental terms along the entire supply chain; and providing excellent nutrition to ensure the highest possible states of health and well-being for people and animals. TRUE will achieve this by utilizing a series of 15 agricultural networks and seven supply chain-focused innovation case studies to characterize key mechanisms and associated ecosystem service indicators.
This will enhance the production of popular and novel legume-based products based on improved market insights and capabilities, including short supply chains. Advanced mathematical approaches using life-cycle analysis and socioeconomic and multi-attribute models will create unique decision-support tools to identify optimal transition pathways to ensure legume-supported systems are cost-effective from the "push" stage of production to the "pull" stage of supply chains, markets, and consumers. Critically, the TRUE approach will also inform and enhance policy modifications that promote the adoption of new farming, processing, manufacturing, and retail practices, in line with the societal considerations of the Responsible Research and Innovation model: making policy decisions informed by state-of-the-art science.
The TRUE approach is also reinforced by an Intercontinental Advisory Council of 10 international experts on pulse supply chains and policies from around the world.
To become more sustainable, Europe must diversify its agri-food systems. According to an EU project, this starts by promoting the cultivation and consumption of local pulses. Food systems have a substantial carbon footprint, accounting for a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. As such, there is an urgency for the sector to become more sustainable. Small pulses could make a big difference. "Most emissions from agriculture come from livestock, such as cows and pigs, and the use of synthetic nitrogen-based fertilizers," says Pietro Iannetta, an agroecologist at the James Hutton Institute. "Pulses, on the other hand, are a sustainable source of nutrition, both for food and feed, and can also be used as a natural nitrogen fertilizer."
Unfortunately, despite the high demand for pulses in Europe, the vast majority are imported, primarily as soybeans and for animal feed. They also often come from logged tropical rainforest regions. "To protect its nutritional security and environmental well-being, and to promote the shift toward healthier diets, Europe needs to diversify its agri-food systems by promoting locally grown pulses," explains Iannetta. Achieving this requires greater cooperation among the many actors in the agri-food sector, a cooperation that is being driven in part by the EU-funded TRUE (Transition paths to sustainable legume-based systems in Europe) project. Toward a more sustainable system At the heart of the project is the desire to make more sustainable agri-food systems based on locally grown pulses a reality. "The knowledge, the desire, and the demand for such systems exist," notes Iannetta, who coordinates the project. "TRUE helps connect and empower relevant stakeholders and, through innovation and cooperation, identify and achieve the best pathways to creating these sustainable systems." Although still a work in progress, the project has made significant progress. It has identified key barriers and opportunities and developed useful tools for all actors in the value chain.
These include life cycle analysis tools and a decision support system called 'Pathfinder', which represents the first full-value-chain sustainability assessment tool for businesses. TRUE has launched several innovative products, such as the fully commercialized Nàdar Gin, which uses peas to make 'climate-positive' gin and protein-rich co-products. The project has also established its own trademark, CoolBeans®, and has authored several scientific articles, policy briefs, and reports. It has even published its own legume recipe books! Beyond TRUTH The project has played an important role in establishing several continental-level initiatives, one of which is the Legume Innovation Network (LIN).
Carried out in collaboration with the EU-funded LEGVALUE project, the LIN aims to connect pulse-focused businesses and NGOs to support sustainable business development in Europe. The TRUE project also plays a role in the Crop Diversification Cluster (CDC), which brings together partner organizations across Europe to increase the impact of crop diversification research and encourage the uptake of innovative diversification measures. “These two initiatives ensure that the work we initiated during the TRUE project will have a continuous and lasting impact,” notes Iannetta. “My hope is that these initiatives will build on the momentum started by TRUE and continue to stimulate the innovation that will define sustainable agriculture.” The project is currently promoting its tools, methods, and strategies, which could be transferred to new pulse-focused projects.
TRUE has gone beyond simply identifying transition pathways to enable and facilitate indigenous legume-based food and feed systems across Europe. Many of the innovations are being implemented, ranging from new equipment and inputs for precision agriculture to clear policy recommendations, identified through multi-stakeholder consultations. Improving legume performance through improvements in plant breeding and agronomy must remain a priority objective. However, we must avoid an excessive focus on the production elements of the system, compared to ex-farm factors. Greater incentives for legume processing facilities are needed, including the availability of more affordable, smaller-scale capabilities, such as the empowerment of short value chains at local or bioregional scales.
There is also a shortage of facilities for processing legumes to levels that meet minimum recommendations for human consumption. However, the accounting tools, knowledge, and products that have been established and developed have already had a positive impact, both commercially and environmentally. From the early stages of the project, TRUE has recognized that "sustainability is the language of responsible food marketing." Despite this, consumer awareness of pulses is low, and this situation is exacerbated by the current inadequacy of educational provisions (schools), labeling and categorization systems in the value chain (e.g., among wholesalers), and marketing. More efforts are needed to ensure that all consumers are fully aware of the importance of pulses, their local cultivation, and the products derived from them.
This foundation is essential for local pulse-based systems to materialize, along with resilient local businesses and a responsible food culture. Furthermore, robust monitoring tools are needed to validate claims about the environmental and/or nutrient-density benefits of pulse-based food systems and products. TRUE has established these, increasing the scale of pulse cultivation and its commercial competitiveness. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an important enabling tool in this regard, and TRUE's LCA tools will go beyond environmental impact assessments to consider key indicators of ecosystem functions (or "ecosystem services"). Practical scales, such as the watershed or even the farm.
This will drive greater consumer awareness, more positive consumer choice, and, consequently, benefits for responsible and responsive businesses. Interested parties should therefore continue to consult the project website (www.legumeinnovationnetwork.eu) for information on the outcomes of TRUE and the Pulses Innovation Network (LIN). The LIN is currently being developed on a voluntary basis to facilitate co-innovation between pulse-focused businesses, NGOs (non-governmental organizations), and researchers.
- THE JAMES HUTTON INSTITUTE (THE JAMES HUTTON INSTITUTE)
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