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The EU Commission has estimated the EU legume harvest at a full 6.3 million tonnes in 2023. This would be up 5 per cent year-on-year, but remain far short of the 6.9 million tonne record harvest in 2017. Above all, the harvest of field peas is set to grow 11 per cent compared to the previous year to 2.1 million tonnes. According to Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (mbH), the increase is due to both the expansion in area planted and a presumed growth in yields.

The most important legume crop in the EU-27 remains soybean, which accounts for a slightly larger share of 44 per cent of the legume crop. Producers are expected to harvest around 2.3 million tonnes in 2023, 14 per cent more than the previous year, despite a 99,000 hectare year-on-year reduction in area planted.  On the other hand, the EU field bean crop is set to remain below the previous year’s output of 1.3 million tones, at 1.2 million tonnes. The biggest decline is expected for sweet lupins. At 332,000 tonnes, the harvest is seen to fall around 26 per cent short of the previous year’s level, mainly due to an expected drop in yields.

The Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen (UFOP) has emphasised that the production area and output of grain legumes are basically on an upward trend. This growth in legume crops underlines farmers‘ interest in opening up new markets and making crop rotation systems more resilient and less risky by growing legumes.

In view of the ongoing negotiations on the budget of the German Federal Ministry of Agriculture in the German Bundestag, the UFOP has urged that the accompanying and incentive measures relating to the protein plant strategy (EPS) be made sufficiently attractive in order to support this development. According to the association, the toolbox is in place and all that is needed is a forward-looking bold approach. With regard to the common agricultural policy (CAP), the UFOP has renewed its call for an adequate premium scheme in the first and second pillar of grain legume production in varied crop rotation systems. Together with proper protein plant strategy funding, these steps would create essential overall conditions for a future arable farming strategy that deserves the name and is also appreciated by consumers.