European tour of local initiatives

Increasing cultivation and consumption of pulses

15 November 2022, 17:00 – 18:00 CET

In the Global North, pulse consumption per capita is much lower than recommended on a nutritional basis. It is also widely recognized that diversification of cropping systems with more legumes would provide tremendous benefits for sustainability. And still, in Europe, most of the little pulses consumed are imported. The European food system is locked, farmers trapped into producing commodity crops sold anonymously on the global market, we’re getting most of our calories from only a handful of crops, most consumers are unaware of the issues with highly-processed food and until now policies are largely failing to promote a shift to more diverse cropping systems and healthier diets.

However, this is not a fatality! There are individuals, companies, cooperatives, initiatives and projects that are challenging this status quo, bringing back pulses in the fields and on the plates, re-localizing production of crops that are good for the ecosystems, lowering the carbon footprint of food and increasing consumer health!

Join us to hear inspiring stories and discuss concrete actions taken by these initiatives in the shift, giving pulses their well-deserved role in the food system. The meeting is going to take the form of a round table gathering speakers from inspiring initiatives who are successfully increasing production and consumption of local pulses and researchers. We’ll discuss specific agronomic, technical and organisational issues faced by pioneers of neglected crops and how they solved them. We’ll also focus on the food networks activated around these initiatives, which make them successful: nature of the collaboration with farmers, processors, retailers, researchers, and diverse ways of communicating with consumers.

Join us in this interactive event and spread the word in your networks!