EU CAP Network Focus Group Meeting in Sevilla

On 27 and 28 May 2025 the Focus Group “Production of protein crops under climate change” of the EU CAP network held its second meeting in Sevilla (Spain). During this meeting, twenty Focus Group experts discussed how to increase European plant protein self-sufficiency by integrating sustainable production of plant-based protein in different value chains and regions, taking climate change into account.

The aim of the EU CAP Network Focus Group on the production of protein crops under climate change is to contribute to the development of innovative solutions for protein crop production in Europe. With the support of the Legume Generation consortium, Donal Murphy-Bokern has led the group’s work on plant breeding. He presented the mini-paper on the characterisation and genetic improvement of protein crops at the group’s recent meeting in Sevilla.

In his presentation he provided an agricultural characterisation of European legume crops, identifying the top ten species or species types. These include the six Legume Generation target species (soybean, lupins, pea, lentil, phaseolus beans, and clovers) as well as faba bean, lucerne, chickpea, and vetches. The agricultural characteristics of these crops are closely related to their origin and evolution, and understanding this provides a good foundation to successful production. In his presentation, Donal explained how economically precarious the genetic improvement of these crops is due to being mostly in-bred. Their minor crop status adds to the economic challenge breeders face.

The mini-paper will be supported by Legume Generation Report 8.

Overview of the top ten species of European legume crops

About the Focus Group

The Focus Group brings together experts from various backgrounds, including organisations, networks, companies, research institutions, farm advisory services, innovation brokers and farmers.

Its main tasks include:

• Identify examples of new, existing, and forgotten protein crop cultivation in Europe;
• Map the potential and challenges of protein crop cultivation and value chain development in different European regions;
• Assess the effect of the most promising good practices on the environment, farm productivity and profitability, and identify barriers to their implementation;
• Discuss solutions and explore the role of innovation and knowledge exchange in addressing the challenges identified;
• Propose potential innovative actions and ideas for Operational Groups to stimulate the use and improvement of robustness-related practices at field and farm level;
• Identify needs from practice and possible gaps in knowledge which may be solved by further research.