Legumes in Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

Agriculture is facing the most important challenge in its history. The exponential population growth drives the necessity to improve both crop yield and quality to feed the growing world-wide population. While the mid-XX century Green Revolution based on world-wide cultivation of a few elite cultivars and abuse of chemical to sustain growth and control diseases allowed to improved yield, it also led to a dramatic situation of losses of crop diversity and resilience and heavy pollution of soil and water resources. Thus modern agriculture should also contribute to preserve the environment. One way to achieve both goals is the re-introduction of legume in our growing systems that are an important source of protein and present several benefits for the environments.