On 4 December 2026, the Horizon Europe BELIS Project (Breeding European Legumes for Increased Sustainability) will organise a webinar on “Legume Variety Testing and Recommendation: The UK Approach and European Comparisons”.
Why variety recommendation needs a new look
Variety recommendation in Europe is fragmented across multiple actors and focuses on major species within conventional systems. This neglects minor species and alternative practices, which hampers the identification of new markets and contributes to the lock-in of a European agricultural system with low legume cropping and legume diversity. BELIS aims to enable farmers to select legume species and varieties suited to their soil and climatic conditions and market requirements, by gathering and disseminating available information on varieties already listed in European catalogues.
What the webinar will cover
The webinar will disseminate the BELIS activities on collecting data on legume variety recommendations in various European countries, share experiences with variety recommendation strategies developed in a selection of European countries, and stimulate discussion on the BELIS results and the experiences shared, with a view to improving legume variety recommendations in Europe. Both grain legumes and forage legumes will be covered.
Getting to know BELIS
The webinar will also introduce BELIS, which focuses on 14 legume species: seven forage legumes (red clover, white clover, annual clover, alfalfa, sainfoin, bird’s-foot trefoil and vetches) and seven grain legumes (pea, faba bean, soybean, white lupin, lentil, chickpea and common bean). The main objectives of the project are to develop cost-effective breeding tools, to improve the economic and regulatory environment for legume breeding, and to ensure effective innovation transfer through a network of stakeholders, including breeders and the seed industry, researchers, registration offices, extension services, the feed and food industry, and farmers. The webinar will also present the stakeholder network being established within the project, including its goals, activities, the benefits of joining and the steps to become a member.
Who should join us
The webinar is aimed at plant breeders, agricultural researchers, extension services, seed industry professionals and variety registration policymakers across Europe. It will also be of particular interest to agronomists and farmers who wish to look beyond fragmented testing systems and include minor or alternative grain and forage legumes in their cropping plans. Participants will examine the UK’s variety recommendation approach alongside other national strategies, and discuss BELIS data with a view to improving variety selection for specific soil, climatic and market conditions.
Access the programme and register here
