Viable cropping systems for competitive value chains

The compilation of economic information allows the identification of competitive conditions and cost-effective practices. By looking at the economic value of legumes at the individual crop level, it is shown which factors determine the profitability and which current developments on feed and food market can strengthen the position of Europeangrown legumes. The comparative advantage is discussed and reflected with insights on legumes’ competitiveness in various regions, showing legumes’ competitive power to several break crops. Expanding the analysis to the level of crop rotations allows to integrate legumes’ pre-crop effects and resulting resource benefits to farmers are described. The importance to go beyond conventional gross margin analysis is underlined with approaches to assess the economic performance of cropping systems that can prevent economic underestimation of legumes and reveal their real economic performance. Legume prices are also discussed within the context of their value for animal feeding which shows potential to improve their crop-level economic value and simple tools for calculating the feed value are provided. The positive externalities for society caused by legume cultivation are also discussed and exemplary measures to value the environmental benefits are presented. Conclusions towards successful legume production in Europe are drawn and discrepancies between production potentials and actual practice will guide the search for barriers at farm, value chain and sector level, which is also relevant information for policy makers.