Crop diversification for organic agriculture; A multi-scale feasibility study for soybean and lupin production in Sweden

Extending and growing a more diverse set of grain legumes is an opportunity to reduce the dependence on imported proteins as well as for diversifying agro-ecosystems. Lupine and soybean could be innovative solutions while offering a sustainable agronomic and economic alternative to organic farmers. Both species feature interesting characteristics for fodder production and for human consumption: while soybean is superior in grain protein content and oil, lupine is interesting for its high protein amount and especially its cysteine and methionine contents, which are scarce in locally produced grain legumes.

In recent years, attempts have been made to study the feasibility of soybean cultivation in Sweden, showing that early maturing soybean cultivars could cope with the growing conditions even up to 59° N with up to 2.4 t ha-1 grain yield and a typical protein content of 39-41%. Further, it has been demonstrated that narrow-leafed lupine can grow at latitudes of 60° N. Despite these advancements, there is a lack of scientific evidence for cultivar selection, crop management and productivity to support the development and realization of commercial soybean and lupine production in Sweden. Moreover, the cultivation of these crops was never done in contrasting Scandinavian pedoclimatic zones, in which differences in growing season- and day length are major constraints.