Leguminous crop proteins. (L'Accademia per il post Covid-19.)

ABSTRACT

In our Country, protein crop have undergone a significant reduction since the beginning of the new millennium. Such a drastic reduction in planted areas has led, from an agronomic-environmental point of view, to an unsustainable simplification of crop rotations with serious consequences on the typical crop systems of Mediterranean agriculture. On the contrary, access to the agri-environmental subsidies requires crop rotation for farms requesting access to supplementary aid within the Rural Development Plans. It is worth mentioning that protein crops are also very suitable for "low input" itineraries. For instance, soybeans do not require specific nitrogen fertilizer, while other species perform well with minimum tillage, while others (rapeseed) with new rapid-growth hybrids, are able to assimilate important quantities of nitrates while preserving the rhizosphere from the common nutrient-loss problems. It therefore appears essential to reduce this heavy state of dependence, on the one hand by regaining space for the growing of protein crops, in particular soybean, which has undergone a significant reduction, and on the other, through a diversification of vegetable protein sources.