Thousands of Europeans grow beans at home to preserve traditional varieties

Published 2024년 3월 2일

Tridge summary

Over 5,200 people across Europe are participating in the 'Sharing the beans' initiative by the European project Increase, aimed at preserving the diversity of traditional bean varieties. The initiative is a response to the vulnerability of commercial varieties to diseases and climate change due to their limited genetic diversity. Participants are tasked with growing the beans, documenting their progress, and sharing their observations with researchers. The project also seeks to promote the cultivation and consumption of legumes in Europe, given their agricultural benefits and high-quality protein content, as modern diets have largely replaced them with carbohydrates and animal proteins.

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Original content

More than 5,200 people throughout Europe have committed to growing traditional varieties of beans in their homes this year, with the aim of helping to preserve the wide diversity of this legume compared to the few ranges that are produced commercially. Maintaining these traditional varieties that have been stopped being cultivated, less productive but very well adapted to their local conditions, can also help commercial varieties, through genetic crossing, to cope with diseases and climate change, sources explain to Efeagro. of the initiative. This is the fourth edition of the citizen crop experiment "Sharing the beans" organized by the European project Increase, in which the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) of Spain participates along with research centers from 14 countries. These centers send seeds of traditional varieties of beans to the volunteers participating in the experiment, who must grow them and document the development of the plants, taking photos and ...

Source: PEefeagro