Wheat and field beans reinforce each other in mixed cultivation in the Netherlands

The cultivation of field beans is being revived in the Netherlands. Field beans and wheat in mixed cultivation reinforce each other. The only major sales channels for mixed products are currently lacking. That is why researchers from the Louis Bolk Institute are working with growers and processors on the possibility of integrating field beans from organic mixed cultivation into human nutrition. A workshop on this was given on January 17 at the Biobeurs in the Brabanthallen, organized by Bionext. “The literature already showed that field beans and wheat go very well together in mixed cultivation, this was confirmed in our tests,” says Abco de Buck, researcher at the Louis Bolk Institute. “The crops appear to reinforce each other. Wheat is a dormant crop, but not a flowering crop. Field beans are this and attract bee species in this way.” “Field beans are also leguminous plants that fix nitrogen from the air. This leaves more nitrogen in the soil over the adjacent grain. This causes ...