If there was a bean full of proteins, a plant that makes the soil fertile and removes nitrogen from the air, wouldn’t the whole of Brabant be full of them long ago? The plant is called lupine and is also good for more different animal and plant species. Yet it is still not much to find. Farmer John Heesakkers from Mariahout is going to change that, together with other farmers from the Peel.
John used to be a dairy farmer, but switched to the organic cultivation of grains and fruit. On his land he has, in addition to lupine, a real food forest. “It was really a bit of a switch as a livestock farmer.”
Lupine is an attractive plant for forward-looking farmers like John and does well on the sandy soil of De Peel. The bean contains a lot of protein and meat substitutes can be made from it. You can eat the lupine bean as is, but you can also grind it into flour to make bread, biscuits or pancakes.
The plant takes nitrogen from the air, makes the soil fertile and the flowers attract insects. In short, only positives if you want to start farming in a more nature-friendly way, which the province is also committed to.
Growing lupine also faces a number of challenges. Cultivation is still in its infancy. The plant is plagued by weeds and fungi. That is clearly visible on John’s field. The weeds sprout from the ground between the young lupine plants.
“We’ve had a lot of illnesses.”
As an organic farmer, he does not use pesticides. He pulls up the weeds with a fifty-year-old tractor and a fine-toothed weeding harrow. “It then dries out in the sun and dies on its own.”
Lupine plants also die from a fungus, although it is not as bad as before. John pulls one out of the ground. The stem ends in a dark stump where white roots should sprout. “We have suffered a lot from these kinds of diseases and it is still not completely over.”
Unknown makes unloved. Many consumers do not yet know what lupine is and it is not yet as widely available as soy products, for example. The lupine farmers also have little support from the province.
That is precisely what needs to change, says John: “A lot of work is still needed to achieve a healthy crop that can be grown successfully. That takes time and money. We want to try it, but after three years of the start-up phase, it is hard to keep up.”
“Lupin meets local protein requirements.”
Innovation house De Peel is the initiator of lupine cultivation in the region. The aim is for lupine to grow on 5,000 hectares by 2030. The innovation house originated from a collaboration between the six Peel municipalities, the Aa en Maas water board and employers’ organization VNO-NCW.
Marieke van Beers of the Innovation House: “Lupine makes it possible to produce proteins in our own country. But then more farmers have to join us. We are also trying to achieve that with the Innovation House.” One of the ideas is to use lupine as a so-called rotation crop between cultivations, because it improves the soil.
In April, lupine was sown in Asten, Liessel, Vlierden, Mariahout, Heeswijk-Dinther and Gemert.
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