New research is exploring how bringing edible legumes back into Norfolk’s farming rotations could improve soil health, reduce reliance on synthetic fertilisers and make agriculture more resilient to climate change.
A new research project at the University of East Anglia (UEA) is investigating whether crops such as beans, peas and lentils could play a much greater role in the future of UK farming.
Madalitso Mgunda, a postgraduate researcher at UEA’s School of Global Development, is exploring the potential benefits of reintroducing edible legumes into East Anglian crop rotations. With more than six years’ experience working on sustainable agriculture and food systems in Malawi, including supporting legume value chains with the World Food Programme, she brings valuable experience of farming systems where legumes have long played an important role.
Legumes have traditionally been used as part of crop rotations because they can fix atmospheric nitrogen, helping to supply nitrogen to the soil and reducing dependence on manufactured fertilisers. According to Mgunda, legumes were widely used in farming before synthetic fertilisers became readily available during the twentieth century.
Building healthier soils without synthetic fertilisers
The research is particularly relevant as farmers face increasingly difficult growing conditions.
Norfolk and other parts of East Anglia are important agricultural regions, but crops such as wheat, barley and potatoes face growing risks from extreme heat, spring drought, unseasonal flooding, pests and diseases.
Diversifying rotations with legumes could provide one way of making farming systems more resilient while also producing nutritious food for people.
Mgunda’s research will examine the practical opportunities and barriers to increasing legume production, including speaking with farmers, processors and other people involved in the food supply chain. Climate suitability data will also be used to assess where different legumes could potentially be grown.
For Vegan Organic Network, the research raises an important question: why stop at reducing synthetic fertilisers when we can design farming systems that build fertility naturally?
Veganic farming demonstrates that productive soils do not need to depend on animal-derived fertilisers such as manure, blood, fishmeal or bone meal, or on synthetic chemical fertilisers. Plant-based composts, mulches, green manures, diverse rotations and perennial plants can all contribute to healthy, fertile soils.
Legumes can be an important part of this approach.
From animal feed to food for people
There is also a wider question about how Britain uses its limited agricultural land.
Much UK agricultural production ultimately supports animal agriculture. Growing crops directly for human consumption can make better use of land while providing nutritious foods such as beans, peas and lentils.
Increasing the production of edible legumes could therefore form part of a broader transition towards a food system that produces more food directly for people while reducing dependence on livestock farming.
The UK’s farming system is already under pressure from climate change, rising costs and soil degradation. Rather than simply trying to make today’s system more efficient, we should be asking what kind of farming system we want for the future.
A resilient food system needs healthy soils, diverse crops, abundant biodiversity and nutritious food, while reducing reliance on fossil-fuel-intensive inputs and animal agriculture.
Lessons from Malawi
One of the strengths of Mgunda’s research is the experience she brings from Malawi.
Her previous work includes supporting bean, cowpea and soybean value chains through the World Food Programme. Her research in Norfolk provides an opportunity to consider what lessons can be learned from agricultural systems in different parts of the world.
There is no single solution to the challenges facing farmers. However, knowledge about crop diversity, soil fertility and locally appropriate farming systems can help us develop alternatives to increasingly vulnerable intensive agricultural models.
The research is being supported through the 2026 Norfolk International Scholarship, delivered in partnership with the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association, the Norwich Institute for Sustainable Development and the JC Mann Charitable Trust.
Professor Nitya Rao, director of the Norwich Institute for Sustainable Development, says legumes offer significant opportunities for improving environmental sustainability and farm resilience, while recognising that questions remain about how they can best fit into existing systems.
A future of plant-based farming?
For Vegan Organic Network, increasing the production of edible legumes should be part of a much bigger conversation about the future of British agriculture.
We need farming systems that feed people rather than feeding animals, build rather than deplete soil, increase biodiversity rather than destroy it, and reduce our dependence on chemical and animal-derived inputs.
Beans, peas and lentils are not a magic solution to every agricultural problem. But bringing more edible legumes into rotations could be an important step towards a more diverse and resilient food system.
And if we combine this with vegan-organic methods — plant-based fertility, green manures, composting, mulching, crop diversity and habitat creation — we can begin to build farming systems that work with nature rather than against it.
Healthy food comes from healthy soil.
The future of farming could be increasingly plant-based, diverse and resilient — and legumes could have an important role to play.
Read the original research story: UEA student from Malawi aims to help future-proof Norfolk farms
Find out more about the research: Norfolk International Scholarship research – Norwich Institute for Sustainable Development