Phaseolus vulgaris: adapting the missing link for sustainable production and consumption in the UK

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Dietary choices can reflect how the food system affects our health personally and as a society, our environment and ultimately contributes to climate change. Essentially, sustainable food production is contingent on sustainable diets. Pulse crops can play an important role in sustainable food systems as they (1) are an excellent source of plant protein with numerous additional health benefits; (2) have the well-known environmental return of biological nitrogen fixation - reducing the need for synthetic fertilisers and as such indirectly reduce GHG emissions; and (3) are excellent crops to include in crop rotations to break cycles of pest and diseases.This project will apply a transdisciplinary approach to the current common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) molecular breeding programme at Warwick Crop Centre. Specific objectives will aim to identify molecular markers for elite breeding material that capture disease resistance and harvestability traits for growers, as well as culinary traits for consumers. Consumer participatory research will be used to examine explanations for food (pulse) selection. Psychology research methods will enable examination of whether pulse intake can be increased by providing a norm of appropriate food selection and information on food preparation. Ultimately, this project aims to enhance the understanding of users' and society's needs for delivering a full range of UK pulse breeding impacts. Specifically, impact is aimed at adapting common bean to the UK food system by providing UK consumers with a healthy source of home-grown plant protein and UK farmers with a profitable short-season legume break crop. In other words, home-grown haricot beans are a missing crop and ingredient that links sustainable food production and sustainable food consumption in the UK.