Smaller soybean harvest reduces EU legume output

According to estimates by the European Commission, EU legume production for the 2026 harvest will fall 7 percent below the previous year’s level.

The mean of the past five years is nevertheless expected to be exceeded.

According to figures published by the European Commission, the legume harvest throughout the EU will likely reach just over 6.7 million metric tons in 2026, representing a 7 percent decrease from the previous year.

Soybeans are likely to record the sharpest decline, with production expected to fall 21 percent compared with the previous year, reaching 2.2 million tons.

According to Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (mbH), the losses are due to both the reduction in the area under cultivation and expected lower yields.

Soybeans in particular had suffered from the intense heat wave that swept across Europe in June.

Accounting for 35 percent of total pulse output, dry pea is the most important pulse crop in the EU, even though its harvest is 3 percent below the previous year’s output, reaching 2.4 million tons.

This is mainly due to lower yields, as the dry-pea area increased just over 1 percent.

The hectarage of field beans was also expanded.

The European Commission estimates output at 1.6 million tons, representing around a 9 percent rise compared with the previous year.

Sweet lupins are also expected to yield a larger harvest, reaching 524,000 tons, an increase of 3 percent from the previous year.

The Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen e.V. (UFOP) has noted that the development of legume production confirms farmers’ fundamental interest in maintaining or even expanding the cultivation of legumes.

The association, however, has criticized the fact that the benefits these crops have for biodiversity and climate-change mitigation are not adequately priced in.

“The production of grain legumes must pay off in crop rotations in the long term to prevent the repeatedly expressed political call for more resilience in arable farming from coming to nothing,” UFOP stated.

The association has welcomed initiatives by the German federal ministry of agriculture and the European Commission to promote the production and marketing of grain legumes as a contribution towards enhancing value creation, adding that such action should also benefit farmers.

UFOP said this should also be reflected in the corresponding budget line item of Germany’s agriculture ministry.

Negotiations on the federal budget for 2027 have entered a crucial phase in early to mid-September, UFOP noted.