**Lupin** is an under-explored crop that has a great potential to replace imported soya for both livestock feed and as human food due to its high quality/quantity protein composition that is equivalent to soya and outcompeting peas/beans. Diversification of protein crops f**or human nutrition** is key to address food security challenges and net zero targets. Lupin has a high growth potential under the climate of both UK and Canada, and sustainably producing lupin in both countries opens up a ga**me-changing opportunity for the plant-based protein supply chain** as well as does the potential of using other lupin compounds (lipids, fibres) that have not yet been fully explored for food ingredient purposes. This project is looking at the **improvement of region-specific agronomy traits** of lupin production, the crop's direct utilisation in the form of a **range of ingredients** (proteins, lipids, fibres) and the application of these ingredients into a **region specific** (North-America and UK/Europe) **food product portfolio**. This project is an opportunity to move forward the lupin supply chain and consequently the plant-based alternative protein sector. **This project will deliver:** * improved agronomy for lupin growing in Canada and UK * sweet, bitter-free lupin flour * a suite of lupin ingredients (proteins/fibres/lipids) suitable for food production * region specific food product portfolios for speciality markets **The UK-consortium** is led by an SME, **SPG Innovation** partnered with **SoyaUK**, leading UK lupins seed supplier and agronomy advice company, the **University of Leeds** and **CHAP** (Crop Health and Protection Ltd, currently trading as the UK Agri-Tech Centre). **The Canadian consortium** is led by an SME, **Lupin Platform Ltd**, who are the leading lupin supplier in Canada and partnered up with **NRC Canada**, a government funded leading innovation platform.

**Lupin is currently an under-utilised crop in the UK with a huge potential of transforming the UK protein market for both food and feed.** We are investigating the opportunity that lupin has to become a **sustainably produced farm-based protein crop in the UK**, to replace and overcome the need for importing soya for livestock feed due to lupins provide high quality/quantity of protein, equivalent to soya and outstripping peas/beans. This project would **transform the traditional farm-based lupin protein production by 2 parallel strategies for decarbonisation and improved sustainability** via regenerative agriculture and improved lupin traits, each with underpinning metrics and measurements. **Lupin production in the UK** is currently low due to the lack of food/feed market and **needs** evidence-based and informed **encouragement**. The project aims to achieve this via the knowledge-exchange/stakeholder-relations/dissemination activities. This should stimulate the market and give growers confidence in taking on lupin as a viable crop in their rotations and/or on-farm feed production. This should be enhanced by **the involvement of farmers in the field trials** enabling peer to peer learning. The project is delivered by a highly competent consortium, led by CHAP, partnered with SoyaUK and Phytoform Labs.

The Ethiopian lupins for food & feed (ELFF) project will improve livelihoods for Ethiopian smallholder farmers by: i) improving supplies of high quality protein for animal feed, ii) providing a potential cash crop for human consumption & iii) improving soil fertility & thus crop productivity. This innovative project will explore the feasibility of a white lupin breeding programme to combine traits from Ethiopian & UK varieties, producing lines that benefit Ethiopian farmers in the first instance but also lines benefiting agriculture in many other countries. Ethiopian agriculture relies heavily on livestock but lack of affordable protein sources means that livestock is not reaching its full value. Developing sweet white lupins for grain & forage could revolutionise smallholder agriculture in many parts of Ethiopia. The project will assess Ethiopian varieties to identify promising lines for improvement, & identify markers & genes that confer low alkaloid production. These loci can be used in a subsequent targetted & marker assisted breeding programme. The project will also conduct a feasibility study for a full-scale breeding programme based on the ELFF project, develop a comprehensive business strategy for novel varieties in Ethiopia & also for possible introduction of lupins into the surrounding African countries.

Lupins are a high-protein legume crop, offering great potential to increase the self sufficiency of UK agriculture by providing an alternative to imported soy animal feed. Additional benefits of the crop include improved soil health and wide geographic suitability. The crop provides an SoyaUK will use research expertise to investigate the scope for a lupin biotechnology and breeding program.

Lupins, as a high protein, high energy, nitrogen-fixing grain legume, are the only UK crop with a protein and oil composition that can effectively compete with imported soya and provide a comparable UK-grown vegetable protein source for farmed animals. Through innovative approaches to breeding, agronomy, feed processing and nutrition we will develop the market for yellow and narrow leaf lupins as sustainable protein sources for UK agriculture and aquaculture. We will employ three approaches focussing on: Germplasm Improvement and Variety Testing; Agronomy; and Livestock. The Livestock workpackage will comprise three strands: poultry; aquaculture; and ruminants. The project will develop ways to overcome technical and economic barriers and provide incentives for lupin use in terrestrial and aquatic farm animal production.

When price and availability of imported soya protein was not an issue, UK production of soya protein was not economically viable. However the economics for vegetable protein have recently changed and soya production for forage is successfully grown in the US & S.Africa which could be adapted to enable UK production. We are evaluating non-GM soya lines for whole-crop forage harvesting in the UK thus allowing issues relating to late maturity, yield and harvesting to be overcome in more marginal livestock areas. Anti nutritional problems will be avoided, facilitating direct production and use on-farm with reduced transport/processing costs. We aim to provide growers with guidelines for production of Soya in th UK, as well as seed and inoculant for UK farmers to exploit this valuable protein source and residual Nitrogen. Our project is highly innovative and will develop new varieties for UK conditions