Q.What is your name? If you’re part of an organisation: What is your function and what is the organisation’s activity?
My name is Hubert Würsch and I live in central Switzerland. I work as a project manager at terrABC.org.
The online exchange platform terrABC.org focuses on useful, practical and locally adapted methods of agriculture that help to increase plant diversity and soil fertility, make animal husbandry more species-appropriate and enable socially satisfying and economically successful food production. terrABC is aimed at farmers as experts and practical researchers on their farms. At terrABC.org they can find knowledge, share their own practical experiences and exchange information with colleagues about open questions and successes.
Q.What fact(s) about legumes do you find most compelling for their promotion?
I consider the benefit of legumes through nitrogen fixation to be an enormously important factor in agriculture. “Feed no food” becomes an even higher priority especially against the current background of war in the breadbasket of Europe. It is important to use the valuable arable land for the production of sustainable food and to produce meat mainly with ruminants in areas where only roughage can be produced.
Q.Which are the biggest challenges for consumers?
Especially in regions like the European Alps, where protein needs are traditionally met by animal products, regional recipes based on meat and milk are firmly established. I feel it is a great challenge to get consumers to change their menu, their shopping and eating behavior, and to supplement their diet with legume recipes.
Q.How did you fall in love with legumes?
Growing up in a pure grassland, I actually knew pulses only as a side dish, e.g. green peas from a can. In India, during a professional stay of several months, I got to know and love the variety of pulses and the different ways of preparing them. While studying (environmental engineer/biological agriculture), I got to know my wife. She cultivated and documented various field bean successions as part of her final thesis. Thereby I got to know the cultivation and especially the beauty of the flowers of beans.
Q.What is your favorite legume and why?
I love to cook and eat lentil stews and lentil salad. It reminds me of my exciting time in India.
terrABC.org offers:
Online platform for publishing and sharing cultivation instructions, variety descriptions, processing and recipes. Translation from different languages to German.
terrABC.org seeks:
Expanding the range of information about legumes on terrabc.org. Extending the farmers network via terrabc.org. Promoting the cultivation of legumes inside crop rotation with their various positive effects on soil, plants and alimentation.
