In VALERECO’s Italian Living Lab, researchers, farmers and agri-food professionals are joining forces to explore how chickpea cultivation can become more resilient, sustainable and better connected to the needs of the entire food chain
What does it take to grow chickpeas more sustainably in a changing climate? And how can the people involved in bringing them from the field to our plates work together to make a difference?
These questions are at the heart of the VALERECO Living Lab at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Italy, where collaboration is helping to bridge the gap between agricultural research and everyday farming practices.
Discover the Italian Living Lab in action
Watch the video to learn more about the people, activities and the collaborative approach behind the VALERECO Living Lab at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies.
Chickpeas, like other legumes, have an important role to play in more sustainable agricultural systems. Yet their cultivation faces significant challenges, including drought, diseases and unpredictable yields. Addressing these challenges requires more than scientific research alone. It calls for the experience, knowledge and involvement of everyone across the agri-food value chain.
Exploring new possibilities for chickpea cultivation
One of the main research priorities of the Italian Living Lab is exploring chickpea variety blends, growing different varieties together to investigate whether this approach can help stabilise yields and improve crop resilience to drought and disease.
Rather than treating this as a challenge for researchers or farmers alone, the Living Lab brings together a diverse group of participants, including farmers, agronomists, researchers, retailers, packaging operators and public officials. Each contributes a different perspective, helping to identify practical challenges, explore potential solutions and strengthen connections between agricultural production, research and the wider market.
The Living Lab also aims to support greater recognition of Tuscan and Italian legumes, while encouraging knowledge exchange and stronger integration across the supply chain.
Where research meets real-world experience
The Living Lab’s activities extend well beyond university research facilities. On-farm visits and discussions help identify the obstacles farmers face and explore possible ways to overcome them. In university experimental fields, researchers share preliminary findings with agricultural professionals, while gathering feedback that can inform ongoing and future experiments. At processing and packaging facilities, participants explore what is needed to make the journey from field to consumer more efficient.
Regular exchanges with businesses and other stakeholders also help identify emerging needs and opportunities, while online meetings maintain communication and collaboration among participants.
Together, these activities create opportunities for scientific knowledge and practical experience to inform one another, helping ensure that research responds to real challenges throughout the chickpea supply chain.
Growing solutions together
The Italian Living Lab reflects a central principle of VALERECO: building more sustainable and resilient agricultural systems requires cooperation across different sectors and areas of expertise. By connecting people who grow, study, process and market legumes, the Living Lab aims to create new opportunities for chickpea cultivation and strengthen the role of legumes in future farming systems.
Importantly, the knowledge and experience generated through these activities are intended to be useful beyond Italy, offering insights that could be adapted to other regions and agricultural contexts.
Because the future of sustainable farming is not shaped in the field or the laboratory alone. It is shaped by the people working together to connect them. Follow VALERECO as we continue showcasing our Living Labs and the people working to strengthen the role of legumes in sustainable European farming.
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