PROSPER: Promoting Resilient Orphan Legumes for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security

PROSPER is an ambitious EU-funded project that seeks to transform European agriculture by promoting the use of highly resilient orphan legumes (OLs) as a pathway to more sustainable, climate-resilient, and circular food systems. Operating across the Mediterranean, Central, and Northern Europe, the project brings together farmers, researchers, industry, and citizens to co-create innovative solutions that diversify both farming systems and value chains, strengthen biodiversity, and drive socio-economic development in rural areas.

Key Objectives and Vision

PROSPER aims to enhance agricultural sustainability by providing farmers with a broader selection of cultivars, enabling them to maintain and even boost productivity under challenging environmental conditions. At the same time, the project promotes the development of new value chains that support food processing and the bio-circular economy, creating opportunities for innovation and growth. Specifically, by encouraging more diverse cropping systems, PROSPER also promotes biodiversity, strengthens ecosystem services and builds greater resilience to climate change, ensuring long-term benefits for both agriculture and society. Furthermore, by integrating traditional knowledge with cutting-edge science, PROSPER envisions a future where European farming is not only more sustainable but also more inclusive and aligned with EU strategies such as the Green Deal and the Sustainable Development Goals.

What Sets PROSPER Apart

What makes PROSPER unique is its multi-actor and participatory approach. Farmers, citizens, researchers and industry partners are not passive beneficiaries but active co-creators of solutions. Through Living Labs and knowledge-sharing platforms, stakeholders will jointly develop and adapt innovations to ensure they meet real-world needs. Equally distinctive is PROSPER’s focus on Participatory Spatial Explicit Information Services, which will deliver on-demand data and tools to stakeholders, enabling smarter decisions at local and regional levels. By directly linking biodiversity, ecosystem services, and natural capital to economic and agricultural practices, PROSPER bridges the gap between science and practice.

How will it do it

PROSPER will implement its vision through a multidimensional approach, including:

• Regional pilots across different pedoclimatic zones in Europe to test OL-based farming systems.
• Technology transfer and demonstration actions to scale sustainable practices.
• Capacity building activities, equipping stakeholders with new skills and digital tools for agri-food development and biodiversity conservation.
• Co-creation of products, services, and business models, ensuring solutions are market-ready, socially accepted and environmentally sound.

White Research’s Role in PROSPER

White Research plays a central role in ensuring that PROSPER’s innovations are closely aligned with stakeholder needs and behaviours. To achieve this, WR will design and implement surveys in the project’s pilot regions, engaging both farmers and citizens to capture their economic, environmental, and social preferences. Building on this knowledge, WR will create detailed stakeholder profiles that reflect varying attitudes and behaviours toward innovation and sustainability. The results will then be used to raise awareness, strengthen communication strategies and ultimately facilitate the successful adoption and scaling of PROSPER’s outcomes across diverse regions.

Through this work, WR ensures that PROSPER’s outcomes are not only scientifically advanced but also practical, widely accepted and ready for scale-up. By combining expertise in behavioural research and impact assessment, WR strengthens the project’s capacity to transform food systems across Europe.