ENHANCED MID-ATLANTIC SYSTEM SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH-PROTEIN AND STRESS TOLERANT FABA BEAN FOR WINTER PRODUCTION

Our long-term goal is to successfully introduce faba bean as a fall/winter crop with multiple nutritional, environmental, and economical benefits that can make the cropping systems in the mid-Atlantic more sustainable. With this project, we will set the basis of a trans-disciplinary effort on breeding, genomics, phenomics, agronomics, economics, and stakeholder participation to carry on the current and future research on faba beans. Our current overarching goal is to identify and further develop winter-hardy faba bean populations to complement the current commercial and certified organic production systems in the Mid-Atlantic with (a) a high-protein green and dry vegetable crop for plant-based products and human consumption, (b) superior nitrogen fixation that integrates into current rotations/intercropping systems, and (c) soil-benefic and early pollinator foraging source. We will achieve this goal through multi-disciplinary approaches to address the following objectives:1. Identify faba beans suitable for production in the Mid-Atlantic from a panel of 500+ varieties and development of open-pollinated synthetic cultivars and lines.2. Develop tools for cultivar development, crop management, and reduced environmental footprint through genomics and phenomics including DNA-based SNP markers, high-throughput phenotyping and machine learning.3. Define the major production and environmental concerns and benefits associated with farmers' adoption of faba bean as a new seed and vegetable crop in the Mid-Atlantic, including commercial and certified organic production.4. Optimize the agronomic practices for improved economics of faba bean commercial and certified organic production in the Mid-Atlantic.5.Develop extension education and evaluation, focusing on multiple communication strategies targeting the vertically-integrated production chain to reach a maximum number of stakeholders.