2016) that were developed to increase food self-sufficiency after the Second World War. Several reasons explain this trend, mainly related to the increasing organization of agricultural supply chains around simplified cereal-based systems (Meynard et al. Yet, the surface area under legume crops has been decreasing regularly in France and the rest of Europe, since the 1960s in the case of forage legumes and since the 1990s in the case of grain legumes (Schott et al. 1) afford interesting agronomic, environmental, and nutritional benefits (Voisin et al. Among the variety of crops that can be used, legumes (Fig. Our results constitute a fruitful pathway to encouraging changes for both individual and collective support for farmers to facilitate the introduction of legumes.Ĭrop diversification is often presented as an efficient means to increase the sustainability of agri-food systems (Altieri 1999 Médiène et al. Here, we show for the first time that the transition to a high and sustainable level of legume introduction in farms, whether progressive or as a rupture, required the combination of three levers: (1) the stability of outlets (on-farm consumption or market opportunities), (2) knowledge and local references on the preceding crop effect of legumes, and (3) the farmer’s involvement in peer-networks. The analysis of the 26 trajectories allowed us to distinguish four transitional pathways according to the speed of change, the type of legumes cultivated, and the level of legume introduction. We developed a methodology to analyze farmers’ trajectories based on the identification of (1) agronomic-coherence phases during which practices are stable and (2) the process of change from one coherence phase to another. We interviewed 26 farmers growing legumes, in two French regions (Burgundy and Pays de la Loire), to understand the changes of their practices in terms of legume introduction over time. We analyze here the trajectories of farms cultivating legumes, with a view to understanding how and why farmers have modified their practices over the long term and to what extent this can help to support further introduction of legumes on farms. Studies investigating the process of change of farmers growing legumes are missing.

Introducing or increasing legume production on farms has become a key issue in many European countries. This is the result of the agri-food system lock-in around major crops, which has led to a strong simplification of cropping systems and a specialization of territories, in which legumes have been marginalized. Legume cultivation has been declining for several decades in France and in Europe as a whole.

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