[bendufeu]

Food security may one day be a major issue and I have been told most efficient use of land is via a vegan diet.

Soya and Lentils are two of the highest protein crops with around 20% protein in Lentils and 30-40% in soya beans i believe, this is equivalent and greater than most meats. But how do these crops fare in the UK,

I've seen a few varieties of soya bean available and was wondering how much crop is produced for land and what conditions it required e.g. temperatures, sunlight and can a greenhouse help|?

Lentils - has anyone successfully grown lentils and if so what conditions do they require, where to buy them and how is the crop? (all ive seen proof of so far is that they can be sprouted.

[poultrygeist]

Hi bendufeu. I'm sure we've had a topic or two about these before and I'm sure they can be grown quite successfully in the UK.

I'll do a quick search and see if I can find anything.

Rob

[poultrygeist]

I've found this previous thread

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=15758.0

It seems to give the best information of all the threads.

Good luck.

Rob

[Stripey_cat]

I think lentils need a drier summer and a longer season than we have, at least ideally.

[woodburner]

Errm sorry, but you just dragged out my soapbox. 

There is a lot of land that is simply not suitable for arable crops, floodplains and hillsides and mountains for instance, but sheep and goats can flourish on hills and mountainsides, and cattle on floodplains. A vegan or truly vegetarian diet also excludes fish and 'seafood', so while not directly affecting efficiency of land use, means that more land needs to be used.
Chickens and pigs can be fed (legislation permitting) on scraps and waste from the vegetable garden, or even free ranging on land that is being used for something else (woodland).

I do however object strongly to the use of good arable land to grow fodder for intensively farmed animals, even though it is clearly more efficient/economic somehow. (I suspect that it comes at a high environmental cost of land unnecessarily cleared of forest, and it is certainly not good from the animals point of view.)

Ok soap box away.

It is very important to maintain humus levels in the soil. Green manures can be used and clever choice can reduce or possibly eliminate the need to dedicate space for them (though many people like to have a patch of comfrey) but animal manure is very good, and provides a higher concentration of nutrients than compost.
For a small area like an allotment, chickens are useful to help with composting, and fertilising as well as providing eggs (and meat if you can do the deed etc.). They can also be used to help clear the ground.
For larger areas of land other animals can be used. In years gone by it was common practice to let animals onto harvested fields to keep the weeds down and provide manure directly.
For efficient and environmentally friendly use of land, permacultrure has some very interesting ideas.

Soya was originally only grown as green manure, it's not even suitable for animal feed without processing, and it has to be very highly processed to make it edible for humans. For me that is enough to forget about growing them. There are plenty more edible beans to choose from, and all are good for the ground too.

I tend to look at what has been traditionally grown here as a guide to what will grow best. Peas and field beans used to be (and still are sometimes) grown for animal feed to provide their protein. So I would deduce that Broad beans would also be good as they are very closely related to field beans.
A bit of googling reveals that lentils should be good, a bit more reveals that they are low yield, and a faff to harvest, a brief search seems to reveal the same for chickpeas. 

[Kate and her Ducks]

I have to agree with a lot of what woodburner says, but mainly the point that you are probably better growing crops that are used to our climate. The legumes (beans etc) native or that grow well here may have less protein weight for weight than crops such as soya but you will get a far better crop and therefore ultimately more protein from them. You can eat soya without a lot of processing in the form of edamame but still don't think you will get many. Still growing you own would be pretty cool and give you bragging rights!

[Trillium]

Even in my longer, warmer summers here our soybeans are less than 12" tall because taller varieties need a much longer heat period than our area allows, and decidedly more than the UK can offer. They are intensively planted , perhaps an inch apart, due to their low yield. Harvesting them dry by hand is a headache and I'm not sure this variety makes decent edamame. They really do need a lot of sun which is why they're field grown. As for lentil seeds, they're usually available through heirloom seed growers. I got a package last year but didn't have room to plant them. Will try some this year but doubt the yield will be high enough to last more than a few meals. De Puys variety is highly recommended for optimum protein.

[Kate and her Ducks]

Have to confess, did assume you are in the UK, might be practical if you're not.

[Trillium]

I too assumed Bendufu was in the UK. Bendufu, could you please adjust your profile to indicate where you live so we can better assist you as we have members from all over the world? thanks.

[poultrygeist]

The OP does refer to the UK, so i think you're right.

Rob

[Knoblauch]

I subsist mainly on chickpeas - but if I couldn't get them or had to grow all my own food I'd switch to peas and broad beans for protein - seems natural enough?  Plus I'd learn to hunt game too (have a catapult already but only for target practice), I certainly wouldn't starve just to maintain being a veggie.  I really wouldn't worry about protein as a veggie, I did, but now tofu and soya are just too rich for me.

[bendufeu]

Thanks for the replies, added location now - channel islands,
The slightly warmer conditions here may help a little but i guess its still not enough to get a good crop from either Lentils or Soya.   I will try both next year in greenhouse and open land to compare.
Woodburner - good point about some land not suitable for growing crops, I strongly agree with you on the use of land to grow fodder.  With more and more people eating meat in the less developed countries and with worldwide populations increasing there has to be a point when there is no more land to grow this fodder and sustain a western diet.  I've looked quickly on google and seen some figures ranging from 8-14 billion on what the world can support.

[celjaci]

I seem to remember reading about the average working family in medieval England hardly ever saw meat - they existed chiefly on barley, peas, beans and cabbage.
It was probably a very windy diet and rather boring but arguably relatively healthy.

French beans/haricots would probably be much more reliable and higher yielding in our climate than soya.
They are grown in quantity in Bosnia ( admittedly ) with warmer summer and used extensively as a warming winter food. The markets in autumn have pyramids of beans for sale, black, white, brown, green, red & white etc etc and many people have their preference for a particular colour. Last visit in October I was give a large bag of multi coloured beans ( the result of home saving/ cross fertilisation) and very good they are. Come to think I might try growing a few.........

[SG6]

Erm.....
Wouldn't keeping a few chickens and collecting the eggs be a protein crop?

Seems such a simple answer, and I seem to recall a small insignificant little read section somewhere on this site about keeping chickens.

Suppose I had better not ask anything on the chicken forums for a while.

[sunshineband]

Food security may one day be a major issue and I have been told most efficient use of land is via a vegan diet.

Soya and Lentils are two of the highest protein crops with around 20% protein in Lentils and 30-40% in soya beans i believe, this is equivalent and greater than most meats. But how do these crops fare in the UK,

I've seen a few varieties of soya bean available and was wondering how much crop is produced for land and what conditions it required e.g. temperatures, sunlight and can a greenhouse help|?

Lentils - has anyone successfully grown lentils and if so what conditions do they require, where to buy them and how is the crop? (all ive seen proof of so far is that they can be sprouted.

Not to do with land use but you mentioned vegan diet. My son was vegan for many years and it turned out that he developed a B12 deficiency (which gives symptoms similar to pernicious anaemia) and so be careful if this is your choice to consider how you would get this into your diet -- you'd bo OK for a while as your body stores B12 for around three months so you don't need a daily amount, but it is somehting to consider long term.
Thought this was worth mentioning