(2) The second chapter, Capacity for Survival. White Lupin Breeding Project, reconsiders how, over the past 10,000 years, humans have contributed to flowering plant diversification through domestication.

This chapter is an ethnographic study of human–plant co-evolution in breeding, introducing the multi-year White Lupin Breeding Project at the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), where researchers focus on developing new white lupin varieties with optimal survival capacities for the Swiss climate.

Through field trips, interviews, and conversations with FiBL researchers Monika Messmer, Christine Arncken, and Mariateresa Lazzaro, our Plants_Intelligence team explored their outstanding white lupin breeding project, LUPINNO SUISSE (2021–2025). (https://www.fibl.org/en/themes/projectdatabase/projectitem/project/2056)

In their White Lupin Breeding Project, FiBL researchers develop new white lupin variety trials and breed lines with anthracnose tolerance (fungal disease resistance) and low alkaloid content (removing bitterness and toxicity).

The FiBL aims to support the production of innovative, plant-based, protein-rich white lupin products from sustainable farming in Switzerland.