The Legume Factory – A Swedish-produced and sustainable vegetable protein based on soybean grown indoors

Sustainability and health are strong driving forces among consumers and there is an increasing demand for foods containing plant-based proteins, including Swedish ones. However, many of the vegetable products currently available on the Swedish market are produced abroad or are based on raw materials grown in another country. There is thus a great need for Swedish production of protein-rich products for the food and feed market.

The purpose of this project is to investigate through new cultivation and extraction techniques whether soybeans can be grown on a large scale indoors and if so, which products that can be extracted from pods and plants, e.g. edamame beans and protein extracts.

At SLU and Ljusgårda AB, trials have been carried out in parallel where various parameters, such as temperature, humidity and light, have been tested to optimise growth and yield. Biostimulants based on residual flows from the protein factory on the Alnarp campus, SLU, have also been used to bring circularity into the system.