The impact of policy scenarios on economic welfare and the environment depends to a large extent on their direct effect on land use: a strong increase in the cultivation of legumes means a significant environmental impact and a sizeable impact on other variables such as farmers’ incomes, cost to taxpayers and imports and exports. The impact of realistic policy alternatives aimed at promoting legumes is likely to be limited. In particular, they may not be able to reverse the trend in the decline of grain legumes.