AS any keen gardener will know there is nothing prettier than a border full of Lupins. But this is where I want you all to sit up and take note! Especially any farmers out there.

I have just come back from a holiday in Australia and found they are planting fields of Lupins. Apparently they have been doing this since the 1960s to help return nitrogen to the soil and using the seeds as stock-feed.

Now research is uncovering the potential health benefits of Lupin grains when they replace wheat in products such s bread. Lupin is 40 to 45 per cent protein, 25 to 30 per cent dietary fibre. It has little to no starch and low in oil.

Put all this together and you have a natural weapon against obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. The Australians are now making bread, biscuits, pasta and even Lupin milk similar to soy milk.

Wouldn't it look nice on our landscape to see fields full of Lupins along with the yellow of the rapeseed? All I can hope for now is that a few farmers out there have spotted a new cash machine! And I'll raise my glass to the good old fashioned Lupin.

David Luckhurst

Okehampton