Genetic resources (GenRes) underpin production in agriculture and forestry; they are essential for long-term food security, delivery of non-food products and adaptation to changing climate. Still, their potential remains largely unharnessed. GenRes Bridge aims to strengthen their conservation and sustainable use by accelerating collaborative efforts and widening capacities in plant, forest and animal GenRes domains by sharing perspectives, exchanging best practices, harmonizing standards, trainings and sharing resources under the auspices of the three pan-European GenRes networks: ECPGR, EUFORGEN and ERFP. Collaboration among GenRes and wider biodiversity actors will widen capacities and increase the effectiveness of sustainable management of GenRes through the development of an integrated GenRes strategy, generation of tools and user-oriented services such as a gateway to ease the navigation through the digital GenRes landscape, and policy recommendations. Apart from Management and Communication WPs, the project includes three thematic WPs: • European integrated GenRes strategy: engaging a wide range of stakeholders and expanding geographical scope of existing networks to European Neighborhood Policy countries to share perspectives, knowledge and current strategies to develop an integrated GenRes strategy; • GenRes in action: taking up science results into GenRes management and strategy preparation, collating demonstration cases, improving user-oriented services, standards and quality management; • Enhancing GenRes data delivery: improving quality and quantity of information already stored in the central information systems (EURISCO, EUFGIS and EFABIS) through training and linking them to other databases. GenRes Bridges consortium consists of 16 partners, selected through a broad consultation, representing existing European GenRes structures committed to support long-term implementation of the integrated GenRes strategy and its recommendations.

The overarching objective of Farmer’s Pride is to establish a network of stakeholders and conservation sites that effectively coordinates conservation actions to safeguard the wealth of Europe’s in situ plant genetic resources (PGR) and integrates the user community to maximize their sustainable use. Specifically, to address the challenge and scope of the SFS-04-2017 work programme, Farmer’s Pride will: a) build relationships between existing diverse PGR stakeholder networks, and where necessary create new partnerships to establish a unified network of stakeholders involved in PGR conservation and sustainable use; b) enhance existing knowledge of European landrace and crop wild relative genetic diversity and showcase how it can be effectively secured and managed; c) use social science and economic tools to establish the value of in situ PGR populations and individual traits, as well as a cost effective means of conserving them; d) use predictive characterization methods to identify valuable traits in in situ PGR populations, targeting those most vital for satisfying future agricultural and market needs; e) establish a mechanism to facilitate the flow of plant genetic material from in situ populations to the user community, both directly and via ex situ collections; f) develop and establish a durable governance and resourcing structure for the European network of in situ PGR conservation sites and stakeholders; g) promote public awareness of the value of PGR for agriculture and consumers; and h) design and implement a network of European sites and stakeholders that conserves the breadth of PGR diversity found in situ. Through these activities, Farmer’s Pride will result in significant strengthening of European capacities for the conservation, management and sustainable use of in situ PGR as a foundation for increased competitiveness in the farming and breeding sectors, and ultimately for long-term food and nutritional security in Europe.

The project deals with the urgent need to provide climate-resilient cultivars addressed to organic vegetable production systems. These new cultivars will benefit organic growers, and the organic seed industry, providing much needed security both under current and future scenarios of climate change. In this project, we will exploit the genetic variation of broccoli, kohlrabi, bean and tomato for enhanced productivity, by exploiting up-to-date knowledge of genome structure and function. This work will be enhanced by the active involvement of farmers, advisory services, research institutes, breeding companies and food processors from diverse geographical/climatic contexts in Europe and Non-EU countries. The selection of pre-breeding/ breeding lines for the three species will be undertaken in organic vegetable farming systems, utilizing an annual crop rotation scheme. New cultivars will be selected for efficiency when grown under water, temperature, and nitrogen stress, for resistance to some pests and diseases, for desirable product quality traits such as taste, visual appearance, post-harvest performance. The Stakeholder Board will contribute to the expected outcomes of the project. Crop genetic diversity will be broad as we will be utilizing several landraces (LRs) and crops wild relatives (CWRs) provided by partners for the foreseen pre-breeding and breeding activities. We will adopt an innovative approach, where plant traits related to the roots-zone, and to root-growth, and architecture that enable a better interaction with organic soil and its microbiome, are sought to benefit the end-users. This approach will ensure that the available genetic resources and bred-germplasm, combined with the best on-farm management practices will enhance resource use efficiency and productivity. The germplasm from this project will act to pump-prime the production of new seed for the organic growing sector and will also serve as a model for the enhancement of other crops.

DIVERSIFOOD will evaluate and enrich the diversity of cultivated plants within diverse agroecosystems so as to increase their performance, resilience, quality and use through a multi-actor approach. By integrating existing experienced networks and using specific and relevant cases across Europe the project will strengthen “food culture” to improve economic viability of local chains resulting in a greater diversity of produce with a cultural identity. Thanks to the composition of its consortium, DIVERSIFOOD will cover the whole food chain from genetic resources to marketing, connecting and amplifying local existing actions. It will design specific concepts and methodologies for combining in situ experiments to ensure performance and quality. It will evaluate the genetic resources of a dozen underutilized and forgotten plant species for organic and low-input agriculture or marginal/specific conditions, including the association of various underutilized legumes with several cereals, and create new diversity by innovative breeding methods designed for more intra-crop variation. It will help to facilitate cooperation between participatory research networks and professional breeders as well as policy makers in connecting formal and informal seed systems in Europe in relation to international negotiations on Farmers’ rights with the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Key-lessons based on the diverse experiences in the project will be shared to support on-farm seed production networks to guarantee high quality seed. DIVERSIFOOD will demonstrate the socio-economic value of on-farm seed systems, help at local and wider policy levels to increase food and environmental awareness, and improve multi-actor approaches to embed healthy and tasty local products in regional food chains. Demonstration and dissemination will take place at all stages, in collaboration with network organizations for a greater impact.