CROPS FOR THE FUTURE (UK) CIC

Their core work

Crops for the Future (UK) CIC is a mission-driven research organisation dedicated to underutilised crops — plant species with strong nutritional and agronomic value that modern industrial agriculture has largely set aside. Their practical work centres on building the economic infrastructure these crops lack: mapping value chains, engaging farmers and buyers through co-creation, and demonstrating commercial viability for species like legumes that are resilient to climate stress. They also contribute specialist agronomic and food systems knowledge to digital decision support tools used for land use planning and sustainable agriculture policy. Their overarching purpose is to make neglected crop diversity a practical resource for food security rather than an academic curiosity.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their early H2020 work (LANDSUPPORT, 2018) was positioned at the landscape and policy level — land planning tools, HPC-based modelling, and supporting governments in implementing land use policy sustainably. By 2021, the focus had shifted decisively toward the crop and market level: underutilised species, value chain actors, farmers, consumers, and co-creation. This is a meaningful shift from supply-side planning infrastructure toward demand-side market activation for specific crop types. The trajectory suggests the organisation is moving closer to its core mission — getting neglected crops into actual food systems — rather than contributing generalist agronomic input to broad land governance projects.

They are converging on their core identity as an underutilised crops specialist, suggesting future collaborations will most likely fit projects on neglected species, food system diversification, or market activation for climate-resilient crops.

How they like to work

Crops for the Future (UK) CIC participates exclusively as a consortium partner — they have not coordinated any H2020 project — which positions them as a specialist contributor that brings focused subject-matter expertise rather than project management capacity. Despite only two projects, they have accumulated 49 unique consortium partners across 17 countries, indicating they work within large, multi-partner RIA consortia where their niche knowledge on underutilised crops or land systems fills a specific gap. Working with them means engaging a compact, mission-focused organisation that plugs into large networks but plays a defined specialist role rather than a broad coordinating one.

Despite a small project portfolio of two RIAs, the organisation has engaged with 49 distinct consortium partners across 17 countries, reflecting the large multi-partner structure typical of Horizon 2020 food and agriculture consortia. No dominant geographic cluster is visible from the available data, suggesting a genuinely pan-European network rather than a regionally concentrated one.

What sets them apart

Crops for the Future (UK) CIC occupies an exceptionally narrow and underserved niche: they are one of the very few research organisations in the European H2020 ecosystem whose primary identity is the promotion and commercialisation of underutilised crop species. Most food and agriculture partners in EU consortia are generalist research institutes or universities; this organisation brings a specific agenda around crop diversity and food system resilience that is hard to replicate from within a broader mandate. For any consortium working on sustainable food systems, biodiversity, climate-adaptive agriculture, or food supply chain diversification, they provide both scientific credibility and a clear mission-alignment that generalist partners cannot offer.

Highlights from their portfolio

• RADIANT
  The largest-funded project (EUR 226,579) and the one most directly aligned with the organisation's core mission, building practical market pathways for underutilised crops through multi-actor co-creation across the full value chain.
• LANDSUPPORT
  Demonstrates the organisation's ability to contribute beyond crop science into digital land planning tools and policy implementation systems, showing breadth beyond their primary specialisation.