LEBANESE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Their core work

LARI is Lebanon's national agricultural research institution, conducting applied research to support the country's farming sector across crop production, plant health, and rural development. In European research networks, they function as a Mediterranean field-access partner — offering on-the-ground presence in olive-growing landscapes and local agricultural conditions that European institutions cannot replicate in their own field trials. Both of their H2020 engagements center on the Mediterranean olive sector: one addressing bioresources for oliviculture broadly, the other targeting Xylella fastidiosa, a bacterial plant pathogen that has become one of the most economically damaging threats to olive production across the Mediterranean basin. As a third party in MSCA-RISE staff exchange projects, LARI's primary operational contribution is hosting visiting researchers and providing access to Lebanese agricultural sites rather than leading technical work packages directly.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

LARI's first H2020 project (BeFOre, 2015) focused broadly on bioresources for oliviculture — a wide-angle entry point covering the biological assets underpinning olive farming in Mediterranean countries. Their second project (CURE-XF, 2017) narrowed sharply to a single high-priority threat: Xylella fastidiosa, its spread as an invasive pest, and the EU regulatory framework for managing it. This shift from general crop bioresources toward plant pathogen response and biosecurity suggests LARI is deepening into applied plant health, likely driven by the growing urgency of Xylella outbreaks across Southern Europe and the Levant.

LARI is moving from broad agricultural research into plant pathogen monitoring and regulatory compliance, positioning itself as a Mediterranean field partner for invasive-species threats affecting olive and other sensitive crops.

How they like to work

LARI participates exclusively as a third party in MSCA-RISE staff exchange projects, meaning they host visiting researchers and provide access to Lebanese field sites rather than holding formal EU contracts or leading work packages. This is a supporting rather than a driving role, but it is structurally important — MSCA-RISE consortia require credible non-European partners with real institutional capacity. Despite only two projects, LARI has accumulated connections with 29 unique partners across 15 countries, which reflects the broad international reach that MSCA-RISE exchanges generate and suggests LARI is an active and reliable exchange host within Mediterranean-focused research networks.

LARI has built connections with 29 unique partners across 15 countries from just two projects, reflecting the wide international reach characteristic of MSCA-RISE researcher exchange programmes. Their network is predominantly European agricultural research institutions with a Mediterranean crop focus, giving LARI an unusually broad contact base relative to their project count.

What sets them apart

LARI offers something structurally rare for European research consortia: institutional presence and field-site access inside Lebanon, a country with centuries of olive cultivation history and a distinct Mediterranean climate and pest pressure profile. For projects studying Xylella fastidiosa spread, olive crop genetics, or Mediterranean agricultural adaptation, LARI provides a non-EU reference country that is geographically and agronomically relevant but outside the EU regulatory boundary — which is precisely what MSCA-RISE is designed to bridge. Consortia targeting EU plant health policy or Mediterranean food security will find LARI a credible and geographically irreplaceable partner.

Highlights from their portfolio

• CURE-XF
  Addresses one of the most economically damaging plant pathogens in Mediterranean olive production, placing LARI inside a high-stakes EU plant health response network spanning Europe and third countries.
• BeFOre
  LARI's entry into EU research networks via oliviculture bioresources — a broad foundational engagement that established their identity as a Mediterranean agricultural field partner.