Imagine if our farm crops were like athletes who lost their stamina over time. This project looks for the 'wild cousins' of our food plants that still have the strength to survive droughts and pests. By mixing these wild traits back into our crops, we can grow healthier food that doesn't need as many chemicals to survive.
Modern crops have a narrow gene pool, making them vulnerable to climate change and reducing their nutritional value. This creates a risk of yield instability and high dependence on expensive agrochemicals.
A roadmap for using wild relatives in breeding, selection toolboxes for priority traits, and a user-friendly data portal for genetic material access.
If you are a seed breeder dealing with crops that fail during extreme weather — this project developed a roadmap and selection toolboxes that allow you to integrate wild genetic traits into wheat, barley, pea, lettuce, and brassicas to improve resilience.
If you are a bio-input company dealing with the need for reduced chemical reliance — this project developed data on plant-associated microbiomes from wild relatives that can help create crops requiring fewer synthetic inputs.
If you are a food producer dealing with low nutritional value in mass-market crops — this project developed a way to identify and implement high-quality nutritional traits from wild relatives into flagship crops.
Based on available project data, the project is developing a user-friendly data portal to provide access to priority trait information and CWR accessions, but specific pricing is not mentioned.
The project uses on-farm pilots and actual breeding sites across European regions to demonstrate the value of these traits for breeders and farmers, indicating a path toward industrial scale.
Based on available project data, the project focuses on creating a roadmap and data portal for integration into national and international repositories; specific licensing terms are not provided.
The project runs from 2024-01-01 to 2028-12-31, aiming to cover the translational pathway from wild plant identification to a market-ready crop within these 5 years.
The project provides selection toolboxes and characterisation protocols designed to be applied directly within current breeding programmes.
The consortium is well-balanced for technology transfer, consisting of 26 partners across 12 countries. With a 19% industry ratio (5 companies) and 8 SMEs, there is a strong bridge between the 16 academic/research entities and the commercial market, ensuring that the genetic research is aligned with actual farmer and breeder needs.
Contact Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Spain
Contact us to connect with the COUSIN consortium for early access to the CWR data portal.
