Agroecology 2 min

European project "Pro-Wild" to protect and promote crop wild relatives launched

PRESS RELEASE - A ground-breaking European initiative, the Pro-Wild project, has officially commenced with the aim of protecting and promoting crop wild relatives (CWR) that are closely related to commonly cultivated plants. This innovative project seeks to harness the genetic potential of wild plant species to improve crop resilience and adaptability to climate change.

Published on 09 October 2024

© INRAE - B. Cauvin

Pro-Wild, short for "Protect and Promote Crop Wild Relatives," is focused on three of Europe’s most widely cultivated crops: wheat, sugar beet, and oilseed rape. The production of new varieties has been stressed as a critical means to mitigate the anticipated impacts of climate change. The Pro-Wild project aims to better preserve, characterize and exploit the genetic diversity of wild relatives to breed for better-adapted crops.

The Pro-Wild project, which is running from 2024-2029, will address three core areas:

  • In-situ Conservation: Mapping, characterizing and protecting CWR in their natural habitats.
  • Ex-situ Conservation: Propagating, conserving, and cataloguing CWR outside their natural environments to safeguard their genetic material.
  • Pre-breeding Activities: Identifying desirable traits in CWR and incorporating these traits into elite breeding programs to enhance the genetic diversity and resilience of cultivated crops.

The ultimate goal of Pro-Wild is to improve the adaptability of wheat, sugar beet, and oilseed rape to changing climatic conditions while maintaining resistance to pests and diseases and improving end-use quality. By reintegrating the genetic diversity of wild relatives, the project aims to enhance the sustainability and security of agriculture in Europe and beyond, with project partners in Turkey and Israel.

The project officially kicked off in the first week of September with a meeting in Clermont-Ferrand, France. Representatives from the 19 international partner institutions gathered to outline the project's roadmap and collaborative efforts. The project is managed and coordinated by INRAE.

Pro-Wild is funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme, with support from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).

Project Features

Pro Wild – Protect and Promote Crop Wild Relatives

Coordination by INRAE – 19 parteners : INRAE, National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, France / IAM, Institut Agro Montpellier, France / WEIZMANN, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel / IPK, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Germany / BOKU, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Austria / ARO, The Agricultural Research Organisation of Israel – The Volcani Centre, Israel / CREA, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Italy / UNIPG, University of Perugia, Italy / UNIPA, University of Palermo, Italy / CUK, Çukurova University, Turkey / INN, Innolea , France / KWS, KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA, Germany / IT, INRAE Transfert SAS, France / ELGO, Hellenic Agricultural Organization – Dimitra, Greece / IfZ, Institute of Sugar Beet Research, Germany / HCC, Highclere Consulting, Romania / SV, SESVanderHave , Belgium / FiBL , Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, Switzerland / JIC, John Innes Centre, United Kingdom

European funding under the Horizon Europe programme: €5 472 484,50 

Logo Horizon Europe

Horizon Europe project  n° 101134965

www.pro-wild.eu - LinkedIn  - X

INRAE media relations

Scientific contact

Jacques Le Gouis

Project Coordinator

Genetics, Diversity and Ecophysiology of Cereals joint research unit (INRAE, université Clermont-Auvergne)

Centre

Division

Learn more

Climate change and risks

Plant resilience under extreme conditions: innovation leads to new discoveries in the Atacama desert

PRESS RELEASE - Twenty-four plant species from the remote Atacama Desert in South America are the stars of a joint project between INRAE, the University of Bordeaux and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. The project has been looking at plant resilience mechanisms in this extreme environment, one of the most arid on the planet. Innovative use of multi-species analysis has enabled the scientists to discover molecular markers common to all 24 species that can be used to predict differences in the plants’ environment (altitudes, variations in temperature and water availability). Their results, published in New Phytologist, reveal the existence of core mechanisms used by a wide range of plants to adapt to extreme conditions. The approach developed by the team is applicable to cultivated species in more temperate climates, offering an effective method to identify mechanisms that would enable crops to adapt to environmental stresses.

28 March 2022

Agroecology

Bocage landscapes promote plant diversity in arable fields

PRESS RELEASE - Hedgerows bordering arable fields in bocage landscapes provide many ecosystem services. Yet, they are often perceived as breeding grounds for weeds, which are often regarded as undesirable. Researchers from INRAE, in collaboration with teams from the University of Rennes 1, CNRS and ANSES, have studied the impacts of bocage landscapes on weeds. Their results, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, show that bocage landscapes favour weed diversity without increasing their abundance in arable fields. In fact, thanks to their positive effect on vegetation diversity, hedgerows could even promote sustainable weed management and the conservation of biodiversity in arable fields.

22 November 2022

Agroecology

Heat resistance, biodiversity services: sunflowers have a bright future

PRESS RELEASE - For the first time, an international, multidisciplinary consortium has been set up for sunflower research, bringing together world leaders in ecology, economics, genetics, and biotechnology to sunflower ecology and breeding. The HelEx - Helianthus Extremophiles - project involves 18 partners working on developing new sunflower varieties more resistant to high temperatures and drought while maintaining production quality and biodiversity services.

25 September 2023