Institut für die Sicherheit biotechnologischer Verfahren bei Pflanzen
The Collaborative Crop Breeding Research and Innovation for a Green Europe (COLiBRI) project represents a strategic response to mounting agricultural challenges facing Europe. Climate change effects, food insecurity, biodiversity loss, and international trade conflicts create unprecedented uncertainties in food production systems. These pressures necessitate an accelerated transition toward agricultural resilience and comprehensive sustainability as outlined in the Common Agricultural Policy. The project addresses fundamental weaknesses in current European plant breeding research infrastructure. While public and private sectors conduct breeding research at various technology readiness levels, there exists no coherent prioritization framework among key stakeholders. This fragmentation results in duplicated efforts, inefficient resource allocation, and missed opportunities for synergistic collaboration. Small and medium-sized enterprises face particular challenges, often lacking capacity and budgets for independent research programs. These companies depend heavily on public research outputs and collaborative partnerships to access essential data, infrastructure, and advanced technologies. Current funding mechanisms present additional obstacles. Existing schemes are fragmented and typically fail to support the complete breeding cycle, which often extends beyond a decade from initial research to commercial variety release. This temporal mismatch between funding cycles and breeding timelines creates significant barriers to long-term innovation. COLiBRI's primary objective is developing a comprehensive roadmap and implementation strategy for a future European plant breeding research and innovation funding network. This network will build upon existing transnational partnerships while addressing critical gaps in current systems. The project structures its approach around three core objectives: First, stakeholder engagement encompasses the entire plant breeding value chain. This includes plant genetic resource collections, researchers, breeders, farmers, processing industries, retailers, and consumers. Policymakers and funding bodies are integrated as crucial partners supporting breeding research to meet future challenges. COLiBRI will establish a sustainable stakeholder community through targeted outreach and creation of an EU-wide plant breeding network. Second, the project will systematically identify and prioritize research gaps, technological bottlenecks, and critical infrastructure needs relevant to European crop breeding. This assessment covers all production and breeding systems, including organic farming, high-throughput phenotyping platforms, and new genomic technologies. The analysis considers both established and emerging crops, reflecting regional and sectoral diversity across Europe. Additionally, COLiBRI will review funding constraints and propose innovative funding models for coordinated, long-term investment in crop breeding. Third, COLiBRI will design a comprehensive roadmap for plant breeding research and innovation, supported by a collaborative European network and governance framework. The implementation plan will enable long-term alignment of resources across Europe, accelerating development of improved crop varieties. The project's scope encompasses diverse agricultural systems and technological approaches. It addresses context-specific challenges while developing adaptable strategies applicable across different regions and production systems. By integrating perspectives from academic, economic, social, and political stakeholders, COLiBRI aims to create a cohesive framework supporting innovation in competitive and sustainable agriculture. Through this comprehensive approach, COLiBRI seeks to strengthen the European crop breeding ecosystem, enhance utilization of plant genetic resources, and accelerate development of varieties adapted to changing environmental conditions. The ultimate goal is establishing a resilient, sustainable, and competitive European plant production sector capable of meeting future food security challenges while maintaining environmental integrity and supporting rural economies.
Europäische Union
