The Legume Generation consortium will invest in innovation that boosts the breeding of legumes in Europe by combining the entrepreneurial focus of breeders with the broad inventiveness of the supporting research base. Six species-oriented breeder-led innovation communities will link practical breeding with the research-base in a transdisciplinary framework. They lead the innovation work and each is focused on the breeding of a single species or species type: soya bean (Glycine max); lupins (Lupinus spp); pea (Pisum sativum); lentil (Lens culinaris); phaseolus bean (Phaseolus spp. e.g., ‘common’ bean); and white and red clover (Trifolium repens and T. pratense). These are supported by the cross-project collection of intelligence on ideotype concepts, beneficial traits, a catalogue of legume species and cultivars, and breeding methods assembled in the Legume Generation Knowledge Centre; the production and validation of novel resources (genotypes, methods, and tools); screening, demonstration and testing of germplasm and new cultivars in different regions; training to support breeding gains in our innovation communities; governance and financial models, and business plans for inclusive plant breeding. All this will be supported by consortium internal and external dissemination and communications, including the extension of the European Legume Hub as a platform for sharing of knowledge. We currently run 43 breeding and pre-breeding programmes. We will give these a decisive boost through access to resources that accelerates the production of novel germplasm, innovating up to the point where newly bred germplasm and cultivars are proven on farm. Breeders will use the results to support expansion of legume production. Our innovation communities will be open to all relevant actors and provide a direct route for the dissemination of results to other users and interested stakeholders. Their sustainability beyond the life of the project will be supported by business plans.

Massive increases in analytical throughput together with reductions in costs have enabled multi-omics studies to be routinely performed at a scale not previously imagined. Two main barriers hamper our ability to reveal the mechanism behind a specific genotype-phenotype link: the cross-talk between multiple molecular layers cannot be properly assessed by a reductionist approach that analyses each omics layer in isolation; and the ever-growing amount of buried information in scientific literature and public omics datasets cannot be extracted without intelligent computational approaches. GLOMICAVE project addresses the need for building systems that allow streamlining both the experimental design and the analysis and integration at a systems level of large-scale omics experiments by maximizing the utility of pre-existing massive omics datasets and scientific literature to increase the understanding of biological systems as a whole. The main outcome will be a multi-omics data analysis cloud-based platform, relying on Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence techniques – and using large-scale publicly available and experimental omics datasets, enhanced with an automatic processing of scientific literature, to assist experts and non-experts in identifying and understanding new links between genotype and phenotype which apply to different domains. GLOMICAVE integrative approach will be validated in 3 different industrial sectors (livestock, agro-biotechnology and environment) addressing specific challenges in 6 business cases, which will pave the way for further uptake in other business areas. The success of GLOMICAVE builds upon the expertise of a multidisciplinary team of 14 partners with expertise in omics sciences; standardization; bioinformatics; environmental assessment; mathematical modelling; AI and BDA; plant and animal physiology; food quality, microbiology; bioengineering as well as ethical, legal and social aspects.

The Organic fruit sector is highly dependent on inputs, particularly in terms of plant protection. Climate change is increasing impacts and risks to organic fruit production. Large market demand is expanding for organic fruits but the current commercial cultivars (cvs) range previously selected in high input paradigm are, for most of them, not adapted to organic production. InnOBreed proposes to mobilise Innovative Solutions (ISs): social innovations, new ideotypes, new methods for screening robust cvs and genitors with larger genetic bases for fostering organic fruit breeding. These ISs will be targeted and developed on participative, multi-actor and multi-trait based approaches and then applied for evaluating underutilized Fruit Tree Genetic Resources (FTGR), pre-breeding and advanced material. InnOBreeds scope encompasses many Rosaceous species but also citrus and grape. InnOBreed aims to improve the whole Fruit chain through the implementation of an Organic Variety Testing Network of actors. It deals with (i)identification and definition of current lock-in in organic fruit farming systems (OFS),(ii) co-designing new ideotypes fitting with local OFS,(iii)identification of performant IS already available, (iv)development of new climate change ISs but also for fruit quality, pests and diseases tolerance, low input fitness and robustness, and their application by FTGR curators,(v) ISs validation process and implementation by several public-private case-studies in different regions for evaluating their efficiency , and (vi)checking sustainability and consistency with actual regulations before being disseminated for maximizing IS impacts on the value chain.InnOBreed is deeply connected with running initiatives, programmes and resources involved in OFS, organic fruit participative and classical breeding, fostering FTGR uses by fruit-chain, scientists and stakeholders. Particular attention will be paid to embed the relevant stakeholders at national and European levels.

INCREASE will enhance the management and use of Genetic Resources on food legumes, which are crucial for sustainability, food security and human health, as recognized by the new European Protein plan for the innovation of this sector in Europe. To meet this challenge INCREASE will expand the utilisation of food legumes Genetic Resources targeting users’ needs in terms of accessibility, quality and quantity of information available. INCREASE, working with four important food legumes (chickpea, common bean, lentil, lupin) with significant value for the innovation of EU agriculture and food industry, will be based on four pillars: i) innovative data management solutions to develop gold standards for data sharing and integration into the central infrastructure, with decentralised data input, defined methodologies and best practices for exploitation of the novel information produced as well as the development of user friendly visualization tools; ii) developing novel tools and principles for germplasm management, based on the development of “Intelligent Collections” as a set of nested core collections of different sizes representing the entire diversity of each crop; iii) adoption of cutting-edge technologies for genotyping and phenotyping combined with the potential of Artificial Intelligence focusing on traits of interest for users; iv) international effort with the involvement of non-European partners and international organization to expand the scope and ambition of INCREASE, by facilitating the integration of available data and available Genetic Resources for European users. We will develop a citizen-science experiment, primarily aimed at dissemination of the project to stakeholders and citizens. Overall, INCREASE will strengthen Europe in the field of legumes Genetic Resources and simultaneously it will represent an important model and tool for all crop Genetic Resources.