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.

The project deals with the urgent need to provide climate-resilient cultivars addressed to organic vegetable production systems. These new cultivars will benefit organic growers, and the organic seed industry, providing much needed security both under current and future scenarios of climate change. In this project, we will exploit the genetic variation of broccoli, kohlrabi, bean and tomato for enhanced productivity, by exploiting up-to-date knowledge of genome structure and function. This work will be enhanced by the active involvement of farmers, advisory services, research institutes, breeding companies and food processors from diverse geographical/climatic contexts in Europe and Non-EU countries. The selection of pre-breeding/ breeding lines for the three species will be undertaken in organic vegetable farming systems, utilizing an annual crop rotation scheme. New cultivars will be selected for efficiency when grown under water, temperature, and nitrogen stress, for resistance to some pests and diseases, for desirable product quality traits such as taste, visual appearance, post-harvest performance. The Stakeholder Board will contribute to the expected outcomes of the project. Crop genetic diversity will be broad as we will be utilizing several landraces (LRs) and crops wild relatives (CWRs) provided by partners for the foreseen pre-breeding and breeding activities. We will adopt an innovative approach, where plant traits related to the roots-zone, and to root-growth, and architecture that enable a better interaction with organic soil and its microbiome, are sought to benefit the end-users. This approach will ensure that the available genetic resources and bred-germplasm, combined with the best on-farm management practices will enhance resource use efficiency and productivity. The germplasm from this project will act to pump-prime the production of new seed for the organic growing sector and will also serve as a model for the enhancement of other crops.