More sustainable breeding programs and linked technologies need to be in line with social demand and to take into account genetic diversity as well as required adaption to climate change. Towards these aims, RUMIGEN will ensure engagement of a variety of stakeholders to assess social perception of breeding objectives and related technologies in ruminants. It will define “rooms of acceptance” which will be implemented in sustainable breeding scenarios that will then be assessed through multi-actor panels. To define new breeding programs, RUMIGEN, which brings together partners representing pan-European leaders on ruminant breeding, will question trade-offs and pleiotropic effects through adaptation to environmental stressors such as heat stress. Cosmopolitan and local dairy cattle breeds will be analysed evaluating mid to long term effects as well as impact on next generation (fetal programming). This work will rely on large-scale data from commercial farms combined with climatic data, taking advantage of the large panel of situations across Europe and of a unique design involving half-sister cows raised in contrasted conditions, Denmark and India. Diversity will be also studied with new breed genome assemblies. Methods will be developed to account for rare alleles and to maintain diversity. An epigenotyping platform will be designed to (i) explore sperm epigenome influences on bull fertility and progeny, (ii) decipher underlying mechanisms of epigenetic inheritance and (iii) evaluate how much epigenetic biomarkers improve phenotype prediction. RUMIGEN will answer questions on genome editing specificity and safety issues, assessing its potential to preserve genetic diversity and increase genetic gains. Overall, RUMIGEN will develop models combining genomics, epigenomics and biotechnologies to improve genomic selection, preserve genetic biodiversity and avoid genetic load. Improved phenotype prediction will pave the way to new management indexes for precision farming.

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 objective of GenTORE is to develop innovative genome-enabled selection and management tools to optimise cattle resilience and efficiency (R&E) in widely varying environments. These tools, incorporating both genetic and non-genetic variables, will be applicable across the full range of systems (beef, milk and mixed), and will thereby increase the economic, environmental and social sustainability of European cattle meat and milk production systems. To achieve this, GenTORE brings together: 1) multidisciplinary scientific expertise in genomics, environmental assessment, nutritional physiology, health management, precision livestock farming, mathematical modelling, and socio-economics; 2) partners and stakeholders representing breeding organisations, farm technology companies, farm and veterinary advisory services, and farm sectors (organic, grazing, etc.); and 3) a unique data basis including >1 million genotypes. This multi-actor team will develop tools for: multi-breed selection for R&E, characterisation of diverse farm environments, large-scale phenotyping of R&E using on-farm technology, on-farm management of breeding and culling decisions, and predicting the consequences for farm resilience of changing breeding and management. These tools are designed to be applicable under commercial conditions at the end of the project. They will allow increased use of the genomic diversity in cattle breeds, e.g. use of selective cross-breeding to best exploit the local production environment. They will also allow farm managers, their advisors, and policy-makers, to assess the relative importance of breeding for animal resilience vs breeding for efficiency, with respect to system resilience. As such GenTORE will not only enable the use of genomic information to facilitate predictive biology of efficiency- and resilience-related traits, but will also increase resilience of livestock production in the face of current and future challenges of climate change and food security.

ClimateSmartAdvisors is a pan-European multi-actor network covering 27 countries. Its aim is to boost the EU agricultural advisory community, leading to an acceleration of the adoption of climate smart (CS) farming practices by the wider farming community within and across EU AKISs. To reach this objective, ClimateSmartAdvisors focuses on the crucial role of advisors in the development and dissemination of CS innovations and practices. The project will organize activities focusing on strengthening the advisors’ capacity in providing CS advice and boosting the advisors’ role in the transition towards CS farming through their involvement in innovation projects, CS-AKIS, and EU projects and initiatives. A number of complementary activities are developed to strengthen the CS advisory capacity of the EU advisory community: 1) an EU-wide network of 260 advisory Communities of Practice (CoP) to support the development of 1500 advisors will form the core of CS knowledge exchange; 2) 140 advisors will receive expert training on selected topics, relevant for their context and for facilitating a CoP; 3) CoPs will internationally exchange knowledge on 12 thematic areas; 4) a knowledge repository will provide advisors with CS tools, practices and approaches developed in the ClimateFarmDemo project and further expanded in ClimateSmartAdvisors, 5) monitoring, evaluation and learning activities will capitalize lessons learned in and outside the project. Activities to boost the advisors role in the CS transition include: 1) connecting to local and EU (multi-actor innovation) projects, initiatives, AKIS actors, and policy makers to clarify and address joint needs, challenges and lessons learned, 2) the set-up of Co-Design Innovation Experiments to learn on how to strengthen the advisors’ role in innovation processes. Finally, to accelerate the wide spread of results, an ambitious dissemination, exploitation and communication strategy will be deployed at EU and national levels.