To reach the targets of the Paris Agreement commitments for land degradation neutrality, for biodiversity, and to support the EU Green Deal, Europe needs to join its research and innovation forces on soil carbon with those around the globe in a coordinated manner. To scale up efforts for conserving and increasing soil carbon stocks and harness the co-benefits for climate change mitigation and adaptation, soil health and food security international coordination of research efforts is essential. In this context the EC supported a 1st Coordination action (CIRCASA) led by INRAE which brought together over 100 key stakeholders and 500 scientists from around the world who formalised an interest in establishing an International Research Consortium (IRC) on Soil Carbon built around an initial strategic research and innovation agenda (SRIA) focusing on agricultural soils. Operationalising the IRC requires further mobilization of the international community of stakeholders working on agricultural soil carbon but also other land uses and therefore expanding the initial SRIA as well as developing with international funding bodies an implementation plan and a central knowledge platform offering services to this community. The main goal of ORCaSa is therefore to launch and roll out the initial operational phases of the IRC on Soil Carbon so that by 2024 the IRC has established an international position as the coordinator of soil carbon research and innovation and related issues at global level offering a unique SRIA and implementation plan, supporting knowledge platform and enable the preparation of a disruptive low cost international recognized MRV system. To reach this overall goal, ORCaSa brings together European partners and 6 regional nodes covering the 5 continents around an ambitious 3-year work plan working hand in hand with the international every step of the way.

Many tropical tree crops are threatened by climate change (CC), including coffee which is highly sensitive to high temperatures, droughts and diseases. 60% of coffee today is cultivated in Agroforestry Systems (AFS), which reduce dependence on external inputs and mitigate the adverse effects of CC. So far, however, breeding has developed cultivars only for open-sun cultivation. Using new Arabica coffee F1 hybrids as a case study, we will design and test coffee varieties, better adapted to AFS and CC and maintaining a robust defense system to biotic and abiotic stresses. By doing so, we will show how breeding programs can benefit both smallholder farmers by improving their incomes, increase the options for sustainability, and benefit the European industry through sustained supplies and a wider range of specialty coffees. The project will take advantage of hybrids, established in 8 countries (Portugal, France, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, French Guyana, Cameroon, El Salvador, Vietnam) under controlled conditions (temperature, light, CO2), field trials and networks of on-farm plots. GxE will be assessed through a multidisciplinary approach where genotypes will be grown in a wide range of environments and low-input management inherent to AFS. Farmers will participate in developing the farm assessment methodology and their experiences with new hybrids (profitability, social acceptance) will inform the breeding strategy. Roasters will be involved in the breeding process through evaluation of beverage quality. By combining extensive phenotyping with metabolomic and transcriptomic analysis, we will develop analytical and predictive tools for Coffee Metabolic Networks, leading to marker aided rapid selection and a new approach for breeding of perennial crops. Impacts will be ensured by innovation platforms, technology transfer for clonal propagation, promotion of direct trading between roasters and farmers, and promotion of new hybrids adapted to AFS.