CropBooster‐P: Towards a roadmap for plant research to future‐proof crops in Europe

Abstract

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Paving the way towards future‐proofing our crops

“…The four possible future learning scenarios (Figure 1) were named ‘Bio‐Innovation’, ‘My Choice’, ‘Food Emergency’ and ‘REJECTech’ (Baekelandt et al, 2022; Cornelissen et al, 2021). By design, each of these four is an extreme but plausible scenario and hence, the reality in the year 2050 is likely impacted by elements coming from each of the four learning scenarios, emphasizing the importance to define and start tracking short‐term and mid‐term indicators for the scenarios, and utilize these to seek the most robust way forward.…”

“…Within the CropBooster‐P project, four learning scenarios were developed, depicting contrasting future socio‐economic developments and taking into account numerous policy, socio‐economic challenges and constraints that could potentially develop (Baekelandt et al, 2022; Cornelissen et al, 2021). Based on this analysis, it appears that each future world scenario might have a different impact regarding to which plant research fields should be prioritized.…”

“…While recognizing the importance of the food production system as a whole, the H2020 CropBooster‐P project is drafting a roadmap for the development of new and improved crops critical for the future of European agriculture, taking into account a changing geopolitical landscape, climate change and agricultural priorities (Baekelandt et al, 2022; Harbinson et al, 2021). The CropBooster‐P expert panel identified those key broad traits that will need to be optimized to improve crop productivity (Baekelandt et al, 2022), focusing on increased yield potential (Burgess, Masclaux‐Daubresse, et al, 2022), yield stability (Gojon et al, 2022) and nutritional quality (Scharff et al, 2021). Thus, CropBooster‐P includes all recognizable traits related to increased yield potential (Burgess, Masclaux‐Daubresse, et al, 2022) and yield stability under unpredictable environments (Gojon et al, 2022), with increased resource use efficiency (Gojon et al, 2022) and nutritional quality (Scharff et al, 2021).…”

Improving crop yield potential: Underlying biological processes and future prospects

“…N = nitrogen, C = carbon. The mapping of the options to improve crop yield potential was performed within the CropBooster‐P project ( https://www.cropbooster‐p.eu/) (Baekelandt et al, 2022; Harbinson et al, 2021). Within the project, a similar mapping was done to identify the determinants of nutritional quality (Scharff et al, 2021) and sustainability (Gojon et al, 2022).…”

Future‐proofing crop production to meet the societies needs

“…One of the articles in the special issue details a potential roadmap for plant research to future‐proof crops, focussing on Europe. (Baekelandt, Saltenis, Pribil, et al, 2022). Delivery of such a roadmap will be essential to future‐proofing crop production to meet the societies' needs.…”