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FiBL contributes to successful first PRO-WILD Annual Meeting in Vienna

Pro-Wild Logo.

Group photo of the Pro-Wild Consortium.

The PRO-WILD consortium at the first annual meeting in Vienna at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU). (Photo: FiBL, Nina Gallmann)

A man and a woman are looking at plants in a raised bed.

Project partners examining wild beet varieties cultivated at the BOKU campus. (Photo: FiBL, Nina Gallmann)

The first annual meeting of the Horizon Europe-funded project PRO-WILD took place at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. The five-year project unites 18 partners from 11 countries to protect crop wild relatives of wheat, beet and oilseed rape and their natural habitats. It also promotes the use of their genetic material in crop breeding to strengthen the resilience of agriculture in the future. FiBL presented the progress in project communication and dissemination and led a workshop to develop future outreach materials together with the scientific partners.

The PRO-WILD consortium met in Vienna in October for its first annual meeting – an important milestone to review the achievements of the first project year and to plan the next steps. The event was hosted by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), and brought together partners from across Europe working to protect and use crop wild relatives for more resilient agriculture.

FiBL's contribution: communication, dissemination and stakeholder engagement

Over three days, participants shared progress in areas such as in-situ and ex-situ conservation, pre-breeding, and stakeholder engagement. FiBL contributed by presenting the progress in communication and dissemination in the first year and by running an interactive workshop with the scientific partners to identify themes and formats for upcoming communication materials. In addition, a stakeholder workshop prepared partners for their first stakeholder meetings. FiBL supports them in connecting with local networks – mainly plant breeders – to exchange experiences on how crop wild relatives can contribute to future-proof crops.

Highlights from the first project year

The meeting highlighted the strong collaboration and interdisciplinary exchange that drive PRO-WILD forward. The project has already achieved important steps and results, including

  • In-situ conservation: mapping native ranges of 19 target species and starting genetic and ecological analyses.
  • Ex-situ conservation: building integrated datasets and dashboards for European gene bank collections.
  • Pre-breeding and diversity use: first crosses and field trials showing promising traits for stress tolerance.
  • Communication and outreach: launching PRO-WILD's communication channels and developing the first tools to link science and practice.

PRO-WILD will continue its work to connect science and practice, aiming to make wild crop relatives part of Europe's sustainable agricultural future.

Author: Nina Gallmann

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