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Call key data
Crop wild relatives for sustainable agriculture
Call number
HORIZON-CL6-2023-BIODIV-01-13
deadlines
Opening
22.12.2022
Deadline
28.03.2023 17:00
Funding rate
100%
Call budget
€ 12,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
€ 6,000,000.00
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
Call objectives
Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) – also referred to as the wild cousins of cultivated crops - are a key asset for agrobiodiversity, sustainable agriculture and food security overall. CRWs contain genes for a multitude of useful traits such as tolerance to pest and diseases, resource efficiency and adaptability to more extreme weather conditions or nutritional quality. Their inherent genetic diversity together with the associated diversity of microbiota is a vast resource for developing more productive, nutritious and resilient crop varieties and for diversifying farming systems.
Despite their value, a wide range of CWRs are threatened and face pressures, e.g., from intensive agriculture, urbanisation, pollution and the effects of climate change. At the same time, the conservation and use of CWRs in breeding lags significantly behind the one of main crops. It is estimated that for about 30% taxa associated with 63 crops, no germplasm accessions exist and that about 95% of CWR taxa are underrepresented in genetic resources collections. As a consequence, knowledge is lacking about the diversity that exists and precisely how that diversity may be used for crop improvement and in farming.
More systematic efforts are needed to improve the conservation of CWR in –situ and ex-situ and increase their use in plant breeding and farming.
Proposals should:
- review and increase our knowledge on the diversity, the conservation status (both in situ and ex situ), the threats, monitoring and the utilization of CWR in Europe; due account should be taken of the local knowledge of farmers, e.g., as regards the specific attributes of CWR resources, their integration in agro-ecosystems and methods for their management on-farm;
- promote the breath of taxa and genetic diversity of CWR in gene bank collections and improve their description and geno- and phenotypic characterisation;
- set-up pilots of genetic reserves for CWR under different types of management regimes and pedo-climatic conditions, and develop models for their long-term viability;
- unravel the genetic basis of valuable traits of CWR such as the resilience to different biotic and abiotic stresses or nutritional quality;
- develop high-quality genomic resources to promote the use of CWR in pre-breeding and breeding activities of formal and on-farm crop improvement programmes;
- promote the on-farm management and conservation of CRW genetic resources taking into account the adaptation of CWR to local conditions;
- carry out training activities and increase awareness of breeders, farmers, consumers and the various actors in value chains (e.g., the agri-food industry) about the value of CWR, including by carrying out on-farm demonstrations.
Work under this topic should be carried out in various pedo-climatic zones and benefit both conventional and organic farming as reflected in the expertise of the consortia. Proposals must implement the “multi-actor approach”, and build partnerships across research, conservation, breeding, farming and business sectors, considering a balanced representation of partners from within the EU and Associated Countries. They should also demonstrate a sound representation of SSH disciplines.
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Expected results
Activities under this topic seek to preserve biodiversity and thereby contribute to the objectives of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 and the upcoming post 2020 global biodiversity framework. By increasing agrobiodiversity, activities will contribute to food security, adaptation of the agricultural production to the effects of climate change, and thereby support implementation of the farm to fork strategy, the common agricultural policy and the EU climate policy under the European Green Deal.
Projects funded under this topic are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:
- More effectiveness measures for the conservation of Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) due to increased knowledge and systematic monitoring and documentation of the diversity, the threats and the conservation status of CWR;
- Conservation of CWR is improved due to a) better coverage of CWR in gene banks, b) the establishment of genetic reserves for in situ conservation, and c) enhanced genetic characterisation of CWRs;
- Knowledge on valuable traits, such as tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses or nutritional properties is more easily available to breeders and accelerates the breeding of more resilient crop varieties;
- Greater use of CWR in pre-breeding and breeding activities, both in formal and on-farm crop improvement programmes;
- Farmers are more aware of the value of CWRs and have improved access to varieties and cultivars with high resilience and/or adapted to marginal lands.
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Eligibility Criteria
Regions / countries for funding
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Georgia (საქართველო), Iceland (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Montenegro (Црна Гора), Morocco (المغرب), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна), United Kingdom
eligible entities
EU Body, Education and training institution, International organization, Natural Person, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)
Mandatory partnership
Yes
Project Partnership
To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions
- the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States
- third countries associated to Horizon Europe - see list of particpating countries
Only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:
- at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
- at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.
Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.
A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
Specific cases:
- Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
- Associated partners — Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any conditions regarding associated partners set out in the specific call conditions.
- Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
- EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
- Joint Research Centre (‘JRC’)— Where provided for in the specific call conditions, applicants may include in their proposals the possible contribution of the JRC but the JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal. Applicants will indicate the contribution that the JRC could bring to the project based on the scope of the topic text. After the evaluation process, the JRC and the consortium selected for funding may come to an agreement on the specific terms of the participation of the JRC. If an agreement is found, the JRC may accede to the grant agreement as beneficiary requesting zero funding or participate as an associated partner, and would accede to the consortium as a member.
- Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members (e.g. European research infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. However, if the action is in practice implemented by the individual members, those members should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible.
other eligibility criteria
Proposals must apply the multi-actor approach. See definition of the multi-actor approach on pages 21-23 of the work programme.
Additional information
Topics
Relevance for EU Macro-Region
EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region
UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)
Additional Information
All proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funders & Tenders Portal electronic submission system (accessible via the topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section). Paper submissions are NOT possible.
Proposals must be complete and contain all parts and mandatory annexes and supporting documents, e.g. plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the results including communication activities, etc.
The application form will have two parts:
- Part A (to be filled in directly online) contains administrative information about the applicant organisations (future coordinator and beneficiaries and affiliated entities), the summarised budget for the proposal and call-specific questions;
- Part B (to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system) contains the technical description of the project.
Annexes and supporting documents will be directly available in the submission system and must be uploaded as PDF files (or other formats allowed by the system).
The limit for a full application (Part B) is 45 pages.
Call documents
HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 6, Destination 1HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 6, Destination 1(kB)
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