b"GETTING READYFUTUREFOR THEUPDATE ON THE EUROPEAN H2020 INVITE PROJECT. BY: MARCEL BRUINSWHY IT MATTERS I NVITE aims to advance the introduction of new plant varieties that exhibit high resilience against Agriculture isbiotic and abiotic stresses. Additionally, it seeks increasingly beingto enhance crops adaptability to sustainable man-urged to reduceagement practices and to increase their resource use its dependencyefficiency through improved variety testing within on externalthe EU. The project's secondary objective is to pro-inputs, lower itsvide stakeholders with comprehensive information environmentalon variety performance across diverse production footprint andconditions.cope with moreBy identifying crop characteristics and sustain-variable climaticability criteria, INVITE assists in determining the conditions. A newcapacity of new varieties to maintain yield in variable EU-funded researchconditions and under sustainable crop management initiative called thepractices. This includes reducing the use of chemical INnovations in plantagricultural inputs such as fertilisers, pesticides, and VarIety Testing inwater, says Laurens.Europe (INVITE)The project focuses on studying 10 varying crop project aims tospecies (apple, lucerne, maize, oilseed rape, potato, help the valuationryegrass, soybean, sunflower, tomato, and wheat). and promotion ofThese crops were chosen because they each play a varieties that arecrucial role in food production and the EUs food more adaptedconsumption practices, and they represent significantFrancois Laurensto sustainablebreeding activity within the EU.managementLed by INRAEFrances National Research practices andInstitute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment more resilient to INVITE comprises a consortium of 29 part- The F2F Strategy focuses on promoting food climate change.ners and seven third parties. Initiated in July 2019,sustainability while providing support to farmers and Seed World Europethe project is scheduled for completion by the endproducers. According to Laurens, the F2F Strategy checked in withof 2024, culminating in a final conference held inemphasises climate-friendly approaches to produc-Francois Laurens,Brussels. This conference will showcase the project'stion and resource transfer, with the goal of enhancing coordinator of theresults and convey key messages derived from theefficiency without compromising the price or qual-EU-H2020 INVITEresearch. ity of goods. The key objectives of the F2F Strategy project, to learninclude reducing the use and risk of chemical pesti-more. START OF THE INVITE PROJECT cides, increasing access to healthy food options, and Laurens underlines that agriculture is facing grow- enabling consumers to make informed choices based ing pressure to reduce its reliance on external inputs,on health ratings and sustainable packaging.minimise its environmental impact, and adapt to theVariety testing, alongside the development of challenges posed by climate change and unpredictableresistant varieties capable of withstanding biotic and weather conditions. These demands form the founda- abiotic stresses, shall play a crucial role in achieving tion of the Farm to Fork (F2F) and Biodiversity strat- these objectives, Laurens adds. egies and are integral components of the EuropeanHe reiterates that this is why it is important to Green Deal published by the European Commissionreview the variety testing protocols under variety reg-in 2019. istration. Research in this field can greatly benefit 10ISEED WORLD EUROPEIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM"