34 I SEED WORLD EUROPE I SEEDWORLD.COM/EUROPE | OCTOBER 2026 agri-food system. More recently, the Commission’s Protein Action Plan explic itly identified crop innovation, seeds, plant breeding and seed development as areas for investment as Europe seeks to strengthen its protein production and reduce depend ence on imports. For Plant ETP, such recognition rein forces the argument that plant breeding should not be treated as an isolated agricul tural activity, but as a strategic tool contrib uting to wider European objectives around resilience, food security, competitiveness and strategic autonomy. BREEDING FOR A CHANGING CLIMATE Climate resilience provides perhaps the clearest example of why that visibility matters. As climate adaptation increas ingly becomes a baseline requirement for plant breeding, breeders are being asked to develop varieties capable of maintain ing performance under heat, drought, flooding and changing pest and disease pressures. But those stresses rarely occur independently. Plant ETP therefore wants greater recognition not only of individual stress traits, but also of the interaction between genotype, environment and man agement, often referred to as GxExM. The platform is following the develop ment of the EU’s climate resilience agenda with this in mind. Its argument is that plant breeding should be regarded as part of Europe’s climate adaptation toolbox rather than viewed solely through the narrower lens of agricultural productivity. The same reasoning extends into the bioeconomy, where crops provide inputs not only for food and feed but increasingly for materials and other biological value chains. Breeders therefore face more complex objec tives as they combine multiple end uses with yield, resilience and resource efficiency. BUILDING SKILLS ALONGSIDE TECHNOLOGIES Technology alone will not determine whether European plant breeding remains competitive. Through the FIELDS initi ative, Plant ETP has also contributed to skills strategies, training programmes and educational resources designed to prepare professionals for changing technological and sustainability requirements. For the plant breeding community, that issue has particular urgency. Advances in genomics, phenotyping, data science, bioinformatics and predictive breeding are changing the combination of expertise required of the next generation of breeders and researchers. That is one reason commu nication has become the third major pri ority Plant ETP identifies alongside NGT implementation and research funding. Weinberger says communication should not be understood simply as pro Germán Vighi, of Plant ETP highlights the role of communication, collaboration and plant breeding innovation in Europe’s agricultural future. moting technologies after they have been developed. It also means creating dialogue between scientists, breeders, farmers, poli cymakers and society while helping younger generations understand the opportunities available in plant science and breeding. Plant ETP uses workshops, stakeholder dialogues, project activities and its network to facilitate that exchange. Its published position papers and other resources provide another route for communicating the prior ities emerging from its membership. THREE PRIORITIES FOR THE YEARS AHEAD The platforms work is continuous and wide-ranging, but three priorities currently provide a particular focus for its activities. The first is implementation of Europe’s new NGT framework, including technical ques tions that will determine how effectively the legislation operates in practice. The second is the development of the next European research and inno vation landscape, particularly Horizon Europe 2028 to 2034 and the European Competitiveness Fund. Plant ETP wants plant science, breeding and agricultural innovation to receive sufficient visibility and support within those programmes. The third is communication: strength ening understanding of the contribution that plant science and breeding can make to climate resilience, sustainability, food secu rity and competitiveness, while connecting the different communities involved. COLiBRI brings several of those strands together. By developing a European roadmap and building a broader network around plant breeding research, the project provides an opportunity to move from individual initiatives towards a more coordinated view of Europe’s longer term needs. For Vighi, that coordination is ulti mately the reason a platform such as Plant ETP exists. Europe already possesses world class researchers, experienced plant breeders, innovative companies and farmers with first-hand knowledge of rapidly chang ing production conditions. The challenge is making sure those communities do not operate as separate pieces of the innovation system. Plant ETP’s ambition is to help put those pieces together. This article has been edited for print. Read the full version, including addi tional perspectives from Plant ETP members, online.
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