CropBooster-Project: Increasing Yield for Food and Bioeconomy
Improved crops can double European agriculture production, increasing global crop productivity will be central in meeting some of the greatest challenges facing mankind: How will we sustainably feed 9.7 billion people by 2050, while also achieving the transition from a fossil economy towards a bio-economy? How can we provide new crop cultivars adapted to the constraints imposed by climate change? A doubling of global crop productivity is required to produce enough plant biomass for food and nutrition security, as well as for the demands of a future bioeconomy. Future agriculture will require crops that combine sustainability - they must efficiently using scarce resources like minerals and water and preserving Earth’s biodiversity - with a high resilience to adverse climate conditions.
To meet these demands, crop plants will have to be re-designed. The CropBooster-Project will address this by identifying priorities and opportunities to adapting and boosting productivity. While engaging with the public from the beginning, and by mobilizing European plant sciences, the objective is to produce a Roadmap that will describe the pathway to sustainably doubling Europe’s crop yields by 2050 and preparing these crops for the needs and the future climate of Europe.
The project started in November 2018 and will end at the end of October 2021. It is funded under the Horizon 2020 program with an overall budget of nearly € 3 million €. Project coordinator is Stichting Wageningen Research.
