A new paper, published in the Special Issue of Genetic Resources  on ex situ conservation in Europe, underscores the critical need for strengthened European cooperation in conserving and utilizing plant genetic resources (PGR). With climate change and biodiversity loss accelerating, safeguarding crop diversity has never been more urgent to ensure resilient, adaptable agri-food systems.

Across Europe, over 400 collections conserve PGR from more than 6,500 genera, with over 2 million accessions documented in the European Search Catalogue for Plant Genetic Resources (EURISCO). Yet, these invaluable resources remain underutilized due to limited research investment and fragmented infrastructure.

The study, authored by PRO-GRACE partners ECPGR, IPK, CGN, NordGen and ENEA and led by Sandra Goritschnig (ECPGR), surveyed the European research landscape involving PGR and their holding institutes, and examined how collaborative EU Horizon projects, such as AGENT and G2P-SOL, alongside the ECPGR initiative European Evaluation Network (EVA), have successfully united genebanks and stakeholders to develop essential tools and knowledge for PGR utilization. The efforts and learnings from these projects contribute to laying the foundation for a dedicated large European research infrastructure on PGR, as suggested in the Plant Genetic Resources Strategy for Europe published in 2021.

This initiative – GRACE-RI – is currently in its concept phase through the Horizon Europe project PRO-GRACE, and aims to create a dedicated, large-scale infrastructure connecting research institutions engaged in PGR conservation and use. GRACE-RI aspires to ensure sustainable access to well-documented, well-maintained PGR and cutting-edge methodologies for their characterization and breeding.

The creation of a dedicated Research Infrastructure for PGR, as proposed by PRO-GRACE, will enable European communities focused on conservation, research and breeding to better organize and oversee their efforts. This will help minimize redundancies, enhance processes and conservation methods, and foster the development of innovative approaches – all aimed at ensuring continuous access to high-quality PGR materials and associated data. This will provide present and future researchers with the resources and methods to study and valorize PGR, supporting efforts to tackle today’s key challenges and promote a sustainable, biodiverse agriculture in Europe. Providing a stable political and financial framework for international research collaboration on PGR will position Europe as a leader in developing science-driven solutions to the pressing issues of the 21st century’s agriculture and food security.

For more details, read the full paper:
Goritschnig, S., Weise, S., Guzzon, F., Maggioni, L., van Hintum, T., Steffensen, L. L., Stein, N. and Giuliano, G. (2025) “Strengthening European research cooperation on plant genetic resources conservation and use”, Genetic Resources, (S2), pp. 119–134. doi: 10.46265/genresj.LUZJ7324.

This news was initially published on the PRO-GRACE website and has since been slightly adapted