Partner Expertise: Crop Diversification, Biodiversity and Food Quality

CARC Olomouc is interested in joining a Horizon Europe consortium preparing a proposal under this topic, contributing our expertise in plant genetic resources, biodiversity research, phytochemistry and metabolomics. We are seeking partners to develop a Horizon Europe project that uses crop diversification and plant genetic resources to strengthen farm profitability, resilience and environmental sustainability. Many promising vegetable, legume, medicinal and aromatic crops remain underused in modern production systems despite their potential to diversify farming, improve nutritional quality and create new market opportunities. The project concept aims to connect promising genetic resources with practical cultivation approaches, food applications and viable value chains.

The proposed approach would focus on selecting locally relevant and underutilized crops, evaluating their performance in diversified farming systems, and demonstrating clear benefits for farmers and downstream businesses. Depending on the interests and capacities of consortium partners, diversification could involve crop rotations, mixed cropping, intercropping or other combinations adapted to local conditions. Organic farming should be included alongside other relevant production systems. The project would consider productivity and economic performance together with biodiversity, climate resilience, resource use, food quality and market potential.

The Czech Agrifood Research Center (CARC) is a public research institution headquartered in Prague. Its Genetic Resources of Vegetables and Special Crops team, located in Olomouc, maintains extensive collections of vegetables, medicinal, aromatic and special crops. These collections provide an important source of genetic diversity, including material that could be explored for novel or regionally adapted cropping and food applications. The team contributes experience in genetic resource characterization, plant phenotyping, stress responses, phytochemistry, metabolomics and nutritional and crop quality assessment.

Potential project activities include:

1. Co-design with farmers, breeders, food companies and regional stakeholders to identify diversification opportunities, target crops, practical barriers and promising product or market pathways.

2. Selection and characterization of relevant accessions from genetic resource collections, considering agronomic performance, adaptation to local conditions, yield stability, nutritional composition and useful bioactive compounds.

3. On-farm demonstration of diversified cropping practices in different regions, with assessment of productivity, resource-use efficiency, biodiversity-related indicators and resilience to climatic or market shocks.

4. Chromatographic and mass spectrometric profiling of crop materials to evaluate metabolite composition, food quality and differences between genotypes or cultivation systems. This may include phenolics, alkaloids, amino acids, organic acids, sugars and lipids, according to the selected species.

5. Identification of food applications and potential value-added uses of selected crops and suitable agricultural by-products, developed with food technologists and processing companies.

6. Evaluation of economic viability, business models, market access, environmental impacts and pathways for commercial uptake, led by partners with the relevant expertise.

Expected results may include characterized promising crops and genotypes, validated diversification practices, evidence on nutritional and phytochemical quality, demonstration case studies, and practical recommendations for farmers and food businesses. The consortium should aim to translate results into economically realistic products or value chains, alongside measurable environmental and biodiversity benefits.

CARC Olomouc could contribute a defined research work package on plant genetic resources, genotype selection, metabolite profiling and crop quality assessment. We are seeking partners with expertise in farming systems, organic and conventional field demonstration, breeding, food processing, value-chain development, agricultural economics, environmental assessment and commercialization. Participation by farmers, SMEs, technology providers and relevant market actors would be essential. The precise crops, regions, demonstrations and innovations would be developed jointly to fit the call's implementation and exploitation requirements.

We are seeking opportunities to participate as a research partner in an international Horizon Europe consortium. CARC Olomouc can contribute specific scientific tasks or work packages related to plant genetic resources, phytochemical characterization, metabolomics and crop quality assessment. We are open to discussing our potential role and adapting our contributions to the consortium's objectives and research needs.