On May 10 and 11, SusCrop organised an expert workshop on future research needs for crop production and improvement. The expert workshop was a follow-up activity building up on the results obtained from a previously organised SusCrop workshop on protein crops in November 2022. The expert workshop had the following two main focus priority research areas:
In total, 39 representatives (27 in person, 12 remote) attended the workshop that was held back to back with the last physical SusCrop Consortium Meeting in the Berlin Office of Project Management Jülich in Berlin (format: hybrid event). The expert workshop was organised in several steps: after a short introduction and icebreaker, there were two presentations summarising the state-of-the art and the knowledge gaps in the respective focus areas. In addition, several break-out sessions in small and larger groups elaborated detailed suggestions for research priorities that will contribute to the improvement of individual crops in the European Research Area.
The outcomes of this workshop, together with the previous one and the preparatory analyses,are expected to give rise to a white paper and will also feed into, among others, the FACCE-JPI Strategic Research Agenda (SRA), and be available as advice to the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR) of the EU Member States and to the European Commission. In addition, the priority areas will be forwarded to the Coordination and Support Action (CSA) Green ERA Hub with concrete suggestions of thematic areas and topics for potential future research Calls beyond the lifetime of SusCrop. A detailed report about the results of the workshop will be published on the SusCrop webpage shortly.