The aim of the EU H2020-funded ECOBREED project, which ran from April 2018 to February 2024, was to improve the availability of seeds and varieties suitable for organic and low-input production. The activities focused on four crop species, which were selected for their potential contribution to increasing the competitiveness of the organic sector: common wheat, potato, soybean and buckwheat.

ECOBREED has developed organic breeding methods, strategies and infrastructure; varieties of all four crops with improved stress resistance, resource use efficiency and quality; and improved methods for producing high quality organic seed.

ECOBREED increased the knowledge base for breeding, selecting and improving varieties for organic and low-input production. It has also improved access to a wider pool of quality seeds, varieties and cultivars for organic production. Through the provision of detailed training programmes, it has also significantly contributed to improving the efficiency of seed multiplication and breeding methods for the organic sector.

The project is actively exploiting its results and we are pleased to present the ECOBREED Key Exploitable Results (KERs):

• KER 1: Registered Trademark “ecobreed IMPROVING CROPS”
• KER 2: New organic variety of wheat
• KER 3: New organic variety of potato
• KER 4: New organic variety of soybean
• KER 5: New organic variety of buckwheat

If you have any questions or would like to receive more detailed information on the Key Exploitable Results, please do not hesitate to contact us:

• ECOBREED Project Coordinator: Vladimir Meglic, Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia: vladimir.meglic@kis.si
• KER1 contact: Antoaneta G. Kuhar, Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia: antoaneta.kuhar@kis.si
• KER2 contact: Heinrich Grausgruber, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria: heinrich.grausgruber@boku.ac.at
• KER3 contact: Peter Dolničar, Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia: peter.dolnicar@kis.si
• KER4 contact: Vuk Djordjević, Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, Novi Sad, Serbia: vuk.djordjevic@ifvcns.ns.ac.rs
• KER5 contact: Dagmar Janovska, Crop Research Institute, Prague, Czech Republic: janovska@vurv.cz

KIS presented its potato varieties KIS Blegoš and KIS Tamar at the Spring Agricultural Fair in Komenda, central Slovenia, on 22 and 24 March 2024. Both varieties were developed as part of the ECOBREED project and are suitable for organic farming.

KIS Blegoš is an early, yellow-fleshed, yellow-skinned, multipurpose potato variety of excellent quality for cooking, baking, frying and crisping. It is extremely resistant to potato virus Y, has a long dormancy period and can be stored until late spring.

KIS Tamar is a late variety with light yellow flesh and yellow peel of excellent quality for cooking and baking, with high resistance to potato virus Y, stress tolerance, long dormancy and storage until late spring.

Both were presented to visitors and buyers at the fair under the ECOBREED – Improving Crops trademark. The fair had more than 500 exhibitors and attracted more than 50,000 visitors. The annual Komenda fair is an excellent opportunity to make new business contacts, exchange ideas and forge new partnerships.

ECOBREED project coordinator Dr Vladimir Meglič gave a presentation at the 4th Project Day organised by the Crop Science Department at the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia on 15 March 2024 in Ljubljana. He spoke about ECOBREED and its main results as well as the roadmap to exploitation after the end of the project.

The event was attended by participants from the Slovenian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, who had many questions about organic breeding in ECOBREED and the varieties developed within the project.

Our partner IFVC from Serbia has achieved a significant milestone within the ECOBREED project as they succesfully registered a new variety NS ECOB. The variety underwent registration trials to evaluate its performance and adaptability. NS ECOB is a high-protein variety with a  short growing season specifically selected for organic and low-input production systems. The variety was also featured in an article in a local Serbian newspaper, where it even made it to the front page of the printed version.

The ECOBREED Organic Breeding Conference is just around the corner!

The conference will take place from Wednesday 17 January to Friday 19 January 2024 in the Glass Hall of the Grand Hotel Union in Ljubljana.

The final programme with all speakers can be found here.

The conference will host several renowned specialists in organic farming like Dr Salvatore Ceccarelli, independent consultant on organic production, Dr Micaela Colley from the US Organic Seed Alliance, Dr Hubert Kempf from SECOBRA, Germany, Mr Klemens Mechtler from the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), Ms. Freya Schäfer from the German Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL and Dr Michael Schneider from the Swiss Research Institute for Organic Agriculture (FiBL).

On Wednesday, 17 January 2024, the introduction to the conference and the round table on Organic Breeding, Varieties, (O)HM and Seed Availability will also be broadcast remotely on YouTube.

We are inviting you to the ECOBREED Organic Breeding Conference, which will take place in Grand Hotel Union Eurostars in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from 17 to 19 January 2024. The conference will be dedicated to the further development of organic plant breeding and will present the results of the ECOBREED project. Discover the latest developments, challenges and breakthroughs in organic plant breeding in exciting sessions led by experts in the field and gain insights from thought leaders who are shaping the future of organic breeding.

Please register here to secure your place. Early registration is recommended to guarantee your participation. The registration deadline and deadline for abstract submission is 22 December 2023.

More information about the conference can be found here.

ECOBREED partner Naturland is organising the Agricultural Conference in Würzburg, Bavaria in Germany. The conference will be held between 24 and 25 January 2024. At the conference, Werner Vogt-Kaute from NATUR and Adam Brezani from PRO-BIO will have presentations about ECOBREED results in Germany, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

The programme and registration link are available in the link below.

• INVITATION

The Austrian Seed Association in cooperation with BOKU and HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein and co-hosted by ECOBREED invite you to participate at the 74^th Plant Breeder’s Meeting between 20 and 22 November 2023 in Raumberg-Gumpenstein, Austria. The title of this year’s meeting is “New sensing technology for affordable phenotyping in plant breeding“.

ECOBREED will again be one of the main topics at the conference and our partners will present the latest reseach results on topics related to improvements in wheat, potato, soybean and buckwheat for organic farming.

More information about the meeting can be found here.

Registration: http://www.saatgut-austria.at/page.asp/-/Anmeldung

It is with excitement that we share that the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development extended an invitation to the ECOBREED project coordinator Dr Vladimir Meglič. He presented the ECOBREED project results and shared valuable insights, opportunities, and recommendations for organic farming and organic breeding at the Civil Dialogue Group on Organic Farming online meeting on 24 October 2023. With a focus on solutions to empower organic farmers, this meeting promises to pave the way for a more sustainable agricultural future.

Our partners PRO-BIO and NPPC participated in the “Days of Organic Farming” conference in Bojnice, Slovakia, on 26 September 2023. Miroslava Fusková from NPPC gave a presentation on the importance of organic breeding and the results of ECOBREED. Her colleague Soňa Gavurníková presented qualitative indicators of wheat varieties in the ECOBREED project. At the end of the day, Adam Brezáni from PRO-BIO presented practical recommendations for buckwheat cultivation in organic farming in the framework of ECOBREED.

The research activities of the ECOBREED project are coming to an end. Within the work package dealing with buckwheat research, we have made great progress over the last five years, especially in the characterisation and functionality of individual traits in the global collection of buckwheat genetic resources.

Our results have recently been published in two original scientific papers in high-impact journals and one monographic publication.

In ECOBREED: Diversity of buckwheat genetic resources (Fagopyrum spp.), the predefined descriptors (IPGRI, UPOV) and photographic material for Fagopyrum sp. of a total of 239 buckwheat genetic resources are characterised and described for the first time. The book is aimed at a wide range of interested readers, from farmers and students to breeders and researchers, who can familiarise themselves with the collected heritage of buckwheat, preserved in European gene banks for future generations. The material contained in the publication was the basis for our further work.

In the original scientific article in Plants we compared genetic sources with parameters of phenotypic and genetic variability, presented their genetic structure and relatedness, established core collections of both species and identified trait-associated markers. It is the first such comprehensive simultaneous morphological and molecular characterisation and comparison of global buckwheat germplasm.

Together with colleagues from China and Slovenian and European scientists working on the genome, transcriptome and metabolome of buckwheat, we have published a study in one of the world’s leading journals of plant molecular biology, namely Molecular Plant, using comparative and population genomic approaches to uncover key determinants of the synthesis of specific metabolites and fertility of common buckwheat. Population and evolutionary genomics reveal genetic variations associated with environmental adaptability and flower development between Chinese and non-Chinese cultivars. The results shed light on the genetic basis of buckwheat’s speciation, ecological adaptation, fertility and unique flavour, and provide new resources for future genomics-assisted breeding of this economically important crop.

KIS potato researchers attended the European Association for Potato Research (EAPR) Pathology & Pest Section meeting in Arras, France, from 3 to 6 September. These meetings are a wonderful opportunity to bring researchers, students and companies together to discuss all pathological and entomological aspects of potato production. Primož Žigon from the Plant Protection Department at KIS presented the results of the ECOBREED potato research team, which has tested different bioinsecticides to control the Colorado potato beetle.

Our partners from BOKU and NARDI attended the XIV International Gluten Workshop held in Madrid, Spain from 19 to 21 June 2023. This event brings together experts and researchers to discuss advancements in gluten-related studies.

Prof Heinrich Grausgruber (BOKU) acted as chair for the session on genetics and breeding for wheat processing and nutritional quality improvement. He also had a lecture about breeding wheat for organic farming and the need for other varieties with respect to end-use quality, featuring results from ECOBREED.

Dr Cristina-Mihaela Marinciu (NARDI) also contributed to the workshop with her poster presentation titled “Rheological behaviour of a set of winter wheat cultivars, tested in organic conditions at Nardi Fundulea, Romania”. The presentation featured quality data obtained through the ECOBREED project.

During the National Field Days in Oponice, NPPC organised a demonstration event on the selection and quality of organic wheat varieties evaluated under the ECOBREED project. The event featured numerous presentations and discussions on topics such as: biodynamic and organic farming, training in organic farming and quality of wheat varieties for organic farming. At the 24 presentation plots of the NPPC visitors could see crop demonstrations and researchers presented their bred crop varieties, their research activities and the special topic “Increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of breeding varieties for organic farming”. Many thanks to all who participated in the event!

 NPPC počas Celoslovenských dní poľa v Oponiciach usporiadala demonštračné podujatie o výbere odrôd pšenice a o kvalite odrôd pšeníc v ekologickom systéme hospodárenia hodnotené v projekte ECOBREED. Podujatie ponúklo množstvo prezentácií a diskusií na témy ako: biodynamické a ekologické poľnohospodárstvo, vzdelávanie v ekologickom poľnohospodárstve, kvality odrôd pšenice pre ekologické poľnohospodárstvo. Na 24 prezentačných parcelkách NPPC si návštevníci mohli ukážky plodín a výskumníci prezentovali svoje vyšľachtené odrody plodín, výskumnú činnosť a špeciálne téme „ Zvýšenie efektívnosti a konkurencie schopnosti šľachtenia odrôd pre ekologické poľnohospodárstvo“. Ďakujeme návštevníkom za účasť!

We are very pleased with the success of ECOBREED’s recent workshops on advanced genotyping and phenotyping at the 11th World Soybean Research Conference (WSRC11) in Vienna. The workshops met with an overwhelming response from participants and earned positive feedback. The interactive sessions, problem-solving activities and collaborative group work made the workshops both useful and informative for all participants.

Participants rated that the workshops were carefully designed to provide in-depth knowledge and insights into advanced genotyping and phenotyping techniques. The interactive component of the workshops was particularly appreciated by the participants. Problem-solving exercises and group work not only facilitated a deeper understanding of the concepts, but also encouraged collaboration and knowledge sharing among the attendees.

The ECOBREED workshops on advanced genotyping and phenotyping at WSRC11 were an undeniable success. We extend our sincere thanks to all the participants, presenters, the WSRC11 organisers and the ECOBREED teams from IFVC and KIS for their contributions to the workshops.

Our partners from the National Agricultural Research and Development Institute Fundulea (Victor Petrcu et al.) have published an article on article “Early Sowing on Some Soybean Genotypes under Organic Farming Conditions” in the journal Plants as part of the Special Issue Breeding and Cultivation Management of Legumes.

The demand for soybeans in Europe motivates breeders, researchers and growers to find suitable cultivars to adapt and extend soybeans to unsuitable climate areas. For this, weed control is a crucial aspect of technology in organic agriculture. NARDI made a field experiment with 14 soybean accessions and 2 sowing dates under organic farming conditions over the course of three years. The results show that early sowing strategy for soybeans in non-irrigated conditions in a temperate continental area proved to be a risky practice.

The article is available online:

Website: https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/12/12/2295

PDF Version: https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/12/12/2295/pdf

Special Issue: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/plants/special_issues/SI_Legumes

ECOBREED partners ATK, BOKU, IFVC, NARDI, NPPC, RGA, SECOBRA, SELGEN and UNITUS participated in the EUCARPIA Cereal Section Conference 2023, which took place in Szeged, Hungary, from 15 to 20 May 2023. This year’s title was Cereal Breeding – Challenges and Opportunities for Global Improvement. The conference was attended by 226 participants from 23 countries.

UNITUS presented the selection of suitable durum wheat accessions for organic farming with high grain quality, production, and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. The study allowed them to identify seven accessions suitable for organic agriculture with wide adaptation to different environmental conditions.

SELGEN presented the results of the baking quality in set of selected wheat varieties within the project from experiments managed under organic conditions.

ATK, BOKU, and UNITUS presented the results of multi-year durum wheat variety tests carried out in different management systems. The objective of this study was to identify phenotypic parameters and yield components of durum wheat varieties of different geographic origin under Hungarian organic and conventional management in three growing seasons.

BOKU, SECOBRA, NARDI, NPPC, IFVC, ATK, RGA and SELGEN presented lessons learned from the ECOBREED project regarding breeding wheat for organic farming. Within the project, organic multi-environment trials (METs) with two winter wheat diversity panels (i.e. early and late maturity) were carried out from 2020-2022 in seven European countries.  The METs revealed an extremely high variability in grain yield caused by severe drought in some environments and by a significant legacy effect of previous mineral fertilization in one test site. Essential for organic wheat breeding seems to be resistance against common bunt as severe infection levels were observed.

ATK reported on Hungarian participatory organic wheat breeding programs as they sent their organic-suited winter wheat varieties and two populations to organic farmers to start participatory testing and breeding on their farms.

More information on the presented studies can be found here.

One of our focuses in ECOBREED is the development of organic varieties and breeding material with improved stress and disease resistance, resource efficiency and quality. Varieties and candidate varieties are tested and evaluated together with farmers under organic conditions. Our partner Secobra Saatzucht GmbH is working to improve the availability of varieties and seeds for organic farming.

The varieties resulting from the project will be promoted under the trademark “ecobreed IMPROVING CROPS” and made recognizable to farmers.

More about Secobra and ECOBREED in this article in TopAgrar.

The European Commission published its Agricultural Market Brief on organic farming over the period 2012-2020. The share of EU agricultural land under organic farming has increased by more than 50 % in this period. By 2020, 9.1% of the EU’s agricultural area was farmed organically.

Organic plant production farms spend much less on fertilisers and pesticides than conventional farms which is crucial for the EU to reduce its dependence on these products for geopolitical, environmental, and economic reasons. Organic arable crop farms save 75-100% on plant protection product costs per hectare and 45-90% on fertiliser costs per hectare compared to conventional farms.
On average, though with substantial variation across Member States, organic farms are bigger than conventional farms and run by younger farm managers. Echoing the growth of production, the retail sales of organic products doubled in the EU between 2015 and 2020.

The EU has also funded several research projects in the Research and Innovation framework programme Horizon 2020 (2014-2020) that focused on organic farming. These accounted for more than EUR 50 million of EU funding and involve more than 150 partners from more than 20 EU Member States, as well as associated countries and international partners. EU-funded research is addressing key areas like organic crop breeding, through projects such as ECOBREED, LIVESEED and our sister project BRESOV, which increase the availability and quality of organic seeds.

More

Agricultural Market Brief

Our partners from Tuscia University (Ieva Urbanavičiūtė, Luca Bonfiglioli and Mario A. Pagnotta) have published a study about the roots of durum wheat under salt stress. They evaluated the root system of six durum wheat genotypes under control and salt conditions at the seedling stage.

The study revealed that the combination of systems for phenotyping with SSR markers for genotyping is a useful tool to provide important data for the selection of suitable parental lines for salt-tolerance breeding.

The paper Phenotypic and Genotypic Diversity of Roots Response to Salt in Durum Wheat Seedlings is published in the new issue of Plants: https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12020412

Our partner NPPC presented ECOBREED varieties as an identification of quality at the annual AGROSALON Trade Show in Nitra between 7 and 10 December 2022. AGROSALON is an important pre-Christmas agricultural and forestry event in Slovakia with around 140 exhibitors and more than 18,000 visitors per year.

The ECOBREED stand was visited also by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic.

Dr Cristina-Mihaela Marinciu from our ECOBREED partner NARDI Fundulea participated in the 18^th Annual Meeting “Durable Agriculture – Agriculture of the Future” organised by the University of Craiova in Romania. At the conference, she presented some of the ECOBREED results in two poster presentations: “Performance of some Romanian winter wheat cultivars under organic agriculture conditions I. Grain yield” and “Performance of some Romanian winter wheat cultivars under organic agriculture conditions II. Bread making quality indices”. The conference marked the 75^th anniversary of the University of Craiova and was attended by 80 participants, mostly from academia.

BioAustria, a trade magazine for organic farmers in Austria with the highest circulation for organic farming, published an article about our partner Saatzucht Gleisdorf (SZG) with the title »An den Klimawandel besser angepasst« (eng. Better Adapted to Climate Change). The article includes an overview about the presentation of the most interesting varieties tested and selected as well as about ECOBREED and the “ecobreedTM” trademark. Although SZG does not yet have its own organic farming program, there is increased emphasis on characteristics that are important in organic farming.

You can read the article HERE.

More about the magazine here.

Our partner NPPC, in cooperation with EKOTREND Slovakia – Association of Organic Agriculture, organized the ECOBREED Conference “Organic agriculture production- a challenge for the Slovak countryside” on 18 and 19 October 2022 in Liptovská Teplička in Slovakia.

They encouraged farmers interested and active in organic farming to join the two-day event to discuss and learn about the potentials of organic plant breeding. The event brought together diverse backgrounds, from farmers to scientists, and open discussion on topics related to organic farming. Together there were 54 participants at the conference.

The ECOBREED coordinator and the project manager attended the Organic Seed Policy Conference “Market and policy development of the organic seed sector in Croatia and at EU level” on Tuesday, 18 October 2022 in Zagreb, Croatia. The conference was organised within the new Horizon Europe project LIVESEEDING and was attended by important representatives of the EU commission, Croatian policy makers, and experts from various European organisations, seed companies and producers.

The conference covered topics on the political framework of organic seed and plant breeding market in Europe and in Croatia, on the state of organic seed in Europe, and on the EU seed marketing laws reform process and interlinks with roadmap towards 100 % organic seed. In the second part, a panel discussion on organic seed sector development in Croatia was held. The event featured interesting and lively debates about organic farming and organic plant breeding in the EU.

Breeders must always be ready for new challenges. In the current decade, these challenges are the need for improved tolerance to environmental (abiotic) stress factors arising due to climate change, for better nutrient use capacity aimed at the controlled development of sustainable agricultural production at the European level, and for the improvement of resistance to plant diseases and weeds, which will also occur strongly in conventional farming due to less and less available pesticides. One of the primary indicators of the urgency of all challenges is the general deterioration of the quality of the wheat grain produced, the rate of which can be expected to accelerate due to the increasingly uneven distribution of annual precipitation and the forecasted increase in the frequency of occurrence of heat stress during grain filling, as well as the general directives set out in the EU’s “Green Deal” (nutrient supply and pesticide reduction with 20% and 50%, respectively, by 2030, and increasing the average European organic area up to 25% within all agricultural land).

In line with the European Green Deal, the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture has already set out clear targets for the improvement of organic agriculture in Hungary by 2027. The National Action Plan for the Improvement of the Organic Sector was published recently, and one of its primary objectives is to increase the acreage of organic farming in Hungary, with the aim of having at least 10% of agricultural land under organic cultivation. According to the Action Plan, organic farmers would be able to enjoy long-term financial stability (through a new support system in the frame of CAP) and professional success while serving the expanding local and EU organic market. The implementation of the plan would improve the health of (the Hungarian) people, the quality of life in rural areas, the preservation of nature, and the competitiveness of Hungarian farmers. In addition, expert advice, accessible market data, value chain development, and sales collaborations, along with scientific knowledge transfer and training would be also given to, or available for farmers. Some quantified targets are also part of the Action Plan, like the increase of organic food market share within the Hungarian food market by up to 5%, or doubling of the average domestic consumption of organic products per capita, or the increase of the share of local organic products in public catering up to 20%.

Based on these promising targets, it is necessary to put more emphasis on the development of reliable and well-performing small grain cereal varieties required by organic farmers, since the size of the area cultivated in this environmentally friendly way of farming is expected to be doubled in Hungary within ten years. Therefore, the intensity of the organic cereal breeding program that has been running at the Centre for Agricultural Research, Martonvásár (ATK) for more than 15 years now needs to be increased in the coming years, so that more wheat variety candidates (population) that is (also) suitable for organic farming could be registered in the national variety trials.

With these in mind, a targeted breeding program was started in the organic fields of ATK at Martonvásár, which will offer solutions to the (not exclusively organic) wheat growers of the current decade. Despite the decline in the market share of premium quality wheats, ATK’s organic breeding program is mainly based on them, as the competitive advantage of premium quality varieties lies in the production of a reliable milling quality level, even under a more modest nutrient supply, like in the case of most organic farms. As an actual example, ATK focuses an important part of its organic breeding activities on the development of wheat lines with high protein and gluten contents, which work is carried out within the EU H2020 project ECOBREED. As a result of the project, crossing combinations have been developed from parental varieties previously tested and selected in Martonvásár (from a set of wheat varieties introduced by project partners), and marker assisted selection was carried out on their progenies to select those lines that are carrying the genes causes high protein and gluten content. These special wheat breeding lines are now ready for field trials, where their agronomic performance could be investigated, along with their compositional and rheological quality. Development of such high quality lines, coupled with increased resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses with an affordable grain yield, would ensure farmers an appropriate wheat grain harvest through different fields and years in Hungary.

Organic breeding activity is awaited to be boosted by this National Action Plan, because one of its key areas is the strengthening of Hungarian research, development and innovation on organic farming, while the participation in EU’s next framework research programme Horizon Europe will be also encouraged by the government. In addition, ATK (among other actors) is playing an important role in preparing the establishment of official organic variety registration trials in Hungary using its knowledge on organic breeding and testing originated partly from its ECOBREED activities.

Prof. Meiliang Zhou from the Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences was invited to give a lecture at the 9th Congress of the Genetic Society of Slovenia. His talk was about the buckwheat genome and genetics as well as about his work within ECOBREED.

At CRI in Prague, Czech Republic, the ECOBREED executive board held a press conference and round table discussion about the project results with members of the press and the Czech Ministry of Agriculture.

The ECOBREED executive board visited our partner PRO-BIO, obchodní společnost s r.o., in Staré Město in the north-eastern part of the Czech Republic.

PRO-BIO is the pioneering organic food producer and organic farming business in the Czech Republic.

Happy European Organic Day to all!

Today is the 2nd European Organic Day, and ECOBREED is happy to be a part of the movement for a better future.

Let’s all keep up the good work!

This summer, ECOBREED partner National Agricultural and Food Center (NPPC) from Slovakia organised a field day as well as a participatory plant breeding training in Vígľaš – Pstrúša that were a big success among the public.

The ECOBREED harvest in Borovce, Slovakia, at its best! Wheat everywhere, and harvesters did their absolute best.

ECOBREED organised an Advanced Phenotyping Training Event at Nafferton Farm at Newcastle University, UK from 4-5 August 2022.  This introductory workshop covered different sensing tools for field phenotyping and their applications as a part of the EU ECOBREED project covering improvement in organic breeding. The workshop covered topics on conventional phenotyping, on remote sensing, on sensor tools for non-destructive phenotyping, in-field demonstration, demonstration of preliminary data analyses approaches and hands on sensor use.

DIGIBREED Summer School was organised at BOKU, Austria, at the end of July. It was a very productive week for 25 participants – 10 were also granted ECOBREED bursaries. We hope they will use the gained knowledge to increase the organic sector and organic plant breeding in the countries with an uptake of organic agriculture.

Hot hard days of ECOBREED at Selgen, Czech Republic. The wheat harvest of the year 2022 started during the heat weaves moving across Europe. The toilsome days are full of sweat and dust, temperatures reaching 39 °C.

The data gathering, such as measuring the plant heights, is essential for the breeding process. There are thousands of potential genetic combinations but just a few of them are going to be new wheat varieties. Finding the right one is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Last week, BOKU had a visit from a small group from the project partner Crop Research Institute in Prague (CZ). They visited the ECOBREED WP2 durum wheat trial in Raasdorf. In the picture (from left to right): Anna Kotrbova Kozak (CRI), Eleonora Pichler (BOKU), Michal Jagr and Petra Hlásná Čepková (both CRI).

Our ECOBREEDERS from WP Soybean presented the results in the SoilAgroIT 2022 “Zemljište u doba precizne poljoprivrede i informacionih tehnologija” organized by the Agriculture Faculty Novi Sad, Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops and Srpsko društvo za proučavanje zemljista! Presented results were related to “Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in the flowering phase of soybean grown in different soil conditions” and “Soil penetration resistance in soybean low input production after the cover crops introduction”.

ORGANIX, s. r. o., NPPC and partners are inviting you to the demonstration of the Organic Farming Field Day “How to eliminate growing risks and be successful in organic production” on 28 June 2022 in the Biofarm Kriváň in Važec (former area of Motorest Kriváň). During the demonstration, there will be a presentation of the company ORGANIX, s. r. o., of the ECOBREED NPPC project, and of cereal and potato varieties, demonstrations of technology, and development of organic commodity prices. There will also be a lecture on microbiological preparations in practice. Is this the future of vegetation treatment? Representatives of the production and breeding companies will also be available for discussion. More information about the location and program of the event is available via the link below.

Spoločnosť ORGANIX, s. r. o., NPPC a partneri Vás pozývajú na Deň poľa ekologickej poľnohospodárskej výroby “Ako eliminovať pestovateľské riziká a byť úspešný v ekologickej výrobe” dňa 28. júna 2022 v Biofarme Kriváň vo Važci (bývalý areál Motorestu Kriváň). Počas predvádzania bude prebiehať prezentácia spoločnosti ORGANIX, s. r. o., projektu ECOBREED NPPC, odrody obilnín a zemiakov, ukážky techniky, vývoj cien ekologických komodít, prednáška – mikrobiologické prípravky v praxi. Je to budúcnosť ošetrenia porastov? K diskusii budú k dispozícii aj zástupcovia výrobných/obchodných, osivarských a šľachtiteľských spoločností. Viac informácií o mieste a programe podujatia nájdete na nižšie uvedenom odkaze.

• INVITATION

Unsustainable and conventional agriculture is a larger driver of biodiversity and contributes to climate change and contaminating soils and water with synthetic pesticides and fertilizer.

Organic farming takes care of the natural cycles, climate, people, and biodiversity by maintaining healthy soils and soil fauna. It is based on ethical approaches to farm animals’ protection of the population and combines tradition with innovation.

It is time to re-think!

Our Czech partners, PRO-BIO, obchodní společnost s r.o. and SELGEN, a.s., have been awarded by the European Seed magazine as two of the 20 most climate friendly seed companies. The jury especially appreciated the 30-year cooperation of PRO-BIO with organic farmers as an example of sustainable farming systems as well as SELGEN’s work in developing new high quality plant varieties that require low input of chemicals and energy which contributes to a better environment. Congratulations!

More info:

• https://european-seed.com/2022/04/the-20-most-climate-friendly-companies-over-2021-11-15/
• https://european-seed.com/2022/04/the-20-most-climate-friendly-companies-over-2021-16-20/

Dr Jarosław Plich from National Research Institute – Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute (IHAR) was a guest on the Polish Radio Rzeszów. He presented our project, especially breeding potato cultivars for organic agriculture. Take a listen HERE.

The Ecobreed project was disseminated by IHAR-PIB (Poland) on the “XVIII Good Harvest – cooperation in organic farming” seminar organised by Association ZIARNO, Ecological Folk High School, Living Earth Coalition and Polish Ecological Club in Gliwice on 18-19 March 2022 in Jordanów near Płock (Poland).

During 4.3. – 5.3.2022 you are kindly invited to the symposium of Living Farmining for all farmers, consumers, academic workers and activists, which will take place in Prague. PROBIO obchodní spol. s r.o. is one of the guests and will be presenting the ECOBREED project. The following topics are going to be presented and discussed:

• biodynamic and organic agriculture,
• organic wine production,
•  conversion to organic agriculture,
•  sustainability of organic farming,
•  social agriculture,
•  nutrition in organic farming,
•  buckwheat participatory trials in UK, Slovenia and Czech republic”.

More information about the event is available HERE.

ECOBREED project was presented by the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops (IFVCNS) at the 56th Seminar for agronomists and farmers (SAPS) and the 2nd Conference of Agronomists of Serbia and Republika Srpska, which took place from 31 January to 3 February 2022.

The SAPS was attended by around 350 farmers, agronomists and other stakeholders.

You can find more information and videos from the event HERE.

Organic breeding needs a long-term commitment that will profit the entire food system. You can ensure the integrity of tomorrow’s products and strengthen consumers’ trust by joining forces with breeders and farmers. Learn more by taking a look at this very educational video of the project Engagement.Biobreeding Europe https://www.biobreeding.org. 

How to heal Czech agriculture? PROBIO sro presented the Ecobreed project at the Symposium for all the farmers, consumers, academic workers or activists organised on June 24th and 25th in Prague, Czech Republic. The event offered many workshops, presentation and discussion on topics as:

• biodynamic and organic agriculture
• community-supported agriculture
• education in organic agriculture
• city farming
• access to land
• market with organic products

More info about the event, program and some highlights are presented below.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Jak uzdravit naše zemědělství? PROBIO představilo projekt Ecobreed na sympoziu pro všechny zemědělce, spotřebitele, akademicky i aktivisty pořádané ve dnech 24. a 25. června. Akce nabídla mnoho workshopů, přednášek a diskusí o tématech:

• biodynamické a ekologické zemědělství
• komunitní způsoby hospodaření
• vzdělávání v ekologickém zemědělství
• městské hospodaření
• přístup k půdě
• trh s bio produkty

Další informace o akci, programu a několika důležitých bodech jsou uvedeny níže.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Symposium_program_CZ_24.-25.6.2021

MORE INFO/VÍCE INFORMACÍ ⬇

Symposium živé zemědělství

Naturland e.V. invites you to a field visit of the ECOBRRED potato variety trial at Fam, Germany. Pfülb, Schweinfurter Str. 34, 97727 Fuchsstadt. Focus Is on varieties with tolerance against late blight. The event will take place on Tuesday, August 3rd 2021 at 6 pm.

Der Naturland e.V. lädt ein zu einer Besichtigung des ECOBREED Kartoffel-Sortenversuches bei der Familie Pfülb, Schweinfurter Str. 34, 97727 Fuchsstadt. Der Schwerpunkt des Versuches liegt auf Sorten, die gegen Krautfäule tolerant sind. Die Veranstaltung findet am Dienstag, 03. August 2021 um 18 Uhr statt.

NATURLAND_Potato_FD_03.08.2021_Invitation

Dear followers,

We would like to inform you that an open access peer-review article was published on the web page MDPI. To read the article Breeding Buckwheat for Nutritional Quality in the Czech Republic prepared by the Crop Research Institute and the Agricultural Insitute of Slovenia, click here: https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/10/7/1262.

Dear followers,

We would like to inform you that a short article about the ECOBREED project was published in the EOL Magazine. To read the article and learn more about the ECOBREED project, click here (page 21): https://www.zelenaslovenija.si/media/uploads/revija/EOL_160/EOL%20160.pdf .

We would like to invite you to the second part of the Potato Field day, organized by the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia and the ECOBREED project. The event will take place at the Infrastrukturni Center Jablje test field in Mengeš, Slovenia on July 2, 2021. The presentation of the ECOBREED project and fieldwork will start at 12 o’clock.

V petek, 2. julija 2021, vas vljudno vabimo na drugi del dogodka Dan krompirja, ki bo potekal na poskusnem polju Infrastrukturnega centra Jablje Kmetijskega inštituta Slovenije, s pričetkom ob 12 uri. Na dogodku bodo predstavljeni rezultati projekta ECOBREED. Več informacij o dogodku: Dan Krompirja 2021.

On Thursday, 17 and on Monday, 21 June 2021, we would like to invite you to the field day Wheat, barley, peas, clover, organized by SELGEN. The field day will start at 9:00 am at the breeding station Stupice in Czech Republic and will be guided by Pavel Horčička, together with breeders. There is going to be a possibility to see several weat varieties from the ECOBREED project.

Today, 18^th of June, 2021, an organic arable demonstration farm VH Agroton in cooperation with Czech organics and PRO-BIO obchodní společnost is organizing a field day: Precision farming in organic system – pilot experiment of landscape management optimalization. PRO-BIO company will introduce principles and benefits of ongoing farmers’ participatory trials within the ECOBREED project. Demonstration farms project is supported by Ministry of Agriculture of Czech republic.

Dne 18.6.2021 demonstrační farma VH Agroton s.r.o. ve spolupráci s Czech organics a PRO-BIO obchodní společnost pořádá den otevřených dveří na téma Precizní zemědělství v EZ – pilotní využití optimalizace půdních bloků. Firma PRO-BIO obchodní společnost představí principy a přínosy probíhajících farmářských participačních pokusů v rámci projektu ECOBREED. Projekt Demofarmy 9. F.m. je podpořen MZe.

We would like to invite you to the event that will take place between 24.6. – 25.6.2021: How to heal the Czech agriculture? 🌱  Symposium for all the farmers, consumers, academic workers or activists.

You can look forward to workshops, presentation and discussion on the following topics:

✅ biodynamic and organic agriculture,

✅ community supported agriculture,

✅ education in organic agriculture,

✅ city farming,

✅ access to land,

✅ market with organic products.

Czech partners Crop Research Institute and PRO BIO obchodní spol. s r.o. are among the organisers of the symposium.

You can check more information about the event here Katalog odrůd_ECOBREED_červen_21_v3 and on the following link: https://www.asociaceampi.cz/co-delame/symposium/.

Jak uzdravit naše zemědělství? 🌱 Symposium pro všechny zemědělce, spotřebitele, akademiky i aktivisty.

Těšit se můžete na workshopy, přednášky a diskuze na témata:

✅ biodynamické a ekologické zemědělství,

✅ komunitní způsoby hospodaření,

✅ vzdělávání v ekologickém zemědělství,

✅ městské hospodaření,

✅ přístup k půdě,

✅ trh s bio produkty.

Pozvání: Katalog odrůd_ECOBREED_červen_21_v3.

URL: https://www.asociaceampi.cz/co-delame/symposium/.

We would like to invite you to the Field Day dedicated to diversification in biological resources and agrotechnics for sustainability. The field day is a co-event of several H2020 projects, including ECOBREED. The event will take place in Hungary (József Attila u. 066. hrsz., Szár, 2066) on 22 June 2021. To get more information about the event and registration, see the invitation attached bellow.

Tisztelettel meghívjuk a 2021. június 22-én tartandó a diverzifikált biológiai alapok és agrotechnikák a fenntarthatóság jegyében szervezett Szántóföldi Szakmai Napra. A rendezvény több EU H2020 projekt, köztük az ECOBREED projekt közös bemutatója. Helyszíne: 2066, Szár, József Attila u. 066. hrsz. További információ a rendezvényről és a regisztrációról a csatolt meghívóban található.

ÖMKi_DEMO_22.6.2021_invitation

BioAustria Burgenland is organizing the traditional Bionet-Field day on Friday, 11 June 2021. The common wheat trial includes several varieties from the ECOBREED project. The tour through the variety trial will be guided by Heinrich Grausgruber, Universität für Bodenkultur Wien, together with representatives of the breeding companies. The field day will start at 9:00 a.m. at Café Mocca, Hauptstr. 1, 7151 Wallern im Burgenland. Current COVID regulations have to be followed.

Am Freitag, 11. Juni 2021 findet der Bionet-Ackerbautag mit Begehung der Sortenversuche von Winterweizen, Dinkel und Mais statt. Heinrich Grausgruber von der Universität für Bodenkultur Wien begleitet die Veranstaltung für das ECOBREED Projekt welches mit einigen Sorten im Winterweizenversuch vertreten ist. Der Feldtag beginnt um 9:00 Uhr, Treffpunkt ist das Cafe Mocca, Hauptstraße 1, 7151 Wallern im Burgenland. Die Feldbegehung findet gemeinsam mit Vertretern der Saatgutfirmen statt. Es müssen die aktuell gültigen Covid-19-Sicherheitsmaßnahmen eingehalten werden. Es gilt die 3-G-Regel: Genesen, Geimpft, Getestet. Es ist ein entsprechender Nachweis vorzuweisen.

We would like to invite you to the Field Day of Wheat Farmers Participatory Field Trial, organized by Universität für Bodenkultur Wien and the ECOBREED project. The event will take place at on June 15, 2021, at two sites in the Weinviertel (i.e. Aspersdorf and Starnwörth). Please, see the invitation below. In case you are interested in attending the event, please register via email heinrich.grausgruber@boku.ac.at. The number of participants is limited to 15 per site; registration should be done by June 14.

Am Dienstag, 15. Juni 2021, findet die Besichtigung der Weizen-Sortenversuche des Ecobreed Projektes statt. Veranstalter: Universität für Bodenkultur Wien. Ort: Aspersdorf bei Hollabrunn und Starnwörth (siehe Programmlink unterhalb). Anmeldungen bis 14. Juni 2021 unter heinrich.grausgruber@boku.ac.at

BOKU_DEMO_15.6.2021_invitation

This Sunday, 06. 06. 2021, the Agricultural Advisory Center in Boguchwała (Poland) organizes the II Field Day. During the event visitors will have opportunities to visit field trials belonging to various agricultural and scientific institutes. Among these experiments, one belongs to IHAR-PIB and is performed in the frame of the ECOBREED Project. The aim of this experiment is assessment of resistance to Late Blight of 65 potato cultivars from Ecobreed work collection as well as selected breeding potato clones. During the event Jarosław Plich from IHAR will give some information about this experiment and ECOBREED project, and will answer the questions of visitors.

W najbliższą niedzielę 06. 06. 2021 na poletkach Podkarpackiego Ośrodka Doradztwa Rolniczego w Boguchwale odbędzie się II Dzień Pola. W ramach tego spotkania można będzie zwiedzać pole doświadczalne tego Ośrodka, na którym zlokalizowane są eksperymenty polowe realizowane przez różne ośrodki naukowe. Wśród tych doświadczeń znajdują się poletka doświadczalne założone przez IHAR-PIB w ramach Projektu ECOBREED. Celem tych doświadczeń jest ocena odporności na zarazę ziemniaka 65 odmian ziemniaka zgromadzonych w ramach projektu kolekcji oraz wybranych rodów hodowlanych ziemniaka. Na spotkaniu będzie obecny przedstawiciel IHAR-PIB dr Jarosław Plich, który przedstawi informacje na temat doświadczeń, projektu ECOBREED oraz odpowie zainteresowanym na wszystkie pytania dotyczące tych doświadczeń.

More information / więcej informacji: https://dzienpola.podrb.pl/

Experimental field at the mid-June 2020

The same experimental field at mid-July 2020

We would like to invite you to the Cereal Field Days, organized by the Centre for Agricultural Research and the ECOBREED project. The event will take place at 2462 Martonvásár, Lászlópuszta (GPS:47.302750,18.808700), Hungary on June 15-16, 2021. To get more information about event and registration, see the invitation attached bellow.

Az Agrártudományi Kutatóközpont Mezőgazdasági Intézete tisztelettel meghívja Önt és munkatársait a 2021. június 15-16-án tartandó Martonvásári Országos Kalászos Fajtabemutatóra. Az esemény helyszíne: 2462 Martonvásár, Lászlópuszta (GPS:47.302750,18.808700). További információ a rendezvényről és a regisztrációról a csatolt meghívóban található.

ATK_Cereal_FD_15.-16.6.2021_Invitation

We would like to invite you to the Organic cereal production field day, organized by the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia and the ECOBREED project. The event will take place at Infrastrukturni Center Jablje, Grajska cesta 1, 1234 Mengeš, Slovenia on June 9, 2021. This year’s traditional event is dedicated to the production of organic cereals in (central) Slovenia.

V sredo, 9. junija 2021, ob 9. uri se bo na Infrastrukturnem centru Jablje Kmetijskega inštituta Slovenije pričel tradicionalni Dan žit. Tematika letošnjega dogodka je namenjena ekološki pridelavi žit v (osrednji) Sloveniji.

KIS_cereal_DEMO_9.6.2021_invitation

As part of the Slovenian-Bavarian intergovernmental cooperation, between May 27 & 28, 2021, the Slovenian-Bavarian Scientific Forum will be held under the organization of Slovene Ministry of Education, Science and Sport and the Bavarian Academic Center for Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (BAYHOST). The purpose of the event is to strengthen scientific cooperation and enable the establishment of new contacts between interested institutions and researchers.

We are proud that the ECOBREED project is part of the opening plenary session. The project will be presented by Dr Vladimir Meglič, project coordinator and Werner Vogt-Kaute, representative of the German partner NATURLAND e.V.

More info, registration, and programme: https://www.kooperation-international.de/en/events/detail/info/slovenian-bavarian-scientific-forum/

Program_SBSF_2021_Online

V okviru Slovensko-bavarskega medvladnega sodelovanja, bo med 27. in 28. 5. 2021 potekal Slovensko-bavarski znanstveni forum v organizaciji Ministrstva za izobraževanje, znanost in šport in Bavarskega akademskega centra za Srednjo, Vzhodno in Jugovzhodno Evropo (BAYHOST). Namen dogodka je okrepiti znanstveno sodelovanje in omogočiti vzpostavljanje novih stikov med zainteresiranimi institucijami in raziskovalci.

Ponosni smo, da je projekt ECOBREED del uvodnih plenarnih predavanj. Projekt bosta predstavila dr. Vladimir Meglič, koordinator projekta in Werner Vogt-Kaute, predstavnik Nemškega partnerja NATURLAND e.V.

Program Slovensko-bavarskega znanstvenega foruma 2021

Prijava na dogodek

We would like to invite all interested farmers to the Field Day of Wheat Breeding, organized by the SECOBRA Saatzucht GmbH, the Naturland e.V. and the ECOBREED project. The event with an opportunity to see an extensive variety of wheat will take place in Feldkirchen 3, 85368 Moosburg a. d. Isar, Germany on June 17, 2021. To get more information about event and registration, see the invitation attached bellow. The registration should be done by June 10th.

Am Donnerstag, den 17.06.2021, findet bei der SECOBRA Saatzucht GmbH in Feldkirchen ein Öko-Feldtag statt. Zusammen mit Naturland werden die Feldversuche des Ecobreed-Projeks vorgestellt. Interessierte Landwirte können eine Vielzahl an Weizensorten für den ökologischen Landbau im Feld sehen. Dazu laden wir herzlich ein.

SECOBRA_DEMO_17.6.2021_invitation

We would like to invite you to the Training event on Organic Plant Breeding for farmers and students, organized by the Naturland e.V. and the ECOBREED project. The event will take place at Dottenfelder Hof, 61118 Bad Vilbel, Germany on June 8, 2021. Please, see the invitation in English language and German language bellow. In case you are interested in attending the event, please register yourself via email w.vogt-kaute@naturland-beratung.de. The registration should be done by June 3rd.

Am Dienstag, 08.06.2021, 10:00 Uhr, veranstaltet der Naturland e.V. im Rahmen des Ecobreed Projektes einen Trainingskurs Ökologische Pflanzenzüchtung für LandwirtInnen und StudentInnen. Ort: Dottenfelder Hof, 61118 Bad Vilbel. Die Teilnehmerzahl ist begrenzt. Anmeldung bis 03.06.2021 unter w.vogt-kaute@naturland-beratung.de

Naturland_training_event_8.6.2021_invitation

We would like to invite you to the demonstration event Field Day of Soya Farmers Participatory Field Trial, organized by the Naturland e.V. and the ECOBREED project. The event will take place at Florian Jobst, 84164 Moosthenning, Germany on Avgust 19, 2021. Please, see the invitation in English language and German language bellow. In case you are interested in attending the event, please register register yourself via email w.vogt-kaute@naturland-beratung.de. The registration should be done by Avgust 17th.

Am Donnerstag, den 17.06.2021, findet bei der SECOBRA Saatzucht GmbH in Feldkirchen ein Öko-Feldtag statt. Zusammen mit Naturland werden die Feldversuche des Ecobreed-Projeks vorgestellt. Interessierte Landwirte können eine Vielzahl an Weizensorten für den ökologischen Landbau im Feld sehen. Dazu laden wir herzlich ein.

Naturland_DEMO_19.8.2021_invitation

We would like to invite you to our first online training on advanced phenotyping, which will be organized by the National Agricultural and Food Centre and PSI (Photon Systems Instruments), spol. s r.o. on May 24-25, 2021. If interested, please register by May 20th, using the link below. For more information see the Official Program also provided below.

Registration Form

Official Program

We would like to invite you to the second ECOBREED Online Training on Advanced Genotyping, organized by the Tuscia University, Viterbo, Italy, the SAFE-Med and the ECOBREED project. The event will take place on June 21 through June 25, 2021. Please, see the Official Invitation and the First Draft Program bellow. In case you are interested in attending the event, please register yourself via email pagnotta.lab@gmail.com using the Information Consent and the Registration Form provided bellow. The registration should be done by June 10th.

Official Invitation

First Draft Program

Information Consent

Registration Form

Information Sheet

The XXI International Workshop on Bunt and Smut Diseases will take place online tomorrow. In case you are interested to participate, do not forget to register and get you link to the virtual meeting: https://bokuvienna.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Hj5fvcq8R0a2ald1aozO-A

This is what the Nafferton Farm looked like throughout the year.

If you want to follow us regularly, do not forget to check our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Photo credits: Paul Bilsborrow on https://twitter.com/BilsborrowPaul

The ECOBREED project has found its place on the Slovene national TV show Točka preloma. The video is available at  https://4d.rtvslo.si/arhiv/tocka-preloma/174765427.

The International Conference on Breeding and Seed Sector Innovations for Organic Food Systems has started on March 8 and it will run until March 10, 2021. This year it is organized online by the EUCARPIA Section Organic and Low Input Agriculture jointly with LIVESEED, BRESOV, ECOBREED, FLPP projects and ECO-PB. At the conference, scientists are informed about the latest scientific news.

Slovenia depends on imports of foreign plant varieties and seeds. If you are interested in knowing how ECOBREED project will improve the situation in Slovenia, you can read the article that was published on 26th February 2021 in the newspaper Delo, the central daily newspaper of Slovenia: https://www.delo.si/novice/okolje/ekoloskih-semen-premalo-odobrena-konvencionalna/.

The progress of the ECOBREED project and its potential impact on the development of the organic plant breed was outlined on the Slovenian national TV, show Ljudje in Zemlja, on 28th February 2021: https://www.rtvslo.si/4d/arhiv/174757396?s=tv.

The ECOBREED’s partner, National Research Institute – Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute (IHAR), presented the ECOBREED poster at the online Plant Protection Conference – 61. Scientific Session of the Institute of Plant Protection ‒ NRI, that was held on 10‒12 February 2021. At the event there were presented 142 oral presentations and 275 posters. The event was attended by more than 2.000 participants, among whom scientists involved in plant health and/or protection, representatives from the Plant Health and Seed Inspections and policy makers from the Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. You can read more about the event at https://www.snior.pl/.

See the programme: Program_KOR-61SNIOR_2021

See the Book of abstracts: Streszczenia KOR_61.Sesji Naukowej IOR-PIB_2020

This year the BIOFACH, the biggest business and congress fair with the focus on organic food in Europe, will take place online from 17 – 19 February 2021.

Dr. Vladimir Meglič, Head of the Crop and Seed Science Department – Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, and Prof. dr. Branca Ferdinando, Associate Professor of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops – University of Catania, Italy, are going to speak about strategies of H2020 projects LIVESEED, BRESOV and ECOBREED on boosting organic seed and breeding across Europe. The focus is going to be on the new EU organic seed router database that will make it possible for seed suppliers to manage their seed offers to all EU Member States with one single login.

For more information about the event, visit: https://www.biofach.de/en.

Dear followes,

we would like to invite you to the XXI International Workshop on Bunt and Smut Diseases that will happen at the beginning of May 2021. In case you are interested in the participation as presenter or participant, please find all the necessary information here: https://bunt.boku.ac.at/.

On Thursday, 28^th January 2021, the first ECOBREED’s paper (Preizkušanje različnih bioinsekticidov za zatiranje koloradskega hrošča) was presented by nine researchers on a two-day symposium NEW CHALLENGES IN AGRONOMY 2021.

On second day of the symposium, Friday, 29^th January 2021, two ECOBREED’s papers were presented. The first one was prepared by the Crop Research Institute from Czech Republic (WP5 leader) and the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia. It presented the Importance of Organic Breeding.

The second one was prepared by the Slovenian group of researchers from Agricultural Institute of Slovenia (Program ekološkega žlahtnjenja sort krompirja na Kmetijskem inštitutu Slovenije v okviru projekta ECOBREED) and presented results from organic breeding of potato varieties at the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia.

The Slovenian Society for Agronomy is organizing a symposium NEW CHALLENGES IN AGRONOMY 2021 with international participation. The symposium that takes place every other year is aimed to all who by their research and professional work constructively influence the development of Slovenian agronomy and related activities. This time, the two-day event is going to take place online and presentations from the wider field of agriculture are going to be grouped into eight thematic sections.

On 28^th January 2021 the first ECOBREED’s paper (Preizkušanje različnih bioinsekticidov za zatiranje koloradskega hrošča) is going to be presented, followed by two paper presentations (Importance of organic breeding by Dagmar JANOVSKÁ, Gabriela MÜHLBACHOVÁ, Petra HLÁSNÁ ČEPKOVÁ and Vladimir MEGLIČ, and Program ekološkega žlahtnjenja sort krompirja na Kmetijskem inštitutu Slovenije v okviru projekta ECOBREED by Peter DOLNIČAR, Eva BLATNIK and Vladimir MEGLIČ ) and one poster presentation on 29^th January 2021 (ECOBREED – Povečanje učinkovitosti in konkurenčnosti ekološkega žlahtnjenja by Vladimir MEGLIČ, Peter DOLNIČAR, Aleš KOLMANIČ, Lovro SINKOVIČ, Barbara PIPAN, Eva BLATNIK, Ana VOJNOVIĆ, Primož TITAN and Antoaneta G. KUHAR).

Are you interested in this event? You can still register today at https://www.agronomsko-drustvo.si/symposium.php.

The ECOBREED project found place in the specialized booklet Pametno kmentijstvo that was published today as part of the Slovene magazine Finance Manager. 7.950 subscribers can now learn what is Consortium doing to reach a better supply of organic seeds and how the multi-actor approach is benefiting it: https://pro.finance.si/8968410/(Brezplacna-priloga-Pametno-kmetijstvo)-Preverite-katere-tehnologije-krojijo-pametno-kmetijstvo?cctest&src=NAT_UREDNISKE_4&fbclid=IwAR1OxlnDNKFpKo5kT5Q2JosDauDHUW14sBv4EqbP6259Mu9DRQWGM_TmOSA.

Participatory Plant Breeding is an important pillar of the ECOBREED project. Our Italian partner University of Tuscia (UNITUS) was sowing on a farmer’s field for participatory organic wheat production as part of the ECOBREED project.

Photo credit: Prof. Mario Pagnotta on Twitter https://twitter.com/pagnotta_mario

Dear followers,

We would like to inform you that a short article about the ECOBREED project with Prof. Mario Pagnotta was published in Italian language on the web page ScienzaInsieme. To read the article and watch a video about the project, click here: https://www.scienzainsieme.it/ecobreed-project-con-il-prof-mario-pagnotta/?fbclid=IwAR251hsmW3SBMlQ9geKYpCqm7y2r9ddwSwRsFyfHGPLKExcjODI3tLYI0RE.

Dear followers,

We would like to inform you about the latest video of the ECOBREED project. Our Czech partner PROBIO sro (PROBIO) performed harvesting and cleaning winter wheat for Farmer Participatory Trials and prepared a YouTube video about it: https://youtu.be/ExJ3-4VIBJs.

Today, results of the ECOBREED project were presented at the Online International Workshop BIOCONTROL AGENTS AND NATURAL COMPOUNDS: IMPORTANT TOOLS FOR ORGANIC VEGETABLE FOOD SUPPLY CHAINS. The presentation was prepared by University of Vigo, Spain.

Wireworms are major pests of crops including maize, wheat and potatoes. Several chemical pesticides used to successfully manage Wireworms in the past are being phased out because of their ecotoxicity. Wireworms are troublemakers especially in organic farming, where granular soil insecticides are not available. The good news comes from Entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) research showing that EPF are successful in controlling Wireworms. In this year’s potato trial in Slovenia the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia used EPF to control Wireworms. You can read more about the management of Wireworms in the article Bioaugmentation of Entomopathogenic Fungi for Sustainable Agriotes Larvae (Wireworms) Management in Maize, available at the following link: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2020.535005/full?report=reader.

Common bunt is a seed-borne fungal disease caused by Tilletia tritici & T. laevis. Organic farms have a heavy cross to bear when their fields are infected, as common bunt reduces grain yield and quality, even at a very low incidence. The unpleasant fishy odour of bunt balls can transform a wheat field swaying in the wind into a sea of rotten fish. Systemic fungicides are not allowed in organic system, so resistant cultivars are considered the most effective management strategy.

Identifying and introgressing resistance to common bunt in winter wheat is challenging and time-consuming. The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) embarked on this journey of illuminating the effects of QTL and resistance genes (BT-genes) on different wheat chromosomes as well as their interplay in crosses between elite varieties and exotic resistance donors.

Trade-offs between disease resistance from non-adapted sources and good agronomic performance are a common problem. The ECOBREED project combines marker- and genomics-assisted selection to lead breeding programs towards a successful selection strategy.

The ECOBREED project was presented at the 35th Annual Conference of Slovene Agricultural Extension Services. The event was held online and gathered vaious stakeholders. The ECOBREED presentation was attended by 245 people. You can read more about the event at www.kgzs.si/jsks/posvet.

Dear followers,

If you are interested to get some recent information on ECOBREED’s progress on wheat and soybean, you can registrate for the 71st Plant Breeder’s Online Conference, organized in collaboration with two of our Austrian partners, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) and the Saatzucht Gleisdor GmbH (SZG). The conference is going to happen on 23-24 November 2020. The registration form and the program are available here: http://www.saatgut-austria.at/page.asp/-/105.htm?fbclid=IwAR3y88OJ5sNIx4gASHuL71ScFrgFw_nSxMYUv-7Qjkwh2ToVeApJJ6L-qws.

Photo credit: BRESOV_eu on Twitter https://twitter.com/BRESOV_EU

As part of the ECOBREED project the Organic Potato Field Day event occurred in Boguchwała, Poland. The event was organized by National Research Institute – Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute (IHAR).

The actors of the ECOBREED project met organic farmers in Poland. They discussed on potato varieties performance.

Organic potato trials took place at the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia. Researchers are looking forward improving seed tuber quality and vigour via the use of cover crops.

On the photos bellow there is a selection of the best clones.

Ph.D. students from the Kazakh National Agriculture University (KazNAU) visited the ECOBREED’s Serbian partner, the Instiute of Field and Vegetable Crops (IFVCNS), and were introduced to ECOBREED trials for innovative cultivation practices in soybean production such as cover crops and inoculants use.

The ECOBREED project was on the Slovene national TV show Ljudje&zemlja that is highly appreciated by farmers and other stakeholders. Dr. Jaka Razinger presented sustainable wireworm control strategies in organic potato breeding (video: 4:25-7:22′). The video is available at https://4d.rtvslo.si/arhiv/ljudje-in-zemlja/174729350.

As part of the ECOBREED project the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (UNEW), England, United Kingdom, set up an experiment looking at variation in wheat for production of allelochemicals for activity against weeds. The experiment may give a route to the potential for bioherbicide production.

Photo credit: Paul Bilsborrow on Twitter https://twitter.com/BilsborrowPaul

Agricultural Institute of Slovenia is a public research institute founded in 1898 making it the oldest institution of its kind in Slovenia. It is a non-profit state institution rendering a public service. The founder, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, exercises its founder rights through three ministries: the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, and the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning.

The Institute is registered for the performance of the following activities: basic, applied, and developmental research; expert tasks determined by law; laboratory and infrastructure services; supervision and control of the quality of agricultural products and products used in agriculture; consultancy; training and postgraduate education of researchers; publication of the findings and results of its research, expert, and control tasks and sales of own marketing products.

Areas of activity:

• Crop and seed science and vegetable production;
• Genetics, breeding, maintenance breeding, and genebanks for food and agriculture;
• Animal production (cattle production, pig production, apiculture);
• Fruit growing, viticulture, and oenology;
• Plant protection;
• Control of the fertility and quality of agricultural land;
• Agricultural ecology;
• Soil use and protection;
• Agricultural engineering and energy production;
• Analysis of soil, mineral, and organic fertilisers, animal feed, honey, pesticide residues, and pesticides;
• Analysis of wine, must, and spirits;
• Agriculture economics.

The Institute performs its activity within 13 departments and an independent Service for Official Certification of Seed and Plant Propagation Material. The Institute also houses a library and an INDOC centre with more than 33,000 books of specialised literature.

The majority of research and professional work is done at the laboratories and in experimental fields and plantations:

• Experimental Station for Fruit Growing – Brdo pri Lukovici,
• Infrastructure Centre Jablje,
• Trials Centre for Potato Moste pri Komendi,
• Selection-experimental station for bees at Senično pri Golniku and
• Collection-experimental blueberries plantation at the Drenovi grič.

The video presentation is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDohR5PiQB0.

The ECOBREED’s demonstration event was held on 22nd July 2020, on the field of organic farm Kozina in Hrastje pri Kranju, Slovenia, and was dedicated to organic potato production. On the following link you can watch a video that contains a short presentation in Slovene language and was filmed on the field: https://youtu.be/fH6bmtrP2Zs.

Dear followers,

You are welcome to read an article about the organic potato breeding as part of the ECOBREED project, its importance for the competitiveness of local farmers, and its positive impact on the environment, published in Slovenian daily newspaper Dnevnik: https://www.dnevnik.si/1042940219?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=jutro20201003.