Policy Brief : The CropBooster Program: A contribution to a New Green Revolution to deliver improved, future-proofed crops for Europe

Stabilising and increasing crop yields in the face of global climate change, while safeguarding biodiversity and suppling high-quality food, feed, and biomass are a priority for Europe. A second Green Revolution in crop production is needed to meet future crop biomass and yield demands. This represents a huge challenge to all agricultural value chain players. Multiple new crop technologies including molecular markers for key traits to support modern breeding are already at Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) 3-5, although to date, efforts have been fragmented and small scale. The CropBooster Program proposes a coordinated European Research Agenda designed to accelerate the development of improved crops in line with societal expectations. These future-proofed crops will help European agriculture transition to a sustainable climate-ready model that addresses food security concerns and meets the needs of Europe’s bioeconomy.