Plant-XR: A new generation of breeding tools for extra-resilient crops

Our society must meet a growing demand for affordable agricultural products and simultaneously adapt to climate change and new limits on the use of agrochemicals. We therefore need to breed more resilient crops that can withstand extreme circumstances (e.g., droughts, heat, and diseases) despite getting less outside help from fertilizers and pesticides. Current plant breeding techniques however cannot effectively enhance highly complex traits like resilience. Plant-XR will combine biological and computational science and technologies to create, optimise and utilize a revolutionary ‘smart-data breeding’ concept. With that, breeders will be better able to develop ‘extra-resilient’ (XR), more sustainable crops.