Crop Cousins, promise for the future
COUSIN is the European Union-funded project on the use and conservation of wild species for more sustainable, resilient and nutritionally valuable agriculture
Latest News
Cousin at 15th Let’s Liberate Diversity! forum: the report is out!
Last May, the COUSIN annual meeting took place in Scandicci (Florence), Italy, and it was an opportunity to present the project and learn about the many organizations that participated in the 72 Hours of Biodiversity festival and the Let’s Liberate Diversity! Forum. A...
COUSIN at the 194th EAAE Seminar!
On 9 September 2026, COUSIN participated in the Pre-Conference Project Side Events of the 194th Seminar of the European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE), hosted at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (CIHEAM MAICh), Crete, Greece. Three...
Mission to Wageningen University & Research and stakeholder engagement activities
During July 2026, Prof. Ferdinando Branca, Prof. of Vegetable and Flower Crops at the Dipartimento di Agricoltura, Alimentazione e Ambiente (Di3A) of the University of Catania, met on the 13th of July at the NPEC with Dr. Rick van Zedde, for visiting the phenotyping...
Discovering Crop Wild Relatives with COUSIN video scribing
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The journey of plant domestication
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The importance of Crop Wild Reltives
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The characterization of Crop Wild Relatives unveiled
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The use of Crop Wild Relatives in breeding
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The Crop Wild Relatives Conservation Strategies explained
CWRs, a promise for the future
Crop Wild Relatives (CWRs) are often seen as the COUSINs of domesticated crops given their close kinship and their role as important sources of natural genetic variation. In this sense they represent a valuable resource for the urgently required agroecological transition. Such a transition results in more diverse, sustainable and nutritious food, in line with the EU Green Deal policy and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, CWRs can be important allies. In fact, currently 75% of the world’s food is generated from only twelve plant species and since the 1900s, some 75% of plant genetic diversity has been lost as farmers worldwide have left their diverse set of local varieties and landraces for genetically uniform, high-yielding varieties. From this perspective, Crop Cousins are a promise for the future.
Cousin’s brochure contains the description and goals of the project. It is available in multiple languages, download the one you prefer and share it!
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