The third COUSIN Annual Meeting took place from 25 to 27 May in Scandicci, Italy, and was hosted by the project partner Rete Semi Rurali. The event brought together representatives from across the consortium to review project achievements, exchange knowledge, and jointly plan the next phases of the project.

COUSIN activities had already begun during the preceding weekend, on 23–24 May, as part of the Let’s Liberate Diversity! Forum, an international event dedicated to agricultural biodiversity, seed systems, and sustainable food production. The forum gathered farmers, researchers, breeders, seed savers, civil society organisations, and citizens to exchange experiences and promote the conservation and development of agricultural diversity.

During the forum, participants had the opportunity to taste and evaluate a selection of innovative food prototypes developed within the COUSIN project using crops from the CWR5 flagship species. The products presented included Wheat and Barley Tea, Pea and Berry Fruit Leather, Lettuce Pesto, and Barley Muffins. Visitors were invited to assess the products through dedicated evaluation activities, providing valuable feedback on their sensory qualities and potential market appeal.

On Monday, 25 May, COUSIN partners joined participants of the Let’s Liberate Diversity! Forum for a field trip to Peccioli. Around 100 participants took part in the visit and evaluated experimental fields through surveys and participatory activities. Among the materials showcased were several wheat crops developed and studied within the COUSIN project, allowing participants to directly observe the project’s work in the field.

The afternoon of the first day and the following two days were dedicated to a series of activities involving all consortium partners. Through quizzes, role-playing exercises, working groups, an interactive storytelling game, a collective testing session of the COUSIN Data Platform, poster sessions and other activities participants were actively engaged in reviewing progress achieved so far and contributing to discussions on future activities.

The meeting provided an important opportunity to update partners on ongoing developments across the different work packages while fostering collaboration and collective decision-making. By combining field-based experiences, stakeholder engagement, innovation showcases, and participatory workshops, the Annual Meeting strengthened the consortium’s shared vision and reinforced its commitment to advancing the conservation and sustainable use of crop wild relatives and agricultural biodiversity.