Unlocking the potential of Wild Crops: new progress in the COUSIN Project
Crop Wild Relatives (CWRs) carry genetic traits for resilience, productivity, and nutrition and could play a key role in the agroecological transition of European food systems. In its first 18 months, the COUSIN project is making strong progress towards...
Ongoing efforts to document biodiversity in the Brassica oleracea Complex Species (n=9) for Cole Crop genetic improvement.
Southern Italy is a hotspot of Brassica biodiversity, where wild and cultivated species have long intermingled to produce unique crop varieties. Through the COUSIN project, researchers are studying these wild populations—especially in Sicily—and taking urgent conservation action to protect rare endemics like Brassica trichocarpa, now facing critical extinction risk.
Harnessing Wild Pea Relatives to Build Resilient Cultivars: updates from the Pea Working Group
IAS-CSIC is leading a long-term pea pre-breeding program aimed at improving resistance to major pests and diseases in Mediterranean farming systems. Starting from wild relatives like Pisum fulvum, the program has made significant advances in developing productive and resilient cultivars.
Exploring Wild Barley Genes to Improve Stress Resilience: updates from the Barley Working Group
Barley is one of the world’s oldest and most widely grown crops, yet its wild relatives still hold valuable untapped genetic diversity. The COUSIN project is investigating how crosses between cultivated barley and its wild ancestor can enhance traits like stress tolerance and adaptability. Promising results are emerging from both the field and lab.
COUSIN project presentation at the 15th National Conference on Biodiversity and the 2nd International Conference on Mediterranean Biodiversity
In June 2025, in Perugia (Italy) the COUSIN project, along with his sister project (PROWILD), was presented at the 15th National Conference on Biodiversity and the 2nd International Conference on Mediterranean Biodiversity. The event was organized by the Department...
gzpk demonstrated CWRs at the annual training of organic breeders
On 24 and 25 June 2025, GZPK organized a workshop about wheat CWRs in the frame of a professional training for organic breeders. Some wheat Crop Wild Relatives and the wheat populations provided by FiBL have been demonstrated to the participants. (the photo shows...
Dissemination and dialogue opportunities: COUSIN’s presence at 2025 Conferences
In the first half of 2025, COUSIN project partners actively participated in several international conferences to share project outcomes and contribute to the ongoing discussion on crop wild relatives, agrobiodiversity, and sustainable food systems: SILS Webinar:...
Bachelor students visit field trial with crop wild relatives
Nine bachelor students (2nd year students) and one teacher from Aarhus University visited Nordic Seed A/S on Monday the 19th May 2025. The trip is part of their course on breeding and genetics. Among other input the group had a bus trip to see the COUSIN field...
Engaging Students: Citizen Science and the Conservation of Crop Wild Relatives
The Cousin Project recently launched a Citizen Science initiative aimed at schools, with the goal of engage students and volunteers in collecting data on Crop Wild Relatives (CWRs) and promote a deeper understanding of biodiversity and sustainable agricultural...
The COUSIN project in the italian magazine “Agrisicilia”
The Italian magazine ‘Agrisicilia’ has published an article entitled "Parentali selvatici delle colture agrarieper rafforzare l’agricoltura sostenibile" ("Wild relatives of agricultural crops to strengthen sustainable agriculture"), dedicated to the Cousin project....
COUSIN General Assembly 2025 in Sicily: Advancing Crop Wild Relatives Research
From 19 to 21 February 2025, partners of the COUSIN project gathered in Catania, Sicily, for the first General Assembly. The three-day meeting combined project management sessions, scientific workshops, stakeholder...
Dissemination and dialogue opportunities: COUSIN’s presence at 2024 Conferences
The COUSIN project aims to participate in seminars and conferences to present itself, disseminate the results of its work, and have opportunities to exchange ideas with others that deal with biodiversity and Crop Wild Relatives in various ways. Below are the...
Crop Wild Relatives are featured in an Italian magazine
The October issue of Cousin Italian partner Rete Semi Rurali's periodical, is devoted entirely to Crop Wild Relatives. The Notiziario is in Italian, and inside you can read: the editorial by Christian Schöb (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos) the overview on CWRs by...
A new video on the Spanish National Strategy on Conservation and Utilization of Crop Wild Relatives and Wild Food Plants
The Ministry of Agriculture of Spain has produced a video to disseminate the design, approval and implementation of the National Strategy on Conservation and Utilization of Crop Wild Relatives and Wild Food Plants. Click here to watch...
Second GA online meeting – October 2024
A second all day online GA meeting took place 22nd October 2024. We had dedicated sessions for each WP and Flagship crops including presentations and discussion between teams and planning future work and collaborations. A root phenotyping workshop was organised for...