Background
Highlighted: climate adaptation in plant research
Due to climate change, we are increasingly confronted with extreme weather conditions, such as drought or heavy rain. This can have disastrous consequences for nature and therefore also the harvest. Wageningen University & Research conducts research into climate-adaptive crops, but also climate-adaptive agricultural systems in the Netherlands and worldwide.
Opportunities and risks for crops
Tropical and mediterranean crops in the Netherlands
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Quinoa cultivation in the Netherlands
- What is quinoa? How do you grow this crop in the Netherlands? And how big is the yield?
The demand continues to grow worldwide, and with the advent of new varieties, this originally South American crop can now also be grown in Europe. On this page you will find 10 questions and answers about the growing of this crop. -
How do you cultivate soya in the Netherlands?
- What is soya? How do you cultivate this crop in the Netherlands? Do you need to use fertilisers and what is the yield per hectare? On this page you’ll find questions and answers relating to soya. -
Polder rice in the Netherlands: will it succeed this year?
- Will it succeed this year to grow ‘polder rice’ in the Netherlands for the first time? Researchers at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and Leiden University are giving it another shot. Whereas the yield last year was minimal, this year the researchers work with 32 different rice varieties adapted to the cooler climate of the Netherlands.
At-risk crops because of climate change
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Plant-parasitic nematodes on the rise: WUR launches major research project
- Climate change and genetic selection have brought root-knot nematodes further north in Europe and made cyst nematodes more difficult to control. These emerging parasites threaten major crops such as tomato and potato. To get a clear picture of the proliferation of novel nematode species and populations and to find appropriate and sustainable solutions to these problems, WUR is launching a major research and innovation project with seventeen European partners called NEM-EMERGE. The project has been accepted as a Horizon Europe Project, resulting in 7 million euros in funding. -
Melting glaciers are going to affect food security
- The glaciers of the Himalayas and Alps are melting, and this has consequences for the agriculture of the future. One third of all rice is grown around the Himalayas, and countries depend on meltwater to grow this water-consuming crop. Europe is also starting to notice the effects of reduced snowfall and melting glaciers in the Alps. Ahead of the United Nations Water Conference: how is WUR highlighting the link between melting glaciers, water availability and food security?
Climate adaptive systems
Climate adaptive farms internationally
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Climate Farm Demo (cofin)
- In de Europese Green Deal is uiteengezet hoe Europa tegen 2050 het eerste klimaatneutrale continent kan worden. Op EU- en nationaal niveau zijn hiervoor verschillende doelstellingen, kaders en mechanismen ontwikkeld om de EU beter voor te bereiden op de huidige en toekomstige gevolgen van de klimaatverandering. Dit betekent ook dat de landbouwsector nieuwe oplossingen in de praktijk moet toepassen gericht op klimaatadaptatie en-mitigatie. Belangrijk daarin is het testen en toepassen van innovatieve klimaat slimme oplossingen, waarbij bijzondere aandacht gewenst is voor de mogelijke replicatie en overdracht ervan tussen boeren, regio's en lidstaten. -
Lighthouse farms: a future for farming and food
- What will the world of farming and food look like in 2050? It is becoming harder to predict. But one thing is clear: we need to prepare for a new approach to agriculture. An approach that delivers not only food, but also on the many other expectations of society: e.g. clean water, clean air, room for biodiversity, climate neutrality. An approach that is ready for the many shocks that are becoming the norm, rather than the exception: bio-physical shocks, such as droughts, flooding, heat, frost, and socio-economic shocks, such as supply chain disruptions.
How do we make plants resilient to the effects of climate change?
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WUR participates in major international research on climate-resilient crops
- Deciphering the past to develop future-proof crops. That, in a nutshell, is what the research project Ancient Environmental Genomics Initiative for Sustainability (AEGIS) entails. Wageningen University & Research is one of the participants in this international project, which has received a research grant of 78 million euros. -
Increasing soil salinity: new discovery may help make crops more resilient
- Salination causes harvests to fail across the globe. Plants die, or their growth is stunted. Researchers of Wageningen University & Research (WUR) have discovered that a local regulator protein encourages root growth in saline soil, which allows the plant to develop under these adverse conditions. The findings have been published in the scientific journal the Plant Cell and form a critical basis for further research into the development of more resilient crop varieties. -
Students protect fruit trees from frost damage with ‘birth control injection’
- Climate change brings about more frequent shifts between frost and warm days during winter, which is rather confusing for trees. Just as they're about to bloom, snowflakes descend upon their freshly formed buds – with damages or even kills the bud. Such frost damage costs fruit growers fifty to ninety percent of their yield. A group of students from Wageningen University & Research tackles this issue head-on in the international competition iGEM.
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Dutch cabinet invests €42 million in CROP-XR institute for faster development of resilient agricultural crops
- Over the next ten years, the Dutch government will invest 42 million euros in CROP-XR, a new, virtual institute aimed at developing agricultural crops that are more resistant to climate change and less dependent on plant protection products. The Dutch Cabinet announced the investment, made from its National Growth Fund, today. Wageningen University & Research is one of the initiators of CROP-XR.