Public-private consortium signs CropXR collaboration agreement

Public-private consortium signs CropXR collaboration agreement

A public-private consortium of four Dutch universities and an umbrella organisation of Dutch-based producers of starting materials has agreed to collaborate in founding CropXR, a new institute dedicated to developing more resilient plants with innovative ‘smart breeding’ methods.

CropXR’s mission will be to make agricultural production less vulnerable to climate change and less dependent on artificial fertilizers and chemical pesticides by developing and applying an innovative concept of ‘smart’, AI-assisted, breeding.

Signatories to the collaboration agreement are Utrecht University, Wageningen University and Research, the University of Amsterdam, Delft University of Technology, and Plantum, a private industry organisation. Utrecht University will serve as consortium coordinator and host the institute’s support office.

In addition to the five founding organisations, many other public and private partners will participate in the institute’s work, including universities of applied sciences, biotechnology companies, processing industries and large and medium-sized plant breeding companies.

For more information, visit cropxr.org