PROSPER project kicks-off to promote resilient Orphan Legumes for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security

On October 2^nd and 3^rd 2025, the PROSPER project officially launched with a kickoff meeting in Pavia Italy which brought together leading researchers and experts from across Europe. Over the next four years, this EU-funded initiative will deliver sustainable technical solutions by promoting resilient orphan legumes (OLs) to diversify agriculture and value chains across Europe. 

As climate change continues to disrupt traditional farming systems, Europe’s dependence on a limited range of crops poses growing risks to both biodiversity and food security. To address this, the EU-funded PROSPER project focuses on resilient, underutilized “orphan” legumes to help diversify European agriculture.

By promoting robust cultivars suited to the varied soils and climates of Mediterranean, Central, and Northern Europe, PROSPER seeks to enhance productivity and strengthen value chains. The project works hand in hand with farmers, food producers, and policymakers, combining advanced scientific research with local expertise. Through digital tools that enable smarter decision-making and field demonstrations that highlight sustainable practices, PROSPER integrates biodiversity, climate resilience, and innovation to make European farming more sustainable and future-ready.

PROSPER will provide sustainable technical solutions based on the valorization of highly resilient orphan legumes for: i) diversification in agriculture, allowing farmers’ access to a wider range of selected cultivars and enhance productivity under challenging environments, and ii) diversification of value chains, promoting a wider range of products for food processing/biocircular economy industries.

Euro-BioImaging ERIC in PROSPER

In this consortium, Euro-BioImaging ERIC will contribute to the knowledge increase and sharing by connecting project partners with imaging and image data service providers and technology experts, and raise awareness of PROSPER and its developments with a wider research audience. Thanks to its extended network of over 247 facilities of which many are specialized in plant imaging, Euro-BioImaging will promote scientific advancement and collaboration by connecting project members with facilities providing access to state-of-the-art technologies such as plant phenotyping and phytotrons.

This project received funding from the European Union under Grant Agreement Number 101181400.