Diversifood Project
This toolkit presents building blocks to design and implement multi-actor research and participatory plant breeding projects aimed at embedding agrobiodiversity in food systems. Produced from the Diversifood project experience, it explains the concept and rationale of multi-actor research and identifies practical prerequisites: common will and vocabulary, facilitation, trust, transparency, allocation of time and resources, and appropriate distribution of tasks. The toolkit documents concrete Diversifood cases (e.g. emmer, einkorn, rivet wheat, tomato, maize) and outlines methods and tools used across projects: on-farm and on-station trials, germplasm multiplication, organoleptic and nutritional testing, molecular analyses, statistical approaches, databases (SHiNeMa), and stakeholder engagement (farmers, breeders, processors, bakers, consumers). It emphasises iterative mutual learning, empowerment of practitioners, social impacts, and the need to address intellectual property and governance early in the process. The document notes EU Horizon 2020 funding and aims to support multi-actor approaches for organic and low-input agriculture.
Key topics: multi-actor research, participatory plant breeding, agrobiodiversity, on-farm trials, community-based breeding, seed diversity, Horizon 2020
