[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/5820\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EBreeding tough new vegetables to resist drought\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENear Dijon in France, hundreds of plants move along a robotic conveyor belt around a football pitch-sized compound. At various points along their motorised journey they are fed, weighed, photographed and x-rayed, offering huge amounts of computerised data from leaf to root.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Dijon plant laboratory is one part of a multi-locational EU-funded project called ABSTRESS \u2013 involving the Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Hungary, and the United Kingdom \u2013 which is trying to lessen Europe\u2019s dependence on imported animal feed by identifying other naturally grown drought- and disease-resistant substitutes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018Some of the environmental problems arising from feed importation are quite horrific.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EAdrian Charlton, the ABSTRESS project leader from the United Kingdom\u2019s FERA \u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u2018Protein sustainability in Europe is an absolutely huge problem. We rely on imported soya protein from South America for between 70 % and 80 % of all protein that goes into animal feed,\u2019 Adrian Charlton, the ABSTRESS project leader from the United Kingdom\u2019s Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA), said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe reason protein-rich\u0026nbsp;leguminous plants are not extensively cultivated in Europe for animal feed is because they are susceptible to disease, drought, and other environmental changes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt least 11 % of Europe\u0027s population and 17 % of its territory has been affected by water scarcity, putting the cost of droughts in Europe over the past thirty years at EUR 100 billion, the European Commission said in a preamble to its 2012 Water Scarcity and Droughts Policy Review. It added that it expects further deterioration of the water situation in Europe if temperatures keep rising as a result of climate change.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUntil new plant varieties\u0026nbsp;can be grown that are able to withstand this scarcity of water, Europe continues to import soya beans. In 2011 alone, the EU imported\u0026nbsp;more than\u0026nbsp;12 million tonnes of soya beans, over ten times more than it produced, according to the most recent data from FEDIOL, an industry organisation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022img_legend\u0022 style=\u0022float: left;\u0022\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022Adrian Charlton, the ABSTRESS project leader. \u00a9 ABSTRESS\u0022 height=\u0022250\u0022 src=\u0022\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/AdrianCharlton-v2.jpg\u0022 title=\u0022Adrian Charlton, the ABSTRESS project leader. \u00a9 ABSTRESS\u0022 width=\u0022200\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022tw-italic tw-mb-4\u0022\u003EAdrian Charlton, the ABSTRESS project leader. \u00a9 ABSTRESS\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003Cem\u003EAdrian Charlton, the ABSTRESS project leader. \u00a9 ABSTRESS\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat\u2019s why the five-year ABSTRESS project is working to change the way in which new plant varieties are produced, by using molecular and computational techniques to identify drought and disease-resistant crop strains. \u2018What we are looking for is which genes are switched on for drought and fungus. We have to catch the gene expression at exactly the right time to identify the resistant genes,\u2019 Charlton said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers use clover-like plants called Medicago truncatula to look for the traits they want. Once they have found the right characteristics, they cross breed them into top-performing species,\u0026nbsp;and then they test them against commercial crops.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis method of filtering for natural genes underlines a significant aspect of this project: its search for a solution free from genetically modified organisms (GMOs).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy the time it finishes at the end of 2016, the project hopes to have made plants that are more resistant to drought and disease, and in the process to have developed high-tech ways of selecting plants for specific traits.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong style=\u0022line-height: 1.538em;\u0022\u003EDeforestation\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIf they get it right, the ABSTRESS researchers\u0027 work could at the same time\u0026nbsp;help\u0026nbsp;remove a major source of damage to the environment: deforestation. \u2018Some of the environmental problems arising from feed importation are quite horrific: a lot of the deforestation that has occurred in South America has been to make way for soya crops,\u2019 Charlton said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition, Europe\u2019s large-scale importation of such a relatively low-value soya crop is incurring a giant carbon footprint, the European Feed Manufacturers\u0027 Federation said in a 2012 report. Sourcing animal feed through vegetables grown in the EU would help to reduce this phenomenon.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe techniques that ABSTRESS is developing could also be used to identify other genetic\u0026nbsp;varieties of foods that are resistant to\u0026nbsp;drought and disease. Cultivating these\u0026nbsp;on a mass scale would be hugely advantageous in terms of both food production and lowering the carbon footprint, especially if they were all grown naturally, too.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-0zysquitch2a60uifwhxon10hzmsswzfoex4i5bd1wg\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-0ZySqUiTch2a60UifWHxON10HzMsSwZFoEx4I5Bd1Wg\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]