The European network of centres of research and innovation of vegetables is already active.

The initiative to create the network has been from Areflh, Freshfel and Agrolink. The consortium represents 50 research centers of 16 european countries.

More than 80 Representatives of European vegetable research centers participated in the 1 February at the first international meeting of Euvrin (European Vegetable Research Institutes Network), in Brussels.

The objective of this first meeting was threefold; allow vegetable researchers to know each other better and develop collaborations, define research topics and organize working groups and enhance the European vegetable sector before the European Commission and research needs.

Mrs. Inge Van Oost from DG Agri who participated in this meeting, presented the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) "to productive and sustainable agriculture: “multi-actor approaches and thematic networks for Horizon 2020”. This document is available on the website of Areflh.

During the first meeting of the Euvrin network, five working groups: integrated protection for vegetables, fertilization, genetic resources and new varieties, greenhouses and plant material, and quality throughout the value chain. As to organic production, will have its place in each of these five themes.

These working groups will meet in the second semester of 2016 to define research priorities and program possibilities under Horizon 2020.

The creation of Euvrin is included in the framework of the Task Force strategy established two years ago by Areflh, Freshfel and Eufrin, and whose objective is support a European research and innovation platform for fruit and vegetables. In the year 2015 a strategic plan was presented to the Commission, in which the economic importance of the sector and the great relevance of research were highlighted.

Centers interested in the new network can contact Areflh, which collaborates with the Secretariat and the Euvrin organization.. Finally, the euvrin.eu website was created, which will collect the contributions of the working groups as well as a record of all the centers participating in the network.