How gardening enthusiasts are helping researchers

Anyone looking for something that connects people all over Europe will find it in gardens this year: namely the slug. “This year was really bad,” says Kerstin Neumann. However, she admits that it was somehow comforting to talk to people in Italy, Portugal, France and Germany. Gardeners in all these places simply shared their annoyance about the problem, she explains. 

Dr Kerstin Neumann is responsible in Germany for INCREASE - Intelligent Collections of Food Legumes Genetic Resources for European Agrofood Systems, a project funded by the EU research framework programme Horizon 2020 that aims to promote agricultural biodiversity in Europe. It focuses on four pulses: chick peas, common beans, lentils and lupins. As part of a citizen science experiment, gardening enthusiasts all over Europe are being invited to support research on the common bean. Those responsible for the project send the beans to anyone interested in taking part. What is special about the beans is that they are an old and almost forgotten variety that the amateur researchers are to gather key information about with a view to preserving it.

Two of those participating in the project are Verena and Albrecht from the Saxon town of Zwickau, where they live and spend part of their time being as self-sufficient as possible. INCREASE sent them the seeds of five different bean varieties by post. After getting them started inside their house, they then planted the young bean seedlings out in their large garden. Most are now growing really well. “The Mexican runner bean is also among them, accounting for three of the five plants. It’s not doing badly at all,” says Verena, who shares her passion for gardening on her YouTube channel “Naturparzelle 15”. While many of the plants in her garden remain unmarked in the beds, she has affixed white signs in front of the beans to identify the varieties in question. That’s important because the growth and yield of the plants are supposed to be recorded as accurately as possible.

Over 9,000 participants

This precise documentation is important for Kerstin Neumann. She is a scientist at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Gatersleben in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. In 2021, the institute launched the INCREASE project in cooperation with its project partner, the Universita Politechnica delle Marche in the Italian city of Ancona. People can apply to take part in the project during the winter. The project has its own app, which also plays an important role later when documenting the plant growth. The researchers want to know how which bean varieties grow in which environments. In other words, the size of the garden can play a part - though it is above all the local climate that is the crucial factor. 3,000 people took part in the first year of the project, a number that has now risen to more than 9,000. INCREASE is currently in its fourth year and will continue until 2026. 

Important findings for research

The amateur researchers supply the professional scientists with key information. Such as the fact that the blossoming data of some bean varieties depend heavily on the length of the days. “Some do not like the long days,” says Neumann. More recently, extremely precise weather data have also been recorded. This is to ascertain how temperature and precipitation influence growth.  

The effects that climate change has on the beans will probably only be revealed by the longer-term evaluation of the data. There has been extreme weather in every year since the project began in 2021, Neumann explains. Too hot, too dry and this year too wet - the changes could hardly have been more pronounced during this short period. The scientist has no fears about the beans, however. “What is so great about the common bean is that it is so unbelievably flexible.” That’s why it grows just as well in the hot climate of southern Italy as it does in the cooler climes of Germany.

Europe-wide exchange

People of all age groups in the project are interested in how the old and no longer common varieties will perform. Schools and allotment gardeners are getting involved. “The project brings such a huge number of people together. Everyone from gardeners without experience to gardening enthusiasts who have no idea how to use an app,” says Neumann, who is a biologist. The participants engage in exchange far beyond the borders of their own countries - even sharing recipes for bean-based dishes during the harvesting period.

Neumann talks of a “preservation community”. It is keeping the bean varieties - which might otherwise soon fade into oblivion - alive. Irrespective of the project itself, the participants also share the seeds among themselves. More than 1,300 people are now permanently involved in this community. Though Neumann has noticed some differences between the participants in the many countries, she is conscious above all of what they all have in common, no matter where they live in Europe: “Ultimately, they are all gardeners.”