INCREASE – Intelligent Collections of Food Legumes Genetic Resources for European Agrofood Systems

INCREASE Citizen Science Experiment - Bean validation has started!

Thousands of participants from across Europe have received their beans and are now validating them in the INCREASE CSA App. This is a crucial step before starting the fun of planting the seeds and watching them grow.

To all Citizen Scientists: The bean validation feature is now available in the App. Please make sure you have installed the latest update, as only then you will be able to access this new feature. Once you have validated your beans, the INCREASE team can ensure that you have rightly received the ones selected for you.

What do you have to do? Please click on “validation” and confirm that you received the bean package in good condition and with all components. Your package should contain the six bean varieties (in 6 different small paper bags which are labelled from A to F), their passport, two colour checkers (the cardboard with a grid and a colour scheme) as well as a welcome note. Then, please take a picture of each bag and the beans laid out on the colour checker provided, as shown in the first picture below.

The INCREASE team is currently working hard on preparing the sowing and growing instructions. They will be available in the App soon, as well as a questionnaire that participants will be asked to complete.

We are very happy to see that beans arrived well in all different corners of Europe and are looking forward to receiving many more pictures from the beans’ journeys.