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With the need to design new models aimed at maintaining high fruit and vegetables production in mind, Prof. Mondher BOUZAYEN (Director of the GBF laboratory, Professor at the INP-ENSA Toulouse) coordinated the establishment of the TomGEM research consortium. Financed by the European Union with a total 5.6 million € budget, this project aims at:

1. Selecting superior genotypes for fruit set, pollen fertility, flower initiation, yield stability and  fruit quality under heat stress conditions
2. Identifying allelic variants in genomic regions associated with heat tolerance of fruit yield
3. Designing new breeding strategies to produce commercial varieties with high yield at elevated temperatures with no penalties in terms of fruit quality
4. Setting up optimal growing conditions for selected genotypes that set fruit under elevated  temperatures

This European project gathers 18 partners including 9 academic and 9 non-academic institutions from 8 different countries (Argentina, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Taiwan, UK) in a holistic approach addressing yield trait via a multi-actor approach, with tomato producers and breeders strongly involved in the design and the implementation of the project.