The G2P-SOL consortium met for its 2^nd Annual Progress Meeting from May 14-16, 2018 in the stunning oasis and nature reserve of Ein Gedi in Israel. This meeting was co-organised by Dani Zamir and Tzili Pleban from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who were the perfect hosts for the G2P-SOL partners.

The first day of the meeting was dedicated to internal discussions on the individual work done in each work package during the last 12 months. A number of important tasks have been achieved so far and the consortium already planned the phenotyping trials foreseen in 2019 and 2020.

Day two of the meeting focused on the work package “Phenotyping of core collections”. A phenotyping workshop was organised by Véronique Lefebvre (INRA) together with Ilan Paran (ARO), to discuss the phenotyping kit for each crop and to plan the trial for the years 2019 and 2020. The day was further characterised by crucial discussions about the size of the core collection.

During the third meeting day, the G2P-SOL consortium met with representatives from Top Seeds International Ltd which is one of the external institutions collaborating with G2P-SOL. As such, Alon Lerner (Vice President of Research and Development) and Aviad Freiman (Top Lab Manager) attended the meeting to present the company and exchange ideas on genotyping techniques with the G2P-SOL partners. In addition, Joseph Hirschberg - Professor at the Department of Genetics of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem - gave a very interesting lecture about “The genetics underlying colour phenotypes in tomato” and the carotenoid metabolism.

During the meeting, the consortium enjoyed a guided tour of the spectacular Ein Gedi botanical garden, home to over 800 rare species of trees, shrubs and flowers from all over the globe and where plants mentioned in the Bible such as Myrrh and Frankincense feature alongside rare trees, tropical plants, palm trees, fruit trees, cacti and local plants. A true source of biodiversity and inspiration for the road ahead!