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Contaminated land, that is unsuitable for food production, represents an alternative option for crops producing feedstock for bioproducts and bioenergy, which would otherwise be in competition with food production. It has been estimated that there are more than 10 million major contaminated sites worldwide, while in the European Economic Area (EEA)-39 countries the registered contaminated sites are up to 650000. Even though often perceived solely as a problem, contaminated areas could instead become a real asset that needs to be valued. One of the aims of MAGIC project was to screen the most promising industrial crops for cultivation on contaminated and saline soils. The effects of the heavy metals Cd, Pb, Ni and Zn on fifteen industrial crops were examined, namely on: biomass sorghum, camelina, cardoon, castor bean, crambe, Ethiopian mustard, giant reed, hemp, lupin, miscanthus x giganteus, pennycress, safflower, switchgrass, tall wheatgrass, and wild sugarcane (African fodder cane). The experiments were conducted following the same methodology and protocols by all partners involved.

EU agriculture and arable crops in particular are suffering from competitiveness deficits compared to other producers in the world economy. One potential strategy to cope with competitiveness challenges is to focus on research and technological innovation. The objective of this paper is to present the results of the project EUROCROP (Agricultural research for improving arable crop competitiveness – EUROCROP - http://www.eurocrop.cetiom.fr/), aimed at the identification of research priorities for arable crop competitiveness. The project adopts a definition of competitiveness based on a combination of economic competitiveness and social/environmental sustainability. Furthermore, the project utilises both a crop chain and a horizontal issue perspective, and develops research priorities through the interaction of the scientific level (expert group approach) and the stakeholder level (scenario analysis). The main result of the project is the elaboration of approximately eighty research topics. Among these, the main areas for research identified are A: Risk management and adaptation of arable farming; B: Innovation in cropping systems for high environmental and economic performances; C: Limiting the impact of arable crop cropping systems on green-house gas emissions; D: Better understanding of public concern about arable crop production and products and communication with global and local societies. The project confirms that a number of well established research topics retain their importance (e.g. yield improvement, plant protection). However, they require cautious coordination with an increasingly complex system of short term priorities.