There is an urgent need to regenerate seed stocks of conserved germ-plasma of European forage grasses and legumes, but lack of knowledge has prevented development of an agreed economically and genetically effective protocol. This project will obtain the knowledge required and will use the knowledge to establish protocol. Using a multidisciplinary approach and novel technologies, the partnership will undertake a comprehensive assessment of the genetic and economic impacts of the major alternative options. It will develop a cost-benefit model that will integrate all experimental results to identify the most appropriateotions. It will use the model to address the possibility of tailoring the seed multiplication protocol to suit different environments and economic constraints, and will draft a plan to optimise conservation at the European level, based inappropriate sharing of responsibilities between European organisations.