IX State Fair of Agricultural Biodiversity

The loss of agricultural biodiversity is a fact and referenced by all agencies and institutions that develop on the subject lines such as the FAO (United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture). Recovery of local varieties, coupled with farmer knowledge linked to them, as is of vital importance.

Unfortunately most of productive Castilian and Spanish systems have not escaped the erosion of biodiversity, cultural and biological. There has been a change in the farmer and their ways of working, a change to a farming business which calls for higher yields and greater uniformity. This need for more uniform varieties, higher yield per unit, producing grains and fruits of higher quality, while it requires larger quantities of seeds for major agricultural areas, which makes the houses appear to agricultural inputs and services, including them the seeds.

The vast majority of consumers in cities have been induced to pay more for new, exotic or off-season. They have appeared forced crops, greenhouses, soilless culture, etc.. Especially in the mild climate of southern Europe, to meet this demand of "Europe" becoming a business unit (European Union). These systems have also been extrapolated to many organic productions, especially in the Mediterranean area. Organic farmers, not to stay out of the market, should the use of conventional seed (easier and more accessible, etc.).

The situation is alarming in many horticultural varieties that have been lost due to lack of local use, displaced by more productive new selections, others were cornered and need to maintain a process of definition, selection and improvement to return to show their peculiar case, and are returned to the commercial production process. Organic Consumer organizations (rare in Spain) in Europe, yet are not pressing enough support in initiatives that rely on biodiversity in organic farming.

It is in the context of organic farming, where the use of varieties adapted to local environment is one of the most important strategies for achieving the balance needed to produce ecosystem without chemical treatment and with adequate productivity.

It is precisely the local varieties to suit these needs, and hence their use is of interest. Likewise, the use of these involves a recovery of the local culinary and gastronomic culture, land use, in accordance landscape.

In recent years, thanks to the agreement of Network and Organization of Seed fairs biodiversity, all of these activities have started in a coordinated and integrated platform agro ecological use and conservation of genetic resources Spain.

Past Shows

• I Fair held in Amayuelas de Abajo (Palencia) 12 to August 13, 2000.
• II Fair held in Castelfabib (Valencia) 14 to September 16, 2001.
• III Fair held in El Bosque (Cadiz) 25 to October 27, 2002.
• IV Fair held in Ajanguiz (Biscay) from 10 to 12 October 2003.
• V Fair in Manresa (Barcelona) from 22 to 24 October 2004.
• VI Fair in Cortes de la Frontera (Malaga) 15 to September 18, 2005.
• VII Fair in Bullas (Murcia) 12 to October 13, 2006.
• VIII Fair in Menorca (Balearic Islands) from 11 to 13 May 2007.

General purpose 

The main objective of Fair of Agricultural Biodiversity and Sustainable Rural Development in Castilla La Mancha is reaching as many farmers and farmers who have these varieties in the field.

It aims to be a meeting between technicians, researchers, organizations, institutions and other sectors of society concerned with the recovery and conservation of biodiversity.

In this way, we want to experience that we can serve as a reference and get the need to preserve agricultural biodiversity to institutions with powers to conduct the promotion and use of these crops, especially the search for mechanisms to enhance their knowledge by / consumers as and for employment generation in rural areas, thus avoiding any loss of biodiversity and culture accumulated over more than ten thousand years of domestication and selection of food, which affects similarly to the shepherds of our mountains, our farmers of the fertile gardens of our rivers.

Venue and date of The Fair is held in the Comarca de la Sierra del Segura, in the southern province of Albacete.

Municipality will hold the first fair is Elche de la Sierra, 26th, 27th and September 28th, 2008.

Facilities for conducting the fair will be the home of culture and the square of gorrinero located side by side

Organizers

• Red-State Seed
• Local Action Group of the Sierra Segura
• City Elche de la Sierra

(2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

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