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Slovenian, Austrian researchers to revive indigenous old plants

Xinhua, January 9, 2017 Adjust font size:

Researchers from cities of Slovenia's Stajersko and Austria's Styria have joined together to look for indigenous old plant sorts and animal species of the cross-border region aiming to replenish the regional cuisine and tourism, local media reported on Sunday.

The three-year joint project will research biodiversity in the area from the stone age, when more permanent settlements started, to the discovery of the Americas, when new plants were introduced in Europe.

The research, or the Interreg cross-border cooperation programme for 2014-2020, with 1.1 million euros (1.16 million U.S. dollars) in EU funding is to encourage farmers to reintroduce old indigenous sorts, which can then be used to replenish the regional cuisine and tourism, according to the Slovenian Press Agency (STA).

The two regions share many features in terms of landscape, geology, ground composition and climate.

The project will be the first attempt to identify the plants and animal species that once flourished in the area, and how they were used as food, said the report.

The next step will be to revive them in the botanical garden of the University of Maribor, after which they will be offered to local farmers, who have already expressed great interest. In the end, tourism providers will get the chance to offer "food from ancient history" to their guests.

"Revitalising the production of paleo plants will contribute to biodiversity in farming, but above all it will allow local producers to offer new tourism products that build their identity on local archaeological heritage," an official from the project was quoted by STA as saying. Endit