The Agricultural University of Athens has undertaken the initiative for the inscription of the element “Local and indigenous agricultural varieties: knowledge and practices” on the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Greece, in collaboration with Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources – Greek Gene Bank of the Hellenic Agricultural Organisation – DIMITRA.

On Friday, June 24 2022, according to the Ministerial Decree Reference Number 300792, the inscription of the element “Local and native agricultural varieties: knowledge and practices” on the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Greece was approved, because it forms an expression of the long-term human-nature interaction, which has led to the food products manufacture and the production of other goods, highlighting their crucial role for the survival of local populations during the past, inasmuch their significance for the formation of cultural practices, as far as their production and consumption is concerned.

The Agricultural University of Athens in cooperation with Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources – Greek Gene Bank of the Hellenic Agricultural Organisation – DIMITRA has undertaken the initiative for the inscription of the element “Local and indigenous agricultural varieties: knowledge and practices.” The local and native agricultural varieties constitute a fundamental feature, not only of the inhabitants of the rural area, but also of the memory and gastronomic experience of the urban space. These are the varieties the farmer has co-created, along with each natural place in the depths of the ages, thus contributing to their biodiversity, on the choices made and the invention of growing methods.