MOVE - Marketing of Organic VintagE plant material

Summary

Markets for products with history, distinct characteristics and/or regional origin are in rapid expansion and constitute a promising emerging market. Recent studies suggests that differentiated development in production presents a plausible future for increased biodiversity in the food sector, with different ‘worlds of production’ emerging. This includes the production of vintage (rare) vegetables with distinct characteristics. In Denmark, as in the rest of Europe, interest in preserving and utilizing vintage plant material is growing and projects focusing on e.g. history of the varieties, distinct characteristics (such as potential health aspects) and agronomic robustness have been initiated in recent years and has further increased public interest. Along with these projects there has been a resurgence of interest in making available, vintage plant material with distinct characteristics for growing mainly organic products on larger scale and hence for commercial sale. Danish organic and conventional vegetable producers are at present requesting seed of such varieties, but so far no commercial seed production of this material has been initiated. The project MOVE (Marketing of Organic VintagE plant material) was recently initiated (2016) and therefore no results are presented here. In the coming years MOVE aims to make a model for commercial growth of interesting varieties with distinct characteristics that cannot necessarily justify the cost of an official DUS (Distinct, Uniform and Stable) testing from discovery to final production. The project consists of three steps: 1) the process of approval and introduction onto the common Catalogue; 2) demonstration of qualtity seed multiplication of requested vintage varieties at experienced seed growers sites; 3) securing seed quality for organic producers of cultivars with distinct characteristics. The vegetable varieties MOVE will focus on originates from NordGen (the Nordic Genetic Resource Center). Special attention will be given to cabbage and beets and to varieties from NordGen previously tested in the project MaxVeg (Maximising the taste and health value of plant food products - impact on vegetable consumption, consumer preferences and human health factors' supported by the Danish Strategic Research Council 2010-2015: http://www.crt.dk/media/55975/3_markets_for_bitter_and_strong_tasting_vegetables_and_the_new_nordic_kitchen_maxweg.pdf ). Clinical studies in the MaxVeg project showed that bitter and strong tasting cabbage and root vegetables had an Cabbage Seed Production; Photo: Lise Christina Deleuran additional positive effect on diabetes type 2 patients compared to more mild and sweet tasting cabbage and root vegetables. The taste differences were obtained by use of the diversity of taste characteristics found among vintage varieties from NordGen and by influence of cropping conditions. Project participants are Aarhus University, Vikima Seed and NordGen. Find more information about the progress of the project http://icrofs.dk/forskning/dansk-forskning/organicrdd-22/move/ MOVE is a project under the Danish Organic RDD 2.2 programme coordinated by ICROFS (International Centre for Research in Organic Food systems). It is funded by the Green Development and Demonstration Programme under the Ministry of Environment and Food Contact: Senior adviser Lise Christina Deleuran, Aarhus University, Department of Agroecology, Denmark