On 23 February, the Conference “Organic farming in Bulgaria – how does the story continue?” will take place in Plovdiv within the 26th International Agricultural Exhibition AGRA – 2017(International fair, Plovdiv, Bulgaria Hall).
BIOSELENA, Foundation for Organic Agriculture is organizer of the event jointly with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the State Fund Agriculture and the Bulgarian Organic Products Association.
The conference will discuss the latest trends in the organic agriculture – changes in legislation and control system, statistics on the number of operators, certified areas, animals and beehives, as well as support for organic production under the Rural Development Programme so far.
Jiri Lehejcek, IFOAM EU Board and Council will present the new regulation on organic production of the EC: state of the conciliation process on the text of the regulation and the most important changes compared to the current regulation. Representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the State Fund Agriculture and the Bulgarian Organic Products Association are among the keynote speakers.
The Action plan for the development of organic agriculture in Bulgaria in the period 2016-2020, as well as the knowledge exchange platform for arable crops, developed within the OK-Net Arableproject is also in the programme of the Conference.
The Conference will provide good opportunities for discussions and exchange of experience, as well as networking and establishing of new partnerships.
The access to the Conference is free of charge, registration in advance is not required. The working languages of the Conference are Bulgarian and English.
Meanwhile, information about the organic agriculture and projects of BIOSELENA will be available at the stand of the Foundation, stand 55 in Hall 11 during the whole period of AGRA – 2017 from 22 to 26 February. The stand will present farmer’s food products from the region of Western and Central Stara Planina Mountains, produced with the financial support of the Bulgarian-Swiss project “For the Balkan and the people”.
“Linking Nature Protection and Sustainable Rural Development” project, well-known as “For the Balkan and the People”, is being jointly implemented since 2012 by four Swiss and six Bulgarian partners including the Ministry of Agriculture and Food in nine Natura 2000 zones and three parks in the Western and Central Balkan Range. The project is financed by the Bulgarian-Swiss Cooperation Program as part of the Reform Fund Linked to Civil Society Participation. Its overall value is CHF 4,790,000 out of which CHF 590,000 is co-financing by the Bulgarian partners. BIOSELENA coordinates the implementation of the project.