Int'l Centre for Genetic Eng. and Biotechnology 105d ago

Christian Partl, Department of Agricultural Education, Hunting and Fisheries, State of Tyrol, AUSTRIA speaks on "Landscape, Landraces, Diversity: 12,000 Years of Plant Breeding, Landscape and the Role of Traditional Crops". About the speaker Dr. Partl graduated in agriculture/plant production at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna. Working in agricultural trials and gene bank activities since 1984, currently Head of the Department of “Agricultural Trials, Soil and Plant Health” in the Office of the Tyrolean Provincial Government and head of the Tyrolean Gene Bank – an old, small, regional gene bank with landraces out of the Alps. 2009 Doctorate, national and international projects on old landraces, high-zone-restoration, arable and grassland farming. Head of the „Research Farm Imst“, a joint project together with the University Innsbruck/Mountain Agriculture Reseach Centre. About the webinar: A brief review of history: Neolithic settlement—from hunter-gatherers to agriculture and livestock farming—also means landscaping, soil preparation, and targeted crop cultivation, including the breeding of various agricultural crops. The astonishing development of land management over the last one hundred years and the various types of agricultural crops, as well as structural change – especially in the Alps! – raises questions: What does this change mean? Loss of biodiversity, loss of knowledge and skills? Impacts on the landscape? Which options are available to influence these developments? How can gene banks contribute? What opportunities and possibilities do old landraces have today? Some old local varieties from the Tyrolean gene bank offer alternatives and opportunities—especially for diverse landscapes, biodiversity, and the production of regional specialties!