Latvian Natural Fund calls for the registration of grassland owners for a new brand of natural grassland products

Latvian Natural Fund in the LIFE-IP of LatViaNature commences the creation of the brand of natural grassland products and invites the grassland owners to apply as co-operation partners and potential producers of natural grassland products. The brand of natural grassland products will be a special label that will enable the consumer to recognise products coming from natural meadows, thus giving the opportunity to support the preservation of grassland. This brand will be a co-operation and support mechanism for entrepreneurship with high added value and a new market instrument for the preservation of valuable and rapidly disappearing natural grassland in Latvia.

 In the first phase of the registration stamp, we call on the grassland to fill in application questionnaire and to be sent by 31 March 2023 - plavasprodukts@ldf.lv.

 “Natural meadows are one of Latvia's natural treasures that disappear rapidly – they remain only 0.71 TP1T Latvian territories. However, the good news is that the preservation of natural grassland can be encouraged by farming and producing products coming from meadows. And there is also a place for the emerging brand – we want to motivate the owners of the land, and give consumers the opportunity to obtain quality products, the consumption of which helps nature,” says Andrejs stag, President of THE LDF Council.

 Natural grassland is a habitat that is dependent on human farming. It is therefore urgent to motivate owners to manage meadows.

 The purpose of the branding of natural grassland products is to support natural grassland owners and to provide consumers with accurate information on the origin and contribution of the product to the preservation of natural grassland. The brand will serve as a protestation to producers for the sustainable and sustainable management of natural grassland and will also be a sign of recognition for purchasers – a single quality sign for products produced in natural meadows. The use of the labelling of products of high nature and quality in Latvia will be a new approach that has not been practised until now. The brand is intended to be developed by the beginning of 2024 and consumers will be able to meet the “meadow” in the activities.

“The brand of natural grassland products iedzīvina the basic idea of LIFE-IP LatViaNature – based on the protection of nature in cooperation – by creating synergies between natural-friendly farming and economic benefits. The grassland products will contribute to the preservation of both natural values, which are undeniably the increasingly disappearing biologically diverse natural grassland and economic development,” stresses: Ieva Saleniece, Head of the LatViaNature Project.

 The Latvian Nature Fund calls for the new brand to be applied to all owners who want to improve biodiversity in their grassland and produce natural grassland products:

• grassland owners and operators, natural and legal persons
• the area of land to be managed is occupied by natural grassland or a small part or the grassland has the potential to become natural grassland
• grassland located in or outside Natura 2000 areas
• grassland owners who are already producing products or who would like to start producing grassland products

What will be the benefits of natural grassland owners?

The Latvian Natural Fund will ensure:

• training and seminars on the sustainable management of grassland and the use of their potential in business, recommendations for scenarios for improving grassland biodiversity
• expert services for the evaluation of grassland botanical composition (also for grassland who currently does not meet the status of biologically valuable grassland)
• engaging in the development of producer eligibility criteria and giving them the right to use brand visual identity for labelling and promotion of products
• marketing communications activity brand product recognition and market directions

 LDF Project Manager Inga Muižniece stresses: “The Latvian Natural Fund, with the help of the brand, wishes to highlight and provide positive support for first farmers and grassland owners who are already enthusiastic and committed to the preservation of natural grassland. The brand of natural grassland products is necessary to encourage and motivate grassland operators, landlords, farmers to continue to host the natural pasture to heat the natural grassland to the Community and to strengthen mutual cooperation in the production of environmentally friendly products and to promote their consumption in society. Thus, as one of the main activities of the project, there is cooperation with natural grassland operators to develop a new, high-value added value, a viable and powerful brand of natural grassland products in Latvia for the preservation of natural grassland.”

Natural meadows are the most endangered habitats of the European Union and Latvia. Currently, the natural meadows in Latvia are covered only by 0.71 TP1T national territories, so that management is necessary in order to preserve and exist. In natural meadows, a great variety of natural diversity – in one square metre can be up to 50 different species of plants. Meadows also provide a wide range of ecosystem services and are part of the cultural landscape of Latvia.

Contact:

Inga Muižniece, project manager, E-mail: inga.muizniece@ldf.lv, Tel.: 29453255

Co-ordinator of Laura Lending, Communication and Grassland Products, E-mail; laura.lidaka@ldf.lv, Tel.: 29360646