News
“Natural Agriculture”: an encounter with like-minded people
28.02.2019
Part of Botanica Life’s team visited the fourth edition of the national conference “Natural Agriculture: healthy people and living earth” which took place on 23rd and 24th February 2019 in the city of Plovdiv. The conference addressed topics, such as how we treat the soil, the invaluable role of the microorganisms, the conservation of old varieties, and the natural storage and preservation of agricultural produce. Some of the lecturers were academic researchers, while others were practitioners with rich experience. We received useful information and exchanged practical experience!
In Plovdiv we also met with Dr Tsvetanka Dincheva, a senior researcher at the “Maritsa” Vegetable Crops Research Institute. Dr Dincheva is responsible for the organic agriculture unit at the Institute. We exchanged ideas and knowledge in vegetable production and composting, and received useful information about the production of asparagus and artichoke, two vegetables somehow forgotten by the Bulgarian growers. Of course, we talked about tasty Bulgarian tomatoes, such as the “Ideal” and the “Large Pink” varieties.
Dr Dincheva made us a gift of seeds of traditional Bulgarian vegetables, such as “Kurtovsa Kapia” (sweet pepper), “Gergana” (long cucumber) and “Kjose” (crispy cabbage), and others, which we will put in our demonstration field in Nadarevo. We invited her to visit us in the summer to see the results herself.
At “Maritsa” Research Institute we reviewed interesting old editions of books on the topics of agriculture and vegetable production (from 1922 and 1943), which undoubtedly reveal the strong agricultural traditions Bulgaria has had in the past.
We thank Dr Dintcheva and the “Maritsa” Research Institute and remain hopeful for future sustainable development and collaboration between the two institutions.