Agro-Biodiversity
Final report
Duration of project
July 2012 to December 2014
Contact person at the University of Kassel
Christina Bantle, M.Sc.
Head of project
"Conserving diversity through utilisation: Development of communication strategies for agro-biodiversity in gastronomy"
Research project within the framework of the Federal Organic Farming sceme and other forms of sustainable agriculture (BÖLN)
Agro-biodiversity is the diversity among agriculturally utilised or potentially utilisable species. Dishes and specialties made from regional heirloom plant varieties or traditional animal breeds contribute to people’s regional identity. However, most consumers are unaware of the significance of agro-biodiversity for their everyday life; if they are made aware of specific examples though, these are assessed as personally relevant. Thus, it can be stated that there is a lack of attention for the topic of agro-biodiversity, for means of experiencing this diversity in everyday life, for low-level options of information and for ways of personally contributing to agro-biodiversity conservation.
The first aim of the research project is thus to test the effectiveness of communication materials with regard to attention to the topic of agro-biodiversity. The materials will afterwards be introduced in high quality restaurants; these offer the special opportunity to communicate agro-biodiversity both cognitively and emotionally. Besides the effectiveness of different communication strategies in restaurants, it will be investigated whether high quality gastronomy can contribute to the aim of conserving agro-biodiversity in the medium term.