The agro-food sector in Italy is an area of great importance and excellence that is the basis of the assortment and quality of typical Italian products. Some local varieties were abandoned in the 1950s and 1960s in favour of higher-yielding commercial cultivars. However, there are still many traditional little known plant varieties (cereals, vegetables, fruit trees, etc.) which deserve to be characterized, valorized and protected in order to increase Italian agro-food heritage and to enhance the production of typical and quality products.
In line with EU, national and regional regulations – including the recent national law no. 194 1st December 2015 (Cenni Law) – UNIMONT, in collaboration with Lombardy Region and Coldiretti, wants to contribute to the collection of data required to create the National Register of Biodiversity of Agricultural and Food Interest.
The internship will involve the collection and processing of data on the agrobiodiversity of Lombardy’s various territorial districts, and the characterization of the most interesting varieties.