“We are pleased with the response and large interest of grassland managers proving that the Grassland Product Label has a place in Latvia and the right time has come to develop it. We will continue the development of the criteria for the Label together with the managers and experts, thus coming closer to a new approach in nature protection in Latvia – protecting natural assets while simultaneously developing business,” says Inga Muižniece, Project Manager at the Latvian Fund for Nature.
Grassland managers, who have applied for the development of the Label, produce or plan to produce a wide range of products – beef, sheep, goat meat and meat products, medicinal plants, honey and honey products, dairy products. There is also a great interest in the development of tourism and recreation offers. A number of farms would like to work with gathering grassland plant seeds, which is a completely new niche in Latvia with a high demand, but they are presently not available on the market. Part of the farms expressed interest to learn more about the restoration of natural grasslands and obtaining an expert assessment of their grassland.
The development of the Grassland Product Label is one of the activities of the ambitious integrated LIFE-IP LatViaNature project. A series of seminars on the management and restoration of natural grasslands, educating owners about relevant issues on various products and their quality will be the next step in the development of the Label. In addition, marketing training will also be offered. Simultaneously, the development of the Label’s marketing strategy and criteria has started. A call for small grants for the creation of innovative grassland products will be announced in the autumn of this year, as well as cooperation with chefs in tasting meat products will be established.
Although the first call for producers of grassland products has ended, interested parties still have the opportunity to apply by filling the form (https://ldf.lv/lv/article/latvijas-dabas-fonds-aicina-plavu-ipasniekus-pieteikties-jaunam-dabisko-plavu-produktu) and submitting it by e-mail to plavasprodukts@ldf.lv.
