LocalGOR

Description of the operation:

Cultural heritage in rural areas is an important element of the identity of the rural population. This can only be sustained through the preservation of agricultural activity, which can only be sustained through opportunities for marketing traditional and local products. Ensuring the highest possible level of local food self-sufficiency is becoming a priority for agricultural development on a global and local scale. The former narrow specialisation of Gorenjska agriculture into a few branches has led to a serious shortage of food production in the area of crop production, with a large part of arable land being used for livestock fodder instead of human food. As a result, the rich cultural heritage linked to the appearance of the cultural landscape, traditional methods of cultivating the land and the use of traditional plant varieties has also been disappearing. The proportion of food self-sufficiency, with the exception of milk and potatoes, in the LAS area is low and the awareness of the population for the use of local products and products is growing, and it is therefore necessary to develop solutions that will contribute to greater self-sufficiency in the long term and to the preservation and revival of the cultural heritage of rural areas, in particular through the use of traditional plant varieties and animal breeds, and their introduction into the menus of young people, who are key to the transmission of cultural heritage.

The Local GOR operation will work towards the recognition and preservation of traditional methods of production and processing of local food, knowledge and practices from nature, traditional skills that producers recognise as part of their cultural heritage and identify with it, increasing local food self-sufficiency in the LAS Gorenjska košarica area and thus enabling the population to have a better quality of life. It will comprehensively address the problem of the disappearance of certain elements of cultural heritage in rural areas in all areas - from the producer to the consumer, with intermediate links in between. On the one hand, it will focus on increasing basic food production in the area, with an emphasis on the regional food heritage, by encouraging food producers, through a series of educational activities, to focus on producing local food for people, processing their own produce, focusing on the local market, and enabling them to acquire additional marketing skills and to exchange good practices. On the other hand, it will focus on passing on the food heritage to young people and increasing the consumption of locally produced food in the region itself. In this context, it will target public educational establishments as a major consumer of food. It will help them to incorporate traditional dishes made from seasonal local food into their meals through expert assistance in ordering locally produced food, training, individual counselling and practical training for the cooking staff.

Due to the fragmented nature of on-farm production, the operation will involve cooperatives as a link between producers and public institutions, which, by pooling producers and upgrading logistics infrastructure, will be able to provide regular and sufficient food to the public institutions connected to them. In parallel to the work with public institutions, the operation will also establish links between individual consumers and local food producers in the form of improved modern products for marketing local food (mobile app, catalogue of local food producers). In the spirit of long-term awareness-raising about the importance of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the countryside and locally produced food, a good part of the activities is also aimed at the younger generations and people with special needs, who will benefit from interesting animation and awareness-raising activities tailored to them in the framework of the operation.

The operation will place great emphasis on the general promotion of the use of locally produced food, thereby increasing the consumption of local food in the long term and creating a favourable environment for traditional agricultural production and processing, which preserves the cultural landscape, customs, traditional methods of cultivating the land and typical local dishes, which is understood as food heritage.

Objectives of the operation:

The main long-term objective of the operation is to create an environment and conditions that will provide greater opportunities for awareness, preservation and transfer of knowledge, customs, introduction of traditional dishes with local raw materials for higher food self-sufficiency in the LAS Gorenjska košarica area. Easier access to healthy, traditional, seasonal, locally produced food is certainly one of the basic means to achieve the objective of the Local Development Strategy, i.e. to improve basic services and raise the quality of life.

Looking towards the project activities, the short-term objectives, each of which in its own way supports the long-term objective defined above, are as follows:

• To educate, raise awareness and support workers in public educational institutions to be more committed to the introduction of traditional local food in children's diets,
• increase the proportion of traditional local food in the menus of public educational establishments to improve the quality of children's diets,
• to implement interesting, modern and practical programmes for children, their parents and people with special needs, in which they will recognise their food heritage, realise the importance of reviving it and give it a prominent place in the diet of their households,
• educate, provide professional support to food producers to preserve the cultural heritage in rural areas and to produce food for people, to move into processing their produce, to think about new potential industries and to see agriculture as their future,
• to bring producers together under the umbrella of cooperatives so that they can work together to meet the needs of the local market in particular,
• to help specific producers to develop their activities, to present themselves individually on the market and to present themselves to the public,
• establish modern marketing channels and approaches (e.g. a mobile app for buying local food with delivery) that growers will find attractive for marketing and local consumers will see as a tool for modern, local food shopping,
• to raise awareness among the local population of the importance of preserving, revitalising and revitalising the food heritage by increasing food self-sufficiency, and the positive effects of eating locally produced food, through modern and attractive means of information and promotion in the region.

Operation activities:

• Management and coordination of the operation,
• Promotion of the operation and its results,
• development of local food self-sufficiency,
• local food self-sufficiency - investments (KGZ Sloga z.o.o., Sava-KGZ z.o.o., Lesce).

Outcome of the operation:

• Animated, aware, educated and assisted staff in public educational institutions,
• educated, aware, instructed children, parents and persons with disabilities,
• educated, empowered, successful and satisfied producers of quality food in the region,
• a cohesive agricultural sector with cooperatives, modern ways of marketing locally produced food and improved logistics infrastructure for local actors, increased supply of locally produced food in schools and kindergartens,
• an informed, aware, educated and animated public on the positive aspects of preserving the nutritional heritage through locally produced food in local households.

Useful links:

• European Commission for the EAFRD
• Rural Development Programme