A program dedicated to meadows conservation and the wild relatives of fodder plants is running and gather more than 1300 surfaces in the whole country. Farmers are actively supported to conserve these surfaces.

A survey to evaluate the farmer’s motivation to participate has been performed. These elements will help drafting more and better adapted in situ conservation instruments for Crop Wild Relatives at the farm level: a key element for the future of agrobiodiversity.

Two scientific articles were published as part of this work:

• “Empowering farmers to conserve grassland’s genetic diversity in situ”, written by Morgane Lambert, Christina Kägi, Antoine Guisan, Blaise Petitpierre, and Sylvain Aubry, and published in the scientific journal Science Direct.

• “Conserving Fodder Plants in situ: Challenges and Perspectives” , written by Lambert M., Kägi C., Petitpierre B., and Aubry S., published in Swiss Agricultural Research

Cover photo credit: Marco Odermatt, Training Center for Nature and Nutrition in Agriculture, Lucerne, Switzerland.