Hortus Gymnasium:
biodiversity

Hortus Gymnasium s.agr.r.l. is committed to the protection of agricultural biodiversity by means of agro-environmental improvements with the preservation and enhancement of native varieties and traditional processing techniques of agricultural and food products, choosing to defend and strengthen the local identity and culture of Calabria through the recovery and promotion of ancient plants and crops for centuries passed down via self-produced seed or grafts, which, due to food globalization, could be lost in the future.

The European Commission defines biodiversity as “the variability of life and its processes” (DG AGRI 1999). Biological diversity in agriculture is a subset of the general biological diversity that is made up of genetic diversity as diversity of genes within an animal, a plant and a microbial species, diversity of species, referring to the number of plant populations, animals, both in zootechnical production and in wildlife, micro-organisms and diversity of ecosystems on Earth. Biodiversity is first and foremost a wealth and only recognizing its value, will it be possible to preserve it for future generations. The wisdom of rural indigenous peoples, close to the life cycles of nature and sensitive to their respect, in which “the land is not inherited from our ancestors but borrowed from our children” (a Masai or Red Indian saying) was, theoretically, transcended to the forefront of Political agendas, at the end of the last millennium, in the form of “Global Climate Change Agreements”. In nature, every local seed, every native variety is a response to a specific problem in a specific place, such as extreme drought or extreme cold; in fact, the ancient varieties are more resistant because they have adapted to the characteristics of the place where they have grown. However, biodiversity is not static and evolves over time. We can recognize a historical biodiversity linked to the past when the landscape was different. Why save biodiversity and recover old fruits?

Natural and cultural biodiversity: ethnobotany. Anthropologists argue that the trees of biodiversity are works of art created by farmers: behind every tree cultivated there is man with his history, his knowledge and it is difficult to protect biodiversity if it does not even preserve his memory. Only if we can keep the plants and the knowledge tied to them, will we be able to pass them on to future generations and can we say that we have truly saved biodiversity. Conserving biodiversity is important but it is also necessary to preserve the memory of the actions that man does in favor of cultivating, employing and selecting such diversity. In practice, it is not enough to save rural diversity, which is the basis of our food, but it is also necessary to save the traditional knowledge behind every culture: how it was cultivated, how and when it was collected, how it was preserved and how it worked best in the kitchen. This memory that comes to us from the experiences of traditional farmers is ethno-diversity and it is crucial to know why, otherwise, even if we have recovered an ancient botanical variety or an extinct pet breed, we cannot know how to cultivate or use it to the best of our ability, we will have lost it regardless.