The Hungarian Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (ÖMKi) organised its Arable Land Field Day with great success. The event, which took place on 21 June 2023 at Szár, was attended by nearly 80 farmers, processing industry professionals, advisory specialists and interested parties. At Csoroszlya Farm, on-farm and small-plot experiments were presented in connection with several research topics, including participatory breeding and landrace test of ancient cereales, which ÖMKi is implementing within the framework of DIVINFOOD.

The day began with the field visit where ancient landraces, participatory breeding variety tests, and organic heterogeneous populations were introduced.

After the field visit, Szilvia Bencze presented the participatory breeding activities carried out by ÖMKi. Her presentation outlined the differences between traditional and participatory breeding, the advantages of organic heterogeneous material and presented the possibilities for farmers to get involved in participatory breeding. Continuing the theme of ancient wheat, a workshop moderated by Fruzsina Szira focused on the issues and questions related to the selection of hulled cereals. At the event, participants have been offered the occasion to taste different types of baked goods from einkorn and emmer flour.

The Field Day was well received by the participants, many of them indicated that they would look forward to attending similar professional events in the future.