Romania
The seventh international “Fascination of Plants Day” around 18 May 2024 will be launched by plant scientists across the world under the umbrella of the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO).
The goal of this activity is to get as many people as possible around the world fascinated by plants and enthused about the importance of plant science for agriculture and sustainable production of nutritious food, as well as for horticulture, forestry and the production of plant-based non-food products such as paper, timber, chemicals, energy and pharmaceuticals. The role of plants in environmental conservation is also a key message.
Everybody is welcome to join this initiative!
The Cluj Horticultural Days, conducted within the Faculty of Horticulture and Business in Rural Development, UASVM Cluj-Napoca reached the 3rd edition where the business in the field of horticulture, landscape architecture, tourism and rural development present the products and services to the people and entrepreneurial sectors. Also, during these days a lot of exhibitions and student activities bring the newest products in the field of horticulture, thus creating a connection between students and young people, which makes these days a good chance to show our business opportunities and student life on our campus.
” When there is no more agriculture, the Romanian village will disappear and our national identity will be lost!”
Motivated by this belief, on Friday, 17th May 2024, starting at 10 a.m., we organised the Agricultural Exhibition Fair of the local producers and the students from the “Alexiu Berinde” Technical Agricultural High School, in Seini, Maramureș county. The event is included in the regional project ”Ecological Agriculture – a bridge between the past and the future” (approved in C.A.E.R., no. 1241/01.02.2024). It offered a great opportunity to celebrate the Fascination of Plants Day.
Through our Exhibition Fair, we wanted to present examples of best practices for raising vegetable and flower seedlings in the greenhouses of our school, cultivating vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers, zucchinis) and selling them at the local market. All these activities also gave us the chance to promote a healthy and sustainable lifestyle, while presenting the career opportunities offered by a mostly agricultural high school to its future students.
This event paid homage to agriculture, to agricultural education, to the Romanian village and the fundamental values of our nation.
The adaptations of plants, such as cacti, insectivorous plants, or aquatic plants, to various living conditions, have piqued the interest of researchers since ancient times. If you are interested in learning more about these adaptations and how to care for these plants, we invite you to participate in the guided tours organized by the botanical garden on this topic.
These tours will take place on May 18, 2024, at 10:00, 12:00, and 14:00. Participation in the guided tour is based on the entrance ticket to the botanical garden. Each tour will accommodate a maximum of 20 participants and appointments can be made via email at liliana.jarda@ubbcluj.ro
The botanical garden can be considered as a living book of botany. Visitors are invited to a guided tour where they will learn how to “read” this book to understand the plant world and occasionally even aspects of the animal kingdom. The Agro-Botanical Garden from Cluj has, similar to the chapters, 4 thematic sectors: the Sector of Ornamental Plants, the Sector of Plant Ecology, the Sector of Systematic Classification and the Sector of Biodiversity. They are further subdivided into 36 sub-sectors. In the month of flowers, visitors will observe in the exploration through these thematic sectors and sub-sectors a lot of species in all the splendour of their vitality.
The Agro-Botanical Garden of UASVM Cluj-Napoca is a member of the international organization of botanical gardens (BGCI – Botanic Gardens Conservation International), annually exchanges biological material with several hundred botanical gardens from all over the world, being a member of the IPEN community – The International Plant Exchange Network and publishing the Index Seminum annually.
Assoc. prof. dr. Andrei Stoie (co-ordinator of Agro-Botanical Garden Cluj-Napoca)
The workshop is a competition initiated three years ago, at Fascination of Plants Day, now at its third edition.
Sustainable gastronomy presents a significant opportunity for fostering green recovery in various ways promoting local and seasonal foods, reducing food waste, putting emphasis on plant-based and low-impact ingredients and innovating food technology. It aims to select the best recipes, green gastronomy concepts, and methods to combine various vegetables, in a tasty plate. The winners of this competition will be selected by representatives of different food industry professionals. Diplomas and other awards are provided for the best high school students. This event is organized by the Faculty of Food Science and Technology and coordinated by Assoc. prof. dr. Anamaria Pop, Lecturer dr. Georgiana Smaranda Marțiș and Lecturer dr. Lucian Cuibus.
The Department of Agriculture and Horticulture, within the Faculty of Environmental Protection, University of Oradea, through the teaching staff involved in the educational and research activity, is always concerned with the diversity of agricultural projects, the implementation of various practices and policies, the guidance and learning of students from the Agriculture, Horticulture and Landscape programs, so that in the future, they can ensure ecologically viable operations and conservation of plant biodiversity. It is not for nothing that agronomists as a whole are called “plant doctors”. This is because they are concerned about the health of the crops so that they can be safely used for food production, land reclamation, and also for their use as fuel. Together with our students from the 3 study programs of the Department of Agriculture and Horticulture, and other colleagues, including the staff of the Research Station, we develop and carry out various works specific to the agricultural and horticultural fields. In the experimental fields, but also in the laboratories, our students benefit from the best guidance and involvement in carrying out specific works and activities. Also, because we are open to presenting our efficiency and our experience in the field, we participate in various projects in the field, together with the local community, our students, the other teaching staff of the other departments of the faculty, and even with local public administration institutions. One such example is Plantăm speranță project, which since 2016 has also been running with our participation – students and teaching staff – alongside communities and local administrations. It is an international project, in which volunteers (over 6,300 people) participate who have planted and cared for approximately 83,800 trees on an area of over 17 hectares of public land from 5 counties.