Current events

DESIRA National Conference

The association "Farmers' Council" in cooperation with the association "Meat Cattle Breeders' Association" launched the DESIRA National Conference/Campaign "Save the Meadow" on March 3, with the aim of drawing public attention to the preservation of the biodiversity of Latvian meadows, thus promoting beef through the plant world with various digital marketing tools.

 

The campaign consisted of several stages:

 

March 3 discussions “Cattle in the meadows of Latvia” The video recording can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jmmhSpJWGU

 

 

Campaign website created https://www.izglabplavu.lv/

 

 

The campaign was promoted in the media:

 

 

Campaign ambassadors:

Lauris Walters – We will save the meadows, do you feel the joy when the earth blooms, when life pulsates, when everything is in one place .. we will save the meadows of Latvia, we will put in the work, the attitude, each a little bit of our part .. it will fill our hearts with beautiful stories, because everything must not be overgrown with bushes, weeds! It is so good to see healthy meadows when they are tidy and cattle graze there .. we have so many opportunities in our land, we just have to want to implement them, so that everyone can proudly call it their own!

Rezija Kalnina – Latvia is a plain where the gaze wanders like Dull Dauks… The Latvian meadow takes each of us on a journey like Sprīdītī, who nevertheless returned home. In the happy land, where every cow has its own name… In my childhood, I named a cow Mēbeli, because it seemed like a very affectionate and special name. The cow’s muzzle… The tail… The hooves… The smell of freshly cut grass… Raking and baling hay… That is my Latvia. My Latvia has the smell of hay… The bite of the hooves… The look of a cow… The love of a calf… And above all – Sacrifice… On the other hand, it is a beautiful sacrifice – I give myself to You so that You can be… Latvia is the Mother – the Nurturing One, who cannot be “eaten”, but can be destroyed… If you realize that you are a part of nature, then you will never be a consumer… You will be a Participant… With Respect and Reverence, and Gratitude.

Armands Tripans – I have visited more than 60 farms in Latvia in the last 5 years. Large, small, organic and conventional. But currently, cattle breeders are showing themselves in the market in the best possible way. I have not met a single farmer who has not given their heart to animals. For them, it is not just meat, a burger or a cattle code in an Excel spreadsheet. This is the level of the farm world, where animals are given freedom in the meadows of Latvia. On the outskirts of Latgale or in the seaside lands of Liepāja – everywhere the scene is as excellent as Purvītis' paintings. White or brown calves that give the meadow a horizon and life. Cattle breeders have shown that they can compete and be better than foreign products. This story is about people who care about what is left behind, they roll up their sleeves and do it. Without populism and slogans. Green, with calf manure that nourishes the land, and ultimately – our land and people.

Laura Erdlāne – The added value of Latvia is the vast pastures, the farthest corner of which can only be seen with binoculars, hay bales, large herds of cows and people who develop their heart's work in the fields. My childhood is unimaginable without early mornings, pulling on rubber boots and rushing to do morning chores at sunrise, throwing a petrel candy in my pocket. The smell of a cow's warm breath in the barn, the smell of silage, snuggling up to a cow's warm side, staring into big, dark, crystal-clear eyes for hours and the special trust when a cow eats an apple from my hand - that's my feeling of Latvia... The joy is special when a herd of cows dances in front of me. Yes, it really DANCES… Or the joy when, upon arriving in the countryside, a special cow comes to meet me – my “goddaughter”, whom I brought from the pasture a year ago, on a cool and foggy summer morning. Now my goddaughter is all grown up. All these feelings of the Latvian countryside and the awareness that work in the countryside is done with love, encourage me to think that the future of Latvia is wide fields, healthy people and respectful relationships with the laws of nature.

 

 

April 13 the campaign ended At the Meatchef.lv steakhouse, we concluded the active phase of the Save the Meadows campaign. We listened to a representative of the Nature Conservation Board with a presentation about the situation of natural meadows in Latvia. Unfortunately, it is not good and is not good anywhere in the world. Great emphasis was placed on how important grazing is and noted as one of the best ways to manage natural meadows.