Harvest Campaign 2021

The 2021 harvest campaign started on 1 July in the area of Pleven Province. It was officially opened by the National Grain Producers Association (NGPA), which carried out the traditional first cutting of rye under the European project “Peace Bread”.

The National Grain Producers Association (NGPA) launched the 2021 harvest campaign on 1 July 2021 in Slavyanovo, Pleven Province. The opening of the harvest campaign was also part of the international project „Peace Bread“, in which Bulgaria has traditionally participated since the establishment of this European initiative.

Guests at the event were the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Prof. Dr. Hristo Bozukov, the Director of the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Directorate Pleven, Mrs. Nora Stoeva, members and friends of the National Grain Producers Association.

The Minister of Agriculture Prof. Hristo Bozukov shared that, according to data from the agricultural administration, a very good grain harvest is expected in the country. The Chair of the NGPA, Kostadin Kostadinov, emphasized that the work of grain producers is responsible, because they ensure the country’s grain balance.

The producers of PeaceBread Rye 2021 were two young and ambitious farmers from the regional organization of the NGPA in Pleven Province – Mr. Kuncho Kunchev and Mr. Dimitar Nenov.

Peace Bread

The „Peace Bread“ project is a European initiative involving twelve countries from Central and Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria. For the first time in 2012, rye harvested from the field around the Chapel of Reconciliation in Berlin – the site of the former „death strip” of the Berlin Wall, was sent to each participating country.

Since 2013, the rye seeds from the field around the Chapel of Reconciliation in Berlin have been cultivated at symbolic and historically significant sites of the turning point in the countries of Central and Southeastern Europe that joined the European Union after 1989.

In 2014, when 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall were marked, a symbolic part of the rye harvests from the countries participating in the project was sent for the first time to Berlin. This „anniversary rye“ was mixed with the rye collected in Berlin, milled and baked into a common European „Peace Bread“.

The conference „Peace and Agriculture“ on 30 September 2014 at Seddiner See, Brandenburg, the ceremony „Sowing and Harvesting in Peace“ and the festivities in honour of the „European Peace Bread” in Berlin on 1 October 2014 marked the beginning of the annual meetings of the partner countries. For this purpose, a joint European network PeaceBread and the forum „Peace and Agriculture“ were established.

The “Peace Bread” project is organized with the support of the Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection of Germany Julia Klöckner and the ministries of agriculture of the participating countries.  In addition to Germany, 11 other EU Member States from Central and Southeastern Europe take part in it: Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Croatia.

The NGPA has been the official partner for Bulgaria in the Project since its very beginning. Each year, a representative of the Grain Producers Association from a different region of the country undertakes the cultivation of the rye.

Additional annual conferences of this forum were held in 2015 in Poznań (Poland), 2016 in Szarvas (Hungary), 2017 in Varna (Bulgaria), 2018 in Sangaste (Estonia) and Koni (Latvia), and 2019 in Vilnius (Lithuania). After an interruption related to the corona crisis last year, the seventh annual conference is planned digitally for 7 September 2021.

* photos: NGPA