Communicating plant genetic resources for food and agriculture to the public-A study of grant-receivers with demonstration-projects in the Danish Rural Development Programme

The Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries has supported demonstration of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture through an EU grant-scheme in the years 2008-2013. This paper evaluates the individual as well as the collective potential of the grant receivers to promote public education about plant genetic resources. All grant-receivers are regarded as Informal Learning Environments, though the institutions are very diverse and include research institutions, museums, private companies, municipalities, pometa, local groups, and NGOs. The results show that the institutions had a high individual potential to promote education of plant genetic resources to the public. The potential was increased by many institutions with the same purpose disseminating the same core message with many different angles in different geographical places at the same time. This gives a possibility to reach more target groups in different ways with knowledge of plant genetic resources. The results are discussed and compared to the implementation of the Rural Development Programme in other countries.