The Safeguard for Agricultural Varieties in Europe – SAVE foundation was founded in 1993. Its objective is to maintain the existing diversity of both animal breeds and cultivated varieties.

Within areas with a environmental value referred to as “traditional agro-ecosystems” (TAES), SAVE promotes agrobiodiversity as an “option for local populations to improve their incomes and for sustainable landscape management”. SAVE brings together 23 national organisations and 2 regional organisations. These associations are present in 16 European countries. SAVE is organised around projects in 5 geographical areas: Pan-Europe; Balkans; Alps; Carpathians; Mediterranean.

SAVE promotes the heritage of an interest in agrobiodiversity. To this end, SAVE facilitates the production and dissemination of knowledge and the valorisation of the products resulting from it. The foundation has developed three tools for this purpose: a distinctive sign of quality; a search engine and a prize.

The “Heritaste® Trademark” label can contribute to the maintenance of the necessary biodiversity and to meet the socio-economic challenges of the regions where this biodiversity exists. To enter this label, the production must be local, extensive and non-industrially made and must represent a cultural asset. To stimulate the use of the label, SAVE has been developing since 2011 a prize, the Arca-Deli® Award, highlighting innovations and good practices in the promotion of breeds and varieties within products. In addition, SAVE runs the Arca-net database as a way to connect the general public with sites where they can experience crop and breed diversity.

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