The eighteenth National Convention for the conservation of indigenous Bulgarian agricultural breeds will take place today in the Panitsi area near Kalofer. The event, entitled "Let's preserve the Bulgarian (breeds) together", will be opened by the Agriculture Minister Kiril Vatev. 

"Local breeds are the life insurance of Bulgarian breeders - they are resistant to climate change and diseases," said Dr Ivan Mehandzhiyski, a member of the Bulgarian Farmers' Union and chairman of the Bulgarian Cattle Breeders Association. He said these breeds should be preserved, as is the policy of the European Union, because they can use their gene pool to improve cultivated breeds, making them more sustainable.