Within the development, promotion and protection policies of agro ecosystems and quality productions, the Regional Law 3/06/2015 rules the "Protection of animal and plant genetic resources of the Marche Region".
Protected are animal and plant resources as species, varieties, races, populations, ecotypes, clones and cultivars, including the wild specimens under crop and autochthons threatened with genetic erosion or with extinction of economic, scientific, environmental, landscape or cultural relevance.
Besides the regional law protects genetic resources no longer regionally cultivated or bred which, however, are currently preserved by Research Institutes, botanical gardens, germ plasm banks, Universities and research centres even if located in other countries or regions.
In the defence plan of the genetic autochthonous resources ASSAM is in charge of:
• Implementing European long term and annual programmes of agricultural biodiversity preservation;
• Managing and coordinating the “Preservation and Safety Network” for the in situ ed ex situ conservation of the regional genetic material.
Within the same business unit, each “guardian farmer " is allowed to grow no more than one variety for each species except for varieties which are not under cross-pollination. Guardian farmers, willing to start cultivating, are required to observe the prescriptions of art. 8 of the Regional Law 3/06/2015 and commit themselves to return to ASSAM the portion of reproduced sample established by the technical scientific Commission.
ASSAM, once verified the fulfilment of the phytosanitary prescriptions, places the sample at disposal of operators and research institutions applying for it, both for farming as well as for possible genetic improvement programmes.