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Faculty of Agriculture Presents Research Center for Wine and Fruit Production Development

Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Zagreb recently presented the project 'Ampelographic-Pomological Research Center' which develops research infrastructure and establishes organizational prerequisites for high-quality and economically relevant research on wine and fruit production in Croatia.

This project plans to prepare all necessary documentation and obtain electrical energy prerequisites for the arrangement and equipping of the Ampelographic-Pomological Research Center at the Jazbina location.

Project leader Prof. Dr. Edi Maletić emphasized that the realization of this research center is the first step towards serious investment in new knowledge and research technologies, but primarily investment in the people who will work in the new research center.

– Upgrading the infrastructure to a higher level will contribute to the development of our profession. Our students will have a place where they can conduct the best and most necessary research in the field of fruit growing and viticulture, which are very important for Croatia. Regardless of the development of these economic branches in recent decades, we must increase the competitiveness of our producers. The best way to do this is to develop scientific and research capacities – said Maletić.

Vice-Dean for Science and Infrastructure at the Faculty of Agriculture in Zagreb, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Klaudija Carović Stanko, pointed out that this is one of 27 projects in which the Faculty of Agriculture is involved through European Structural and Investment Funds, and the total value of all projects exceeds 300 million kuna.

– We are very proud of projects like this. We have used them to equip our laboratories, experimental fields, and to raise the quality of our research. We are in the phase of applying for new projects, and yesterday we were confirmed that we received two new projects from the Horizon Europe program – emphasized Professor Carević Stanko.

One of the operators involved in the Ampelographic-Pomological Research Center project is Assoc. Prof. Dr. Goran Fruk, who highlighted that this project is a foundation for future research that will bring the Faculty of Agriculture, as well as Croatia, closer to the standards of the countries we look up to.

– Today, science is such that it requires specialization, and this project will enable the recognition of our faculty in global science, and the knowledge gained in the research center can also be transferred to our producers – emphasized Professor Fruk.

He also added that the Ampelographic-Pomological Research Center will consist of four parts: an ampelographic-pomological laboratory, an enological-microbiological laboratory, a sensory laboratory, and cold storage.

The project is co-financed by European Structural and Investment Funds at a rate of 85 percent, and the total value of the project amounts to one million kuna.

The project lasts 30 months and is being carried out by the Institute for Viticulture and Enology and the Institute for Fruit Growing at the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Agriculture.

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Presentation of the project 'Ampelographic-Pomological Research Center' of the Faculty of Agriculture in Zagreb