Nacho Dimitrov
Abstract: The common agricultural policy of the European Union emphasizes the protection of biodiversity and creates conditions for subsidizing the breeding of animals of endangered local breeds. In the period 2000 – 2020 in Bulgaria, this led to an increase in the number of breeding associations and farmers in this niche, as well as to a growth in breeds and farmed animals. The determining factor for the dynamics of the analyzed processes are the values with which the endangered local breeds are associated. On the one hand, these are ecological values according to which local breeds are part of the European and world genetic resources. On the other hand, these are cultural and national political values that define them as cultural heritage and, accordingly, as an element of national identity. What “tricks” do farmers apply in the struggle for access to financing, in order to valuate the breeds they raise and, accordingly, to give importance to themselves as “guardians of Bulgarianness” – this issue is the subject of discussion in the text.
Keywords: valuating, social action, pragmatism.
