Agriculture is one of the major contributors to the extraordinary diversity of plants to be found in Alpine meadows and pastures. This is the conclusion drawn by a team of researchers from the Universities of Basel and Zurich who have been investigating the impact of Alpine cultural traditions on plant diversity as part of the National Research Programme "Landscapes and Habitats of the Alps" (NRP 48). Agriculture affects not only plant species diversity, but also the diversity of small animals and fungi living from the plants and the genetic diversity of the major Alpine feed grasses. According to the research team, it is extremely important not just to nurture those valuable individual areas that have the highest plant diversity, but also the diversity of usage in a region or valley, an aspect that current agricultural policy neglects almost entirely.