The subdelegate of the Government in Huesca, Carlos Campo, visited yesterday in Aínsa the agricultural and livestock farm of Luis Lascorz, one of the hosts in the province of the Cultiva Program, an initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture for the training of young farmers. Lascorz hosts during this week a farmer from Palencia, Eva Sierra, who knows first-hand “a model of proximity and sustainable that can settle families in rural Spain”, in the words of Campo.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) has awarded a total of 1,198,974 euros for this edition of the Cultiva Program to eight national entities representing the agricultural sector to manage the training stays of young professionals on farms.

In the province of Huesca there are five model farms, where the Ministry of Agriculture has made available 33 places distributed in 11 rooms, of five days each, which allow young farmers and ranchers to train in issues related to innovation, productive means, climatic and environmental sustainability, social aspects or business models. The execution of these stays began last December and will last until July 31, 2025.

In the case of the exploitation of Luis Lascorz in Aínsa, the training shows the work in ecological farming with Pyrenean beef, with direct sale to the consumer; the management of fodder and the ecological cultivation of apple in height.

Last November, Lazcorz was recognized as one of the Best Model Farm Hosts of the Culinary Program by the Ministry of Agriculture. The subdelegate thanked the farmer for his generosity in sharing his experience with the youngest farmers, and stressed that “the Cultiva Program sows the future for a family agriculture committed to the territory, showing those who take the generational relay that good practices are an opportunity for farms, because they are a value for consumers”.

For their part, Luis Lascorz and Ramón Solanilla, General Secretary of ASAJA Aragón, have expressed their concern about the difficulty in attracting and retaining young people in the sector, a problem that the subdelegate has promised to transfer to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Cultivating Program

The Cultivation Program is aimed at young farmers and ranchers under the age of 41 and people aged 41 or over who first joined the agricultural activity as farm owners, on or after January 1, 2019 and who were under 41 at the time of their first installation. In addition, the participants must be owners of farms that are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The costs of accommodation, maintenance and transportation of young people, derived from their participation in training stays, are covered by the Cultiva Program. Young people will be eligible for compensation for replacement expenses for the care and management of their exploitation by a third person during their absence in the same, as a result of their attendance at the training stay.

Eight representative entities of the agricultural sector, of national eremu, will be in charge of the coordination and management of the training stays of this fourth call. In the case of the province of Huesca, they are the Agrarian Association of Young Farmers (ASAJA), the Coordinator of Farmers and Livestock Organizations (COAG), the Union of Agricultural Family Schools (UNEFA) and the Union of Small Farmers and Livestock Farmers (UPA).

All the information about the Cultiva Program can be consulted in the space for this initiative on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.