The Spanish group of women entrepreneurs in the GRASS CEILING European project will convene for their eighth meeting on 8-9 April 2025 at CIHEAM Zaragoza, a member of the project consortium. Meeting agenda here.
The University of Valladolid and the agrifood cooperative Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias de España, also consortium members, will be responsible for the academic and technical organisation of the event.
These agricultural entrepreneurs participate in the project’s Spanish Living Lab – a hub for social innovation where academics, agricultural and gender experts, and specialists in rural innovation and equality, collaborate in a network to discuss common challenges, identify needs and propose strategies for improvement.
The Spanish group focuses on initiatives in agriculture and food led by women living in less populated rural areas in the north of Spain. Their stories showcase the wide range of opportunities that the crop and livestock farming sectors can offer as key elements of rural development, food production, and the socioeconomic revitalisation of the rural area.
During their time in Zaragoza, they will be participating in several working sessions to analyse and propose support measures for women innovating in agriculture. They will also visit the Aragonese sheep cooperative Pastores Group to learn more about its organisational model where women play a prominent role as decision-makers.
The entrepreneurs share their experience though the project’s communication and dissemination channels that showcase entrepreneurship and innovation initiatives in the primary sector.
As part of this meeting, GRASS CEILING’s Spanish Living Lab will feature insights from eight entrepreneurs:
- Lucía Velasco, a livestock farmer from Somiedo in Asturias, who describes herself as a guardian of the transhumant Vaqueira culture. She is also a social media influencer with over 73,000 followers on Instagram and 142,000 on Facebook.
- Marta Llorente, a pig farmer and co-manager of an extensive rainfed farm and vineyard in Zazuar (Burgos). She was named Woman Entrepreneur of the year at the 2024 awards of the newspaper El Norte de Castilla.
- Amada de Salas owns a rainfed cereal farm and a vineyard, and runs an underground craft winery in Dueñas (Palencia). This year, she was also a finalist for the MujerAgro 2024 award presented in Madrid in February.
- Silvia González, a farmer from Palencia and owner of a rainfed cereal and oilseed crop farm in Villaconancio.
- Ana María Olmo, from Collazos de Boedo (Palencia), manages a rainfed cereal farm and a small irrigated plot where she cultivates potatoes, onions and pulses. She also has a flourishing beekeeping business.
- María José Velilla, from Alfamén (Aragon), is an extensive livestock farmer raising the Rasa Aragonesa sheep breed, producing high-quality meat under the Ternasco de Aragón Designation of Origin label. She is a member of the Oviaragón-Pastores cooperative.
- Pilar Monferrer, owner of a family-run rainfed crop farm in Jorcas (Teruel). She also grows organic crops.
- Laura Polo, who will attend the meeting online, runs the egg farm Granja Pepín in Alba de Cerrato (Palencia), raising and feeding free-range hens following the family tradition.
The meeting on 8-9 April will be led by a team of five women from academia at the University of Valladolid led by Professor Margarita Rico, together with Carmen Martínez, technical specialist from the Department of Equality of Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias de España. They will be joined by professionals from the public administration in different parts of the country, agricultural associations and experts in rural innovation and gender-related issues, all regular collaborators of the project.
