“Today’s young people have no future in the primary sector.” In recent years we have heard similar phrases many times (and perhaps you also believed). Those who want the farmhouses, the small agriculture, the countryside... to be lost without ceasing, tell the young people that it is impossible to live on the land: “It’s better to look for temporary work at the factory...”
However, there are dozens of projects that have shown that it is possible to combat this obligatory model and live from the land (and otherwise). Among them is the agrarian micro cooperative Uztaldi de Estella: “Seeing job insecurity, unemployment and the bad situation, the goal has been to create alternatives and empower young people,” said Uztaldi Erik Ruiz.
Part of a larger project
Uztaldi is part of the cooperative “For All”. It has brought together projects of young people from different areas: agriculture, hospitality, adventure... “We create synergies among all: for example, the hotel owners use our vegetables in the kitchen,” explains Ruiz. The extensive cooperative consists of about 15-20 young people from Tierra Estella who, each of them being their project, share the same idea: to replace money with people in the foreground.
In the orchard and from the garden
Knowing that Estella's Capuchin priests were going to leave the village, Uztaldi's friends presented their project and reached an agreement: for the care and maintenance of the lands, their use would remain in their hands.
Since then, four young people from the village have been working on the production and direct sale of organic vegetables. “Promoting sustainable agriculture, offering organic products or cultivating and knowing indigenous seeds are some of our goals.” In addition to distributing baskets at different points in the village and participating in the weekly market, farmers have also participated in a small shop to sell their products directly.
More than a work project, members understand Uztaldi as a social project: “We made initiatives with other agents of the village, with the kid, with the txosnas, with AEK... Our goal is to advance convergence with society.”
Maybe it’s time to turn around the first sentence of the page: “Yes, young, there is a future in the primary sector.” New paths must be found...
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