PROJECT ON-FARM

TITLE OF THE CASE STUDY

Spanish Churra sheep breed family farm

MAIN DATA OF THE COMPANY

Name of the Company

La Faya

Country

Type of the Company

Farming Activity

Direct selling way

SELF – INTRODUCTION OF THE FARMER

Angeles Santos owns, together with her family, a farm that closes the whole productive cycle, as they have pastures and grow cereals, in addition to transforming part of their production. They have about 180 ha of pasture and 130 ha of arable land, of which only half is cultivated (the other half is left fallow). Half of the cultivated area is dedicated to rye, and the other half mainly to oats mixed with leguminous plants. This production is dedicated to the production of fodder, although it is not enough to feed all the livestock and they have to buy more. They have approximately 1,200 Churra breed sheep, cattle that they inherited from their parents and that they have been improving according to the characteristics that best suit them. They make cheese in their own facilities, which is their main source of income. They also sell wool, although this activity generates losses, but they have no choice. They also sell lambs for meat together with a partner, but this activity is carried out more by their partner. Seven people work on the farm, although five are family members and only two are external workers. All the production carries the organic seal except for the meat, which does not have a market worth paying for the certification. The cheese production is sold through direct sales, mainly in the farm's own store, although it also sells to stores and online upon request. Lamb is sold through the Autochthonous Breed Association.

CHANGES / INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS ADOPTED

They have introduced several innovations, for example they have improved the local breed to improve management, achieving a smaller size, for example, ideal for an extensive farm like theirs, where lambs frequently have to be moved between farms and sheds. They also introduced cheese making on a livestock farm they inherited from their parents, as a way of adding value to their production. But this innovation is continuous as the cheese making process requires continuous investments, such as the purchase of machinery to improve the processes. Another innovation they have introduced is the installation of collars with GPS devices that allow them to locate the cattle and not have to spend all day with them. This greatly facilitates the task of managing the flock of sheep. Due to its cost, they have 3 gps per flock.

WHY AND HOW YOU DECIDED TO INTRODUCE  STRATEGY CHANGES / INNOVATIONS

Innovations have always had several reasons, on the one hand commercial, since moving forward in the chain, making your own product, especially if it is of high quality such as organic cheese, allows you not to depend on intermediaries, having contact with the customer, who knows your farm will make him value and appreciate the product more. On the other hand, for productive reasons, the improvement of the breed has improved the production yield. Finally, optimizing management, the improvement of the breed has facilitated the management of cattle, as well as the installation of GPS collars, which allows greater control of the herd and allows some freedom when working, which in turn allows optimizing time by reducing the necessary workload. It must be taken into account that the depopulation of rural areas is atrocious, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find skilled labour for certain specialized tasks, so reducing the workload is very important.

WHAT OBSTACLES DID YOU MEET

The greatest difficulties have always had to do with the size of the investments required. To make many of the installations, especially those involving on-farm transformation, the requirements to be met by the legislation have been very high. It is true that some flexibility has always been allowed, even more so since the introduction of certain exceptions for small farms, but these have always depended on the person in the administration who carried out the controls and monitoring. Often the viability of the investment depends on the flexibility of this person, and the requirements can change according to discretion. After making the investment in the cheese factory, they had thought with their partner to invest in a cutting room for the meat, but it is stopped because of the cost. Another difficulty in the implementation of the investments has been the geolocation, the lack of coverage in many of the farms. Another one that is getting closer and closer is the presence of the wolf. They may not be with the animals thanks to this technology, but of course it can also favor the attacks if the animals are alone.

EVALUATION OF THE RESULTS

Right now, her parents, her two brothers and herself, as well as two workers, are working on the farm. Little by little they are consolidating their activity, buying machinery such as a new slicer and a slicer for cheese. Being in an area with a high risk of depopulation has allowed them to have more help from the administration (over 20%) for many investments, but it has also made it difficult for clients to access and find qualified labour. The fact that most of the production is direct and local sales is a source of pride for them, because for them sustainability is very important. They would like to continue growing, not so much in size, since this type of high-quality production cannot grow indefinitely without losing part of that sustainability and contact with the land, in addition to the difficulties of finding labour. But they would like to generate more value with lamb meat, install a cutting room and be able to sell the meat directly.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENT AND WHAT ARE THE PERSPECTIVES IN YOUR MIND

The mistakes they have made are part of learning, so they believe they would not do anything differently. However, they recognize that when they started the activity, in order to benefit from a subsidy, they had to make significant disbursements that have taken a long time to amortize, so it would have been more advisable to wait until the activity was more competitive.

FINAL SENTENCES

General Evaluation

Personally, he is very pleased to be able to continue working in a sector that she likes, living in the land where he was born and producing very high-quality food that is highly valued by consumers, who come to buy it at his store.

Suggestions for other farmers

For someone who is just starting out, it is best to use an organic production method. These farms allow you to start with more modest farms with smaller sizes and move more easily to direct sales to the consumer, better paid and that would allow you to continue working with a farm of this size. You have to be very careful with subsidies, since they are designed to help you pay for very large investments, which at the beginning of your activity may not be necessary, so your debt ratio and your risk may be very large. His parents have always valued training, which is a very important life stage. It is necessary to have good training, to go outside and see things from different perspectives that will allow us to put together a much richer project.