Romanian, Austrian and Bulgarian young farmers win awards

Three innovative projects of young farmers have been granted awards at the 8th EPP European Congress of Young Farmers, which took place today under the topic 'The role of young farmers in food security'.

The work of Alin Luculeasa, a young farmer from Romania, has been awarded as the Best Digital Project for using drones to reduce fertilisers and pesticides, while creating new jobs. Simon Kaiblinger, a young farmer from Austria, combines fish farming with food production and his idea was recognised as the Most Resilient Project. Desislava Kaburova from Bulgaria, whose high-tech vegetable greenhouses provide employment to vulnerable and marginalised people, excelled as Best Project Improving Rural Areas.

300 young farmers from 16 Member States travelled to Brussels to participate in the Congress and 16 European young farmers from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain presented their innovative and sustainable projects.

“The time is right to showcase our best young farmers who certainly stand ready to face the difficulties of the current war context and lead the way towards a stronger and safer food chain with the EU”, stated the EPP Group Members Nuno Melo, Herbert Dorfmann, Simone Schmiedtbauer, Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez and Michaela Šojdrová, organisers of the congress.

“The future of food and farming is in the hands of young European farmers. They play a crucial role in developing a fully sustainable agricultural sector - one that supports environmental care, climate change action and smart solutions for providing safe and high-quality food for the European consumer. Young farmers’ innate capacity to innovate makes them the natural front runners of the agri-food system transformation”, said Nuno Melo MEP.

Best Digital Project

Most Resilient Project

Best Project on Improving Rural Areas