María José Tallon, agroecological peasant and food transformation Trasdeza Natur – Cardigonde, Cortegada, Silleda, Pontevedra

María José is dedicated to organic farming and has ‘a site for processing garden produce, both fruit and vegetables’, called Trasdeza Natur. Although as a child her family had a vegetable garden for their consumption, her connection with the countryside came after studying and after several years working in an office. Her decision to go into agriculture was motivated by the search for a professional outlet and the option of working for herself when she became unemployed. She decided to train and took several courses in organic farming. ‘It was a radical change, from being stuck in an office to working in the open air, in the sun, in contact with the land. It is completely different and, at the same time, very rewarding,’ she says.

Her company’s main focus is on dehydrating fruit, a process she carries out with solar dehydrators powered by renewable energy. Innovation and sustainability are central to his project, and he has a collaboration agreement with the University of Santiago to develop solar dehydrators. ‘The sun acts as a source of energy and, when there is no sun, we have photovoltaic energy. This process allows us to preserve the products without additives, preservatives or sugar. It’s just natural fruit,’ she explains.

The idea of dehydrating fruit came about because one of her sons did not want to eat fresh fruit. María José started researching the dehydration process and took a course in this field. ‘At first, I did it with a small electric device at home. It was like a kind of jelly bean, because the fruit was concentrated, and he started to like it’, she recalls with a smile. Over time, he extended it to garden produce, because he saw it as an extension of the natural product and so he began to offer a product that was one hundred percent natural, without preservatives or added sugars.

Despite her success in the production of dehydrated fruit, María José affirms that there are several challenges. She points out that at the administrative level, small projects have to fight much harder to be visible and obtain aid or subsidies, as current policies favour large-scale projects, which hinders the development of self-employment initiatives in rural areas: ‘Large agro-industrial projects and large infrastructures are the ones that receive the most aid and the small ones have a harder time being seen. It is very difficult to start an agricultural activity unless you have inherited a farm, and the small projects are the ones that should be supported and valued’, she comments.

One of the additional struggles María José has had to face is gender discrimination in rural areas. Although she acknowledges that there are more and more women leading agri-food projects, she believes that women often have to work harder to be recognised. ‘Men are always in demand, the ‘good men’, and we have to fight a bit harder because we are women. You can see that. But women are able to lead themselves, which is a way of emancipating themselves, they can lead just like a man. Doors always open, even if you have to look harder because you are a woman’, she says.

For her, the future of agriculture lies in sustainability and organic production. ‘Taking care of the environment is fundamental; the responsibility you have as the owner of the land must be reflected in the care of the land, in other words, capital does not take precedence over land, but you have to take care of the land,’ she says. María José is convinced that the organic farming model is the one that should prevail, as it offers healthy food, free of chemicals and pesticides. According to her, consuming organic produce is a healthy and natural option because dehydrated fruit retains all its nutritional properties without being altered by artificial products. ‘Organic dried fruit is a very healthy product that retains all the minerals and vitamins, an alternative to processed products. It is natural, what I offer is health’, she concludes.