Concha Blanco, livestock farmer and peasant in Casa Bértolo – Castro, Carballedo, Lugo

Concha identifies herself as a woman with an ‘invented profession without solution of continuity’ in the agricultural realm. Her main job consists of taking care of animals, what today is called ‘livestock farming’, she says. But she understands that agriculture and livestock farming are inseparable: ‘the cows depend on the meadows, and the meadows need the cows to maintain themselves’, she sustains, forming a circle that also includes the country-roads ‘that are lost if they are not traveled’. She owns 100 cows and 100 hectares of land from which she produces cheese.

For Concha, her land represents more than a means of subsistence. It is a place from which they tried to expel her, like all her generation, sending her far away with the intention that she would not return. However, she returned with an awareness of the lack of resources and opportunities in her place of origin, in contrast to the excess of events and cultural offerings elsewhere. Concha believes that it is crucial to satisfy existing needs, not to create new ones. This approach is not only practical, but deeply linked to care and the feminine role, concepts that she both defends and criticises from her own experience.

Rejecting the accusation that her vision implies a regression to ‘caves’, as she sometimes hears, Concha speaks of the past as a stepping stone toward the future, not as a place to repeat. Despite the adversities, her connection to the land and the environment is unbreakable, and she describes her soul as ‘attached to the black, rich earth, heavy with dew.’ Her happiness lies in being in her surroundings, embracing the present, and building the future from there.

Concha also reflects on the reality faced by women of her time who, unlike men, had to mend their clothes, while men received everything new. This inequality, though commonplace, was never acceptable to her. She speaks of women as the backbone of the rural household, saying that when a woman dies, many farms shut down because there is no one left to manage the essential tasks. It is a sign of the burden women bear—a burden that, in her view, should not be romanticised as a natural sacrifice.

She also criticises the tendency of women to self-exploit, a phenomenon she sees as normalised in her community. She highlights that many women work long hours, not only to meet their professional responsibilities but also to fulfil family and domestic duties. For Concha, this situation is unsustainable; she advocates for easing generational transition, encouraging improvisation, and fostering the autonomy of younger generations, because the future depends on their ability to adapt to change.

Finally, Concha draws attention to the hypocrisy she observes in technical and political decisions, particularly in the ecological sphere. During a meeting in Santiago, she argued that organic production is about more than just food: it involves the preservation of landscapes, territories, and traditional knowledge. However, she laments that these values are being displaced by economic interests promoting industrial-scale agriculture and large monocultures. For her, it is essential to listen to those who work and live in the countryside, because parliaments were created precisely to speak and give voice to those who build the present and the future from their everyday reality.