The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) has distinguished in the XVII edition of the Awards for Excellence in Innovation for Rural Women Ana Labad Cruz, from Anchoas Hazas, and Lucía González Cuesta, promoter of Allande Stars. Both had already been recognized as Rural Women of Asturias in 2021 and 2024, respectively. The official award ceremony will be held on Thursday, October 15, in the Lucernario of the Ministry.
Ana Labad, creator of the canned goods company Anchoas Hazas, in Lastres, has obtained the first prize for Excellence in Innovation in Fishing or Aquaculture Activity for her commitment to the artisanal production of anchovies from Cantabrian boquerón. Her company utilizes 99% of by-products and maintains a workforce of 14 people with indefinite contracts, with a particularly noteworthy reconciliation policy. Thanks to this project, a traditional industry has been reactivated in the municipality of Colunga, supported by Leader funding channeled through the Rural Development Group Comarca de la Sidra.
In 2021, this madrileña settled in Lastres for thirteen years received in Pola de Lena the award granted by the Asturian Rural Development Network (Reader) as Rural Woman of that year.
As for Lucía González Cuesta, born in the municipality of Allande, she will be in charge of receiving the third prize for Excellence in Innovation in Diversification of Economic Activity in Rural Areas. A Doctor in Astrophysics and founder of Allande Stars, she directs "a Asturian company that brings astronomy and scientific dissemination to rural areas through a traveling model and promotes the protection of the night sky."
The woman from Allande was distinguished as Rural Woman of Asturias in 2024. The jury highlighted her trajectory and "her commitment to scientific dissemination from the rural environment, demonstrating that there are new models of entrepreneurial life beyond the traditionally established ones."
To launch her initiative, Lucía González Cuesta has relied on a dual line of economic support from Leader funds managed by Ceder Valle del Ese Entrecabos: on one hand, the Rural Ticket and, on the other, an investment aid.
In this call, the writer and National Essay Award Remedios Zafra has also been awarded for "her trajectory as a writer and researcher and her contribution to narrating the identity of rural women from a dual perspective, literary and research-oriented."
The MAPA has highlighted a total of 12 projects led by women in the four categories of these awards: innovation in agricultural activity; fishing or aquaculture activity; economic diversification of the rural environment; and communication.
These awards have been held continuously since 2010 and, throughout its 17 editions, have recognized 174 projects selected from 915 applications with "the aim of giving visibility to the work and life projects of women and their contribution to the social and economic revitalization of the rural environment."
Among the distinguished initiatives are numerous projects driven by Asturian women. This list includes the Asturian Network for Rural Development itself, which received the first prize for Excellence in Innovation in Communication in 2022 for the fifth season of the program Yo soy rural, broadcast on TPA and focused that year on showcasing various economic initiatives supported by Leader funds in Asturias.
The delivery of these recognitions will take place on Thursday, October 15, International Day of Rural Women, in the Lucernario of MAPA, in Madrid, coinciding with a year also declared as International Year of the Woman Farmer by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
On that same day, the Asturian Network for Rural Development will commemorate, as it has been doing since 2018, the Day of Rural Women of Asturias. In this edition, A Veiga / Vegadeo has been the chosen place to host the ceremony in which the recognition of 2026 will be awarded to the shepherdess Úrsula Villabrille Martínez.