Mountain farming: Silvia's story, a woman who believed in it and created a quality company.

With a degree in accounting, thirty-year-old Silvia Lupi was doomed to emigrate. Instead, in the mountains of Liguria, she raises prized calves and pigs, produces cured meats and organic grains. She has one hope: to see her friends return. A good gamble in a country where 70 percent of its territory is made up of hills and mountains.

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mountain farming

MOUNTAIN AGRICULTURE –

Agriculture is also growing in the mountains. For years, too many years, it was abandoned and forgotten, resulting in a huge waste of resources and opportunities. A story emblematic of this return to mountain agriculture is that of Silvia Lupi, a beautiful thirty-year-old girl who in Alta Val Trebbia, in Fossoli di Corte Brugnatella (841 metres above sea level), in the Ligurian region, decided to save the small family business. And even to relaunch it.

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MOUNTAIN AGRICULTURE –

Silvia, graduated in Accounting, he dreamed of opening a farmhouseToo much money, too much bureaucracy, too many risks. She risked becoming an employee in some company in the valley, or ending up like her two brothers and a good portion of her peers: an emigrant, looking for work. Instead, she rolled up her sleeves, understood the potential of that family business and completely transformed it: no longer just milk for the cows, to be sold to dairies, but also top-quality meats and cured meats, with a small herd of veal and pigs. And more: organic farming, high-end, with cereal and wheat fields. Silvia's father and mother are the team members: a team that should be replicated in many other small businesses in the country. Mountain agriculture, in fact, is a great resource (badly and little used), considering that 41,6 percent of the Italian territory is in the hills and 35,2 percent in the mountains.Two European record figures. And so, reviving the mountain economy means nothing more than reviving a part of the country, namely places with strong identities, cultures, and histories. And who knows, maybe Silvia will be able to realize another dream of hers: bringing her friends and brothers back to her homeland.

(Cover image source: Corriere della Sera/Tambresoni)

WHEN AGRICULTURE CHANGES YOUR LIFE:

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