The Local Action Group Montañas del Teleno has received a grant of €10,000 to create an Agricultural Test Space aimed at women entrepreneurs in beekeeping and extensive poultry farming.
The Local Action Group Montañas del Teleno has secured economic support for its project 'Teleno Rural Lab: Women, Beekeeping and Poultry Farming'. The grant, amounting to €10,000, comes from the 2026 call of the Network of Agricultural Test Spaces (Reta), promoted alongside the Carasso Foundation. The aim is to create a space where women from the region can test agricultural projects without taking on all the initial risks.
A rural laboratory for entrepreneurs
Agricultural Test Spaces are tools designed for those looking to enter the agricultural sector to trial their project under real production conditions. They provide training, advice, and technical support, which reduces the risk of failure in the early stages.
In this case, the space will focus on two activities: beekeeping and extensive poultry farming. According to the GAL, both have been selected for their technical viability, low entry threshold for new entrepreneurs, and their ability to generate high added-value products linked to the region's natural resources.
The initiative has a clear focus on female entrepreneurship. The Agricultural Test Space will be primarily directed at women from the Montañas del Teleno region interested in developing an agricultural activity.
Generational renewal and rural roots
The project aims to facilitate women's access to the agricultural sector, contribute to generational renewal, and create new employment opportunities and ties to the territory. The region, like many rural areas in Spain, suffers from depopulation and aging, so initiatives like this aim to retain young and female populations.
The €10,000 grant will allow for the design and validation of the model to begin. This is a first phase to prototype the test space, which will include defining support protocols, selecting the first entrepreneurs, and launching the pilot facilities.
Agricultural Test Spaces allow interested individuals to test their project under real conditions, with training and advice, reducing the risks associated with starting a new activity.
For interested entrepreneurs, the program offers a safe environment to acquire knowledge and test their business project without the pressure of having to assume all investments from the start.
A scalable model with potential
The 'Teleno Rural Lab' project aspires to become a benchmark for other rural areas. The combination of beekeeping and extensive poultry farming is not only viable but also aligns with the region's livestock and beekeeping traditions. Furthermore, the female orientation seeks to correct the gender imbalance in the agricultural sector, where women often have less access to land and resources.
The support from Reta and the Carasso Foundation provides a boost to this initiative, which must now develop the prototype in the coming months. The GAL hopes that the test space will be operational throughout 2027, welcoming the first entrepreneurs.
For women in the region interested, this could be an opportunity to venture into a future-oriented sector, backed by a support network and without risking all their capital. The project presents itself as an example of how social innovation can generate employment and combat depopulation in rural areas.
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