The European Union has named the Spanish Clara Benito the best sustainable farmer within the Ecological Awards of the European Union (EU), the EU Organic Awards, for 'Entrelobas', an organic goat herd located in Serrada de la Fuente (Community of Madrid ). According to the EU, Benito “contributes to restoring the Serrada de la Fuente ecosystem” and “helps prevent the spread of possible fires.”
The winner of the award for best organic farmer decided to completely transform her life and change the center of Madrid, where she had always lived, for the rural environment of Serrada de la Fuente. There, Clara Benito undertook her new professional and life project and, although she started with only five goats, little by little she entered the world of livestock farming until she had her own herd.
The European Union Ecological Award is recognition of the work that Clara Benito carries out every day. Benito explains that, despite being small in size, projects like his have a significant impact on society: “It seems that because it is a small company, it doesn't matter what you do, but it does. There are people interested in knowing your project and how you work”, an interest that “makes you think that you are working well”, thanks the rancher.
The goats in this herd feed exclusively on pasture grass, a practice that also helps prevent the spread of possible fires, since the animals keep the firebreak strips clean while they feed. In addition, it contributes to the regeneration of soils, facilitates the sequestration of carbon in the soil and produces healthy, high-quality meat.
Currently, the 'Entrelobas' herd is made up of 130 goats, four mastiffs and two goat dogs and is the largest 'telegrazed' ecological goat herd in the world. Clara Benito has embraced technology as a tool to control livestock: all of her goats wear a collar with a built-in GPS that allows the movement of the herd to be observed through a mobile application.
'Telegrazing' has brought many advantages to Clara Benito's flock, since the geolocation of the collars allows us to know where the animals are each day. This information is used to apply regenerative grazing that limits animals to eating in a specific area. In this way, a much more homogeneous pasture is made that contributes to regenerating soil biodiversity.
The application also draws a heat map that allows you to see the areas where the animals have been the longest, information that is used to study the soil in the area and its regeneration processes. 'Entrelobas' sends the information extracted from its pastures to different universities and research teams with which they collaborate to study the area and improve the quality of the soils.
In addition, Benito explains that this technology allows “virtual fences to be programmed from the phone”, so there is no longer the need to put up physical fences to limit the goats' grazing. When the animals approach one of the limits established by the farmer, the collar emits a sound (or, an electrical pulse of lower power than that of an electric shepherd) to make the goats move and return to the herd. These devices are charged with solar energy and store information even in areas where there is no coverage. This is explained in this video published by EU Agriculture:
Clara Benito's project is aligned with the Farm to Fork Strategy promoted by the European Union to ensure that organic agricultural production reaches 25% of the EU's agricultural land in 2030. Benito emphasizes that “it is important to know what "what's behind each food" to know if the products we are consuming are based on animal welfare and have environmentally friendly production.
