Despite losing out on being the home of the Spanish Space Agency last year, and the disappointment felt by many when the local airport closed down, the town of San Javier should be in celebration mode like no other year previous, thanks to the recognition on Thursday in the first awards sector to be held in the entire country, finally recognising the efforts of those who have been involved for centuries in the protagonist of the event.
This Thursday, the Emiliano Allende Auditorium in Medina del Campo, Valladolid, will be illuminated with excitement when, for the first time in the history, the National Potato Awards take place.
According to the organisers, CAMPO Magazine, the ceremony seeks to praise the value of the crop and the entire sector that revolves around it. The winners are true ‘champions’ of a production that is a hallmark and that has been breathing life into rural areas for centuries.
The National Potato Award goes to Nicolás Serna, from Montorio, Burgos, who “When I was nine years old I started planting potatoes,” so at 77 he has already been dedicating himself to potatoes for almost seven decades. A whole life.
However, not wanting to take anything away from that much coveted and deserved prize, the Potato Producer of the Year Award goes to Maria del Mar Galindo, from San Javier, Murcia, who has potatoes in her blood (not literally, obviously). Granddaughter and daughter of farmers, this 31-year-old studied Agricultural Engineering with a clear objective: to dedicate herself to the countryside, “because for me it is not a job, it is my life,” she comments with emotion. After finishing her degree she began to work, along with her brother and her father, at Agrícola Galindo, a company founded by her grandfather.
Perhaps the next stage will be the dedicating of a roundabout in the town, of which there are many, and which could display a giant potato in recognition of the success that will no doubt put San Javier on the global stage for many years, if not centuries, to come.
