THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AWARDS TO MARIA ÀNGELS RIAL, SEMEN CARDONA

The First Awards of Excellence for Innovation for Rural Women (2010) awarded by the Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine want to reward Maria Àngels Rial, Founder of the company Semen Cardona, state leader in production of doses of semen for artificial insemination multigenètic pig.

Rial it’s one of 20 women who have been awarded for the development of their original and innovative projects in rural areas. With this award, the Ministry gives to each one of them 25,000 Euros with the aim of highlighting the potential of women as agents of rural development. In fact, the Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Environment is considered essential to encourage the participation of rural women in the world of work through awards as these.

The delivery of the award will be on Wednesday 13 October in Madrid and will be attended by the Minister of Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs, Elena Espinosa. Besides the cash prize, the winners will have a formal membership to network of Excellence and Innovation Initiatives for women in rural areas under National Rural Network. These add should serve to re-evaluate and disseminate their initiatives at both national and international. The Ministry based the final decision on issues such as sustainability of the proposal, originality and innovation of content, contribution to improving the quality of life of the rural population and the presence of women in making bodies decisions.

The story of Maria Àngels Rial starts in the mid 80s when, in her role as a farmer, thought to be carried beyond his job. Observing, she realized that farms’ sows, as their farm, have dozens or hundreds of mothers, and three or four males are essential to meet females. In view of these un-male Rial decided to create a farm with only males, and to extract sperm inseminated females, at least, the whole region. This initiative also allows her to improve the species. In 1990 he founded Semen Cardona.

With courage, to take place in a sector formed exclusively by men, and constant work, Semen Cardona has managed to add more than 25 years in the industry. The company has become a national leader in export, in one of the largest industries in the agricultural sector in Spain and a benchmark in innovation.

For over two decades of experience, the company from Cardona has reached an important portfolio of clients from all over Spain and from twenty countries in Europe, America and Asia. Despite leading export, internationalization remains in the spotlight in a short and medium term, so the Semen Cardona responsible extends involved in major trade missions overseen by the Catalan government and other public institutions in Catalonia.

The Award of Excellence Innovation for rural women awards, precisely, the two difficulties that Maria Àngels Rial has faced in his career to success: being a woman in an industry dominated by men and be Innovative.