The faces of agrifood systems transformation in Europe and Central Asia

In a quiet field outside Madrid, a sheep owner looks up at a drone humming above grazing sheep, scanning for signs of stress, injury or predators. Tens of thousands of kilometres away, a young farmer shifts gears entirely, leaving a job in banking to return to his family farm in a Kyrgyz village. Meanwhile, in Ukraine, an engineer turned dairy farm owner opens her gates, creating a unique, multifunctional space focused on ethical farming, veteran rehabilitation and community well-being. The three winners of the Mark of Recognition of Young Farmers in Europe and Central Asia, launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), are showing what it means to be a young farmer today: pioneering new methods, rebuilding rural life and empowering others.