This year, "Call of the Ancestors" will be selected from 33 applicants.

This year, 33 young farmers from all over Latvia and from very different agricultural sectors have applied for the competition "Call of Ancestors 2014", organized by the association "Zemnieku saeima", Member of the European Parliament Sandra Kalniete and the magazine "AgroTops". The organizers of the competition are pleased with the responsiveness and activity of the young farmers, as it proves the importance of agriculture also among young people.

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Maira Dzelzkalēja, Deputy Chairwoman of the Board of the Association "Farmers' Council": "A new trend is observed in the applications received this year. If in previous years, most young farmers were engaged in dairy, meat and grain farming, then currently the young people who have applied are engaged in growing vegetables, berries and flowers, processing the produced products and selling their products. This shows that young people in Latvia are choosing those agricultural niches for which the market is not so saturated, where they can start operating with reasonable investments and use creative thinking to create new and innovative products. It is pleasing that in Latvia we are increasingly being offered products that, say, fifteen years ago, we could only buy abroad. "I believe that the competition jury will have a difficult choice to make, because all the competition candidates are very goal-oriented, persistent, and knowledgeable pioneers in their field."

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Over the next 2 weeks, the Farmers' Council office will evaluate the applicants' compliance with the competition regulations, while further evaluation of the applicants will take place according to the established criteria and point scale, visiting the young farmers' farms in late August and September.

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The jury members will evaluate the competition participants according to the following evaluation criteria:

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– farm: creative, profitable, efficient, environmentally friendly;

– social responsibility and community service (in the neighborhood, region, industry);

– lifelong learning for professional development (training, courses, internships, certificates, participation in international professional events);

– ability to know and navigate your own business.

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The award ceremony will take place at the “Farmers’ New Year’s Ball” in January 2015, where the winner will be presented with a prize created by sculptor Pauls Jaunzems and a fully paid three-day trip for 2 people to participate in one of the leading European agricultural exhibitions, fairs or events. All participants of the 2nd round of the competition will receive an incentive prize – participation in a two-day Young Leaders personal and professional development training and sympathy prizes from the competition sponsors.

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The competition was first organized in 2010, and over the years the winners of the competition have been Inga and Zigmunds Kalniņi from Aizpute region, Valdis Zujs from Rēzekne region, Jānis Vaivars from Skrīveri region, and Aija Šneidere and Jānis Miķelsons from Limbaži region.