Benvinguts a Pagès regains its presence in 2021. The Catalan peasant festival will reopen the doors of agri-food farms in Catalonia on the first weekend in October and, at the same time, is growing with a stable supply of 365 days of the year. Citizens will have the opportunity to travel to the territory and participate in an experience that allows us to know the origin of what we eat and buy directly from producers without intermediaries.

More than 150 farms, nearly 200 rural accommodation and about 200 restaurants that work with local products will make up the offer of La Festa, the weekend of October 2 and 3 in Catalonia. The pandemic situation prevented the celebration of the open day of the peasantry last year, but this year the traditional format is recovered with the participation of all the Catalan counties.

Families, seniors, foodies and young people will be able to access a diverse agri-food offer with dairy products, fruit, vegetables, legumes, wine, cereals, honey and fish, among others. The diversity of sectors is reflected in an event that is the mirror of the agri-food offer of Catalonia.

Prior reservation

The main novelty of this year's edition of Benvinguts a Pagès will be the obligation to book free visits in advance through the benvingutsapages.cat website, which becomes the meeting and consultation point for information on the whole project. "Farmers are responding with enthusiasm and enthusiasm, they want to open the doors of their homes and explain to the public their daily lives," said Ramon Sentmartí, managing director of Prodeca.

The party adapts to the pandemic situation and, in this sense, the security and prevention measures in force at all times will be respected (safety distance, capacity control, hand washing, use of the mask in indoor spaces, etc). The registration period for farms, rural accommodation and restaurants will end this week.

Day or weekend routes

On the first weekend in October, the one-day or weekend routes are maintained, which include free visits to farms, stays in accommodation and restaurants in each territory and also propose a rediscovery of heritage and history. from each place. Welcome to Pagès includes the routes Costa Brava, Paisatges de Barcelona, ​​Costa Barcelona, ​​Costa Daurada, Terres de l’Ebre, Terres de Lleida and Pirineus.

‘Benvinguts a Pagès’ the whole year

Benvinguts a Pagès grows and consolidates a project that launches a new line from this year with the incorporation of Benvinguts a Pagès Tot l'Any, a stable offer with a hundred farms that offer quality tourist experiences to promote the local sales, the revaluation of the peasantry and the local product. "We are responding to a demand from the sector that, through these paid visits, will be able to open a new business route with first-class stays, which in some cases incorporate product tastings," said Sentmartí. Prodeca has offered individualized prior advice to farms participating in Welcome to Farmers All Year, which have the Seal of Proximity Sales, to help them shape these visits, which seek to promote the professionalization of the sector.

The public has a wide range of differentiated and exclusive tourist activities that include, for example, being able to work as a saffron farmer for a day on a farm in Pallars Jussà, visit a honey production in the Baix Camp and discover the world of bees. or work as a farmer for a whole day on a farm in La Garrotxa where you can milk the cows, enter the chicken coop and pick the fruit.

Paid visits can now be booked through the benvingutsapages.cat website, which works as a booking center and allows searches by product or by region, and all prevention and safety protocols are also applied. of Covid-19. The project is open to all farms in the territory and keeps registrations open permanently to promote that each producer can join taking into account the seasonality of their product.

In the five face-to-face editions held so far of Welcome to Farmers more than 100,000 people have visited the nearly 800 farms, 930 accommodations and more than 750 restaurants that have participated in the initiative so far. Last year the project moved to the web over a weekend of more than 330,000 views on social media.

Benvinguts a Pagès is an initiative of the Generalitat de Catalunya, in an action coordinated by the Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda, Livestock, through Prodeca, and the Department of Business and Knowledge, through the Agency Catalan Tourism. The Alícia Foundation, the County Councils, Consortiums and Tourist Offices and other entities and associations that work for the revaluation and promotion of the sector are collaborating in the project.