Sara Berglez Zajec
Innovator
Kmetija Lipnik – Linca
Slovenia
Economic
Farming
Remote rural areas
The innovation journey
Lipnik Farm is an organic mountain farm in the municipality of Podvelka, which invites visitors to take a look through a “linca” – a small window – into the world of Sara Berglez Zajec and her family. The tourist farm offers a variety of farm products and visitors can learn more about the farm and the mountain region through educational and tourist activities.
Sara inherited the mountain farm from her grandmother. Since she officially took over the farm in 2012 and moved to the farm with her family from the city, she and her husband have bought two other small, abandoned neighbouring farms. Today, the farm covers around 40 hectares, mostly forest.
Sara has completely revitalized the activities on the formerly self-sufficient farm. By combining supplementary activities (processing and tourism) with forestry, she wanted to create a sustainable workplace on the mountain farm. A severe storm that damaged the forests meant a major setback for the farm, which severely impacted its income.
The main challenges for the farm in the remote rural area are the poor accessibility and distance to major urban centers, the difficult logistics for their products, the lack of suitable support in the region and the high seasonality of tourist visits (individual guests and groups), primarily in the summer months.
The innovation impact
The farm, which provides one employment, has newly planted 1 hectare of Aronia, various high-stemmed fruit varieties and a herb garden. Sara processes the fruit into various juices, jams, teas, herbal syrups, etc. They have over 50 certified organic products.
With the help of projects, they have developed various tourist products and experiences, such as herb gardens, and a tree educational trail, and offer accommodation on the farm.
The Linca farm serves to educate and raise awareness about organic farming, biodiversity conservation, agricultural traditions and survival on mountain farms in the high altitudes of Slovenia.