"People think: 'Oh, they produce everything by themselves.' Yes, but that means, that every day is a work day. From dusk till dawn." says this year’s Farmer of the Year, about the wrong idea people have about farm work.

"There are always enough things to do around the farm. You just have to take the time to do them," is how this year’s Farmer of the Year, Marija Podobnik from Dobrava pri Stični, started our conversation. She was named Farmer of the Year a couple of days ago by the Slovenian Farm Women’s Union. Marija tends to the farm and the 18 cows together with her husband. Every year they get around 80.000 liters of milk which they sell to an agricultural cooperative. Apart from that she’s also active in a number of associations. For four years she was a member of the administrative board of the Farm Women’s Union.

There is rarely a lack of farm work, but when she does manage to finish all her chores, she then starts making potica. In the past she also used to sell potica, however today, when there’s too much things to do anyway, she occasionally bakes just because she enjoys it. A big collection of prizes and recognitions bears witness that her potica is truly excellent. "Twice I won the gold medal, once the silver and once the bronze," proudly says Marija.

She’s been into farm work since a very young age. "My parents taught me to farm," she says with pride and adds that when she got married she moved from a smaller farm to a bigger farm. Looking back she finds that even with all the modern technology at hand, the life of a farmer today is not simpler. "Today there is a lot more of other things. For example there is so much bureaucracy that it’s difficult for farmers to keep up," she says - from all the paperwork for each cow individually to the complex bureaucracy one has to go through to get subsidies.

She is really worried about what the new real estate tax will bring. It’s expected to be an additional burden for farmers. That is why she is convinced that the government is deaf to the needs of the farmers: "Just take us two as an example. We have been building something for 25 years, putting aside for all the taxes and materials, and now they’re going to "reward" us with another tax." At the moment she isn’t harboring the illusion that one of her three children will take over the farm: "My children have jobs – you can’t live off the farm. It’s just not enough for a family of four. We’re both pensioners, so at least we have the pension. But on a farm it’s always like that: you always have to reinvest in it or you’ll have nothing."

She explains that there’s never any free time on a farm. That’s why she’s never really thought about "taking time just for herself". "With my husband we take time for the two of us. We like to hike and walk. Sometimes you also just sit in front of the house and rest. The biggest satisfaction comes when everything is done," she emphasizes.