Leonard-Alin Plesea is a young farmer from the Jirlau Commune, famous across the country for its bountiful vegetable production. Eager to continue his family’s traditions, he attended a vegetable farming course and acquired practical experience at his family’s farm. In 2009 he leased 4 hectares of agricultural land from his grandmother to set up his own farm. Previously, Leonard was part of the EU PHARE (Entrepreneurship and employment in rural areas) project target group and thus learnt about funding opportunities available through the National Rural Development Programme (NRDP).