When it came time for Ainhoa Álava to take over her family’s cattle business in Spain, she decided to go in a greener direction. In 2006, at age 30, she launched the country’s first environmentally friendly snail farm.

The venture didn’t last long — Álava quickly got tired of the long, quiet winters when the creatures would hide away in their shells — but her commitment to sustainable agriculture stuck. She began raising chickens for their eggs, giving them plenty of space to run around and keeping them off antibiotics.