“European standards are suffocating us”: in Spain, an agricultural world also in the midst of a crisis

During a demonstration in July 2023 in Madrid. EFE – Javier Lizon

The unease is expressed differently on the other side of the border. But actions are planned. The story of our correspondent in Barcelona. 

As in France, the agricultural world is in the midst of a crisis in Spain. But the unease is not expressed in the same way because south of the border there is not the same tradition of mobilization as in the north.

The most serious concern concerns drought: in some regions, such as Catalonia, it has barely rained for three years. The situation is not much better in Andalusia, Valencia or Murcia.

Farmers, and in particular grain growers, are recording record losses. "If last year's harvest was quite bad, this year's harvest was worse", notes José Roales, manager cereals from a large agricultural union.

Drought rages

Due to drought and very high temperatures, cereal production fell by 80% in 2023. The harvest of olives and almonds was halved, according to the calculation carried out by the Union of Small Farmers and Breeders.

Faced with the drought, the Spanish government and the regions have released emergency aid: several hundred million euros have been distributed. But this support is considered insufficient by the agricultural world.

Climate and European standards

The right and the far right (Vox) criticize the government for its lack of action and support the demands of the agricultural world. Climate and standards If climate change is the main source of concern, Spanish farmers also denounce environmental standards and European constraints.

At the end of September, 5,000 farmers demonstrated in Cordoba, where a Council of EU Agriculture Ministers was taking place. "European standards are suffocating us, explained Miguel Padilla, general secretary of the COAG union We are not delinquents! Europe imposes thousands of constraints on farmers but we demand absolutely nothing from products that come from third countries!" 

Fewer jobs and farmland

The farming world also denounces the reduction in CAP aid, the reduction in irrigation quotas and the surge in production costs.

Another indicator of agricultural malaise: the sector is losing jobs. Spain has 750,000 farmers, which is 85,600 fewer than in 2018. Agricultural land is declining: the country has lost 5 million hectares in ten years.

Publicized in Spain, the anger of the German and French agricultural world is followed with interest but the harsh actions of the farmers of Aude and the P-O in particular are never very well received. Often, as last fall at the border in Boulou, it is Spanish products that are targeted by the demonstrators, which earns them the nickname "pisa fresas", those who crush the strawberries .

"Government inaction"

If the Spaniards are not yet mobilizing as in France, the ground is favorable for the explosion of anger. On February 21, a peasant union will organize a tractor demonstration in Madrid.

The machines will leave the main cities of Spain a few days earlier to converge on the Spanish capital. Those responsible for the demonstration want to denounce "the government’inaction in the face of poor harvests, rising costs and low prices".

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