Spanish farming sector demands urgent government aid amid rising costs

On Tuesday Spain's farming sector piled the pressure on the government. The leaders of Asaja, COAG, UPA, Unión de Uniones and Cooperativas Agroalimentarias sat down with the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, to demand "immediate" direct aid that will allow the sector to survive the surge in production costs triggered by the war in Iran, a conflict which, they warn, puts the country's food sovereignty at risk.

The meeting comes after Asaja, COAG and UPA announced on Friday that they would take to the streets if the government fails to act in the face of what they describe as a "critical" situation in the countryside. The meeting also comes at a sensitive moment: the cabinet is studying whether to extend beyond 30 September the economic support schemes that underpin various productive sectors.

Before going into the meeting, the president of Asaja, Pedro Barato, called for "sufficient" measures to offset the almost 50% rise in the price of farm diesel since the conflict erupted. If they do not arrive, he warned, up to 40% of crops, mainly arable, could be left unsown, leading to a new spike in prices for consumers.

Barato also lamented that the aid promised to offset fertiliser costs has so far reached only half of the farmers initially envisaged. "We need compensation to be able to survive in agriculture. Either they compensate or, as far as Asaja is concerned, the protests will continue to take place", he concluded.

Each organisation with its own demands

The secretary general of COAG, Andrés Góngora, went further: he warned that thousands of hectares risk being left unsown if "a robust and predictable package of measures" is not forthcoming, and called for compensation for the diesel price rise of up to 70%, the margin allowed by the European Union, as well as additional support for fertilisers and agricultural plastics.

From UPA, its secretary general, Cristóbal Cano, framed the meeting as a "direct consequence" of the protest announcement and described the situation of farm diesel as "unsustainable". He was the only one to put forward a specific funding route: a special tax on the profits of Spain's major oil companies, whose practices, he said, should be investigated, to feed a compensation fund for the farming sector.

The coordinator of Unión de Uniones, Luis Cortés, pointed to a structural problem: the countryside cannot pass higher costs on to the prices of its products because, he argued, the Food Chain Law is not being complied with. That is why he called for deep-rooted measures, such as professional diesel, instead of "sticking plasters"; otherwise, he warned, he will back the national protests already called in several autonomous communities.

Cooperativas Agroalimentarias completed the common front. Its president, Ángel Villafranca, stressed that a large part of the costs borne by farms and cooperatives – transport, energy – "cannot be controlled", and called for compensation that covers that increase.

Otherwise, he warned, harvesting will become more expensive and that extra cost will end up being passed on to the shopping basket, something for which the sector "is not responsible". Until now, he acknowledged, it is the farms themselves and the cooperative industry that have been absorbing much of the increase.

The meeting with farming organisations comes a day after Planas, together with the deputy prime minister and finance minister, Carlos Cuerpo, met representatives of the food industry, grain traders and fertiliser manufacturers to analyse how input costs are evolving. After that meeting, the government conveyed its willingness to support the sector "beyond the response plan" already activated to deal with the impact of the war.

The timing is crucial: the diesel price hike coincides with the grape harvest and the start of the olive and winter cereal campaigns, while at sea the more than 85% rise in fuel costs has already forced boats to remain moored in several ports.

A crisis being fought far beyond Spain's fields

What Spanish farmers are calling for is the domestic version of a tension that has been gripping the planet for months. The war broke out on 28 February, when the United States and Israel attacked Iran and Tehran responded with missiles against Israeli and US bases, unleashing a military escalation that threatens around one fifth of the world's oil that moves through the Strait of Hormuz.

Since then, oil has experienced weeks of intense volatility: before the start of the offensive it was trading below 70 dollars (61 euros) a barrel and shortly afterwards it almost touched 120 dollars (104 euros), before later stabilising at around 90 (79 euros).