The President of Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, has ratified his commitment to the rural world in the meeting he held with the professional agricultural organizations, with whom he agreed to hold at least two annual meetings, while guaranteeing that he The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will transmit in his next meeting the main demands of the sector such as the defense of the professional farmer in the future CAP, more irrigated hectares and more animal health measures.
This is the main compromise reached during a “cordial and fruitful” meeting that lasted nearly two hours and during which guaranteed dialogue between the administration and professional agricultural organizations within the Regional Agrarian Council and with the president through two annual meetings.
In addition to the president, the meeting was attended by the Minister of Agriculture, María González Corral; the president of Asaja, Donaciano Dujo; the coordinator of UCCL, Jesús Manuel González Palacín; and the spokesperson for the UPA-COAG platform, Lorenzo Rivera, who insisted on the importance of continuing “in the line of dialogue.”
Thus, González Corral clarified that the Council has the “maximum” willingness to reach agreements with professionals in the sector. of “loyalty and dialogue”something that will continue at the next meeting of the Regional Agrarian Council which will take place in the first week of October.
The advisor assured that in the meeting scheduled soon between Mañueco and Pedro Sánchez, the president of the Junta de Castilla y León will convey some of the main concerns expressed by the OPAs. Thus, as a first point, González Corral detailed the importance of moving forward with the CAP “post 27” in order to defending professional family farms as a strategic point.
In addition, Mañueco will also demand that the president take care of the existing irrigation in the Community so that “in one way or another” the demand of agriculture and livestock is taken into account to increase these irrigated areas in the Hydrological Plan.
To these questions, the advisor added the need to betting on animal health in order to achieve coordination between administrations to resolve problems such as those generated in livestock by epizootic haemorrhagic disease (EHE).
“It is necessary to work to defend our sector,” stressed González Corral, who also announced that the Commission would seek solutions to undertake a simplification of administrative procedures for professionals in the sector.
Continuous dialogue
After the meeting, Asaja president Donaciano Dujo stressed the importance of having a “continuous and regulated dialogue” between professional organizations and the administration and expressed satisfaction with the president’s commitment to receive them at least twice a year. “Today’s meeting was very positive, there is a complicity and common positions between the administration and agricultural organizations on daily issues,” he defended.
However, Dujo insisted on the need to work to stop the problem of low grain prices of Castilla y León, because, despite an “acceptable” harvest, farmers are not obtaining “profitability”. “It is not possible that the costs are three times higher than the value of what we sell,” he stressed. In this sense, he asked that the Council make the central government understand the need to review international agreements to impose customs duties on Ukraine and prevent the “entry” of cheap grain.
On the same subject, the representative of UPA-COAG, Lorenzo Rivera, called for the “reversal” of the price situation, which he presented as one of the “most serious” problems for the countryside, because farmers “cannot compete” in this sense with a country that “lacks regulation” due to the war. “It is necessary to pay a fair price for local production so that farmers do not go bankrupt,” defended Rivera. “They must provide a solution,” he said, after estimating at some “570 million euros” the losses that cereal producers could suffer due to the price situation. “We must give priority to local production,” he demanded.
UCCL coordinator Jesús Manuel González Palacín also demanded that a fair price be paid for the grain and considered it “urgent” that Mañueco transfer this situation to Pedro Sánchez so that he can review the agreement with Ukraine to impose customs duties.
However, on this subject, the Minister of Agriculture indicated that the tariff situation with other countries is not the responsibility of the Office and explained that in a “free market” situation it is difficult “to act”.
Relaxing environmental requirements
The three representatives of the professional agricultural organisations demanded that work begin immediately on the “post-27” CAP so that it is included in the first draft. the evaluation in a “strong” way of a “free and productive” professional agriculture. “It is necessary to reverse the bad policies that harm Castilla y León to create a professional Mediterranean CAP,” defended the president of Asaja, which was supported by Lorenzo Rivera of UPA-COAG, who stressed the importance of moving forward in this direction. that the next European regulations are “as lax as possible with the green deal which has made life very complicated”“.
Likewise, González Palacín, from the UCCL, affirmed that Spain must express a “firm position” in Brussels and that the government must “put pressure” from the first minute so that Environmental requirements are lowered “substantially” in the future CAP.
Regarding the Hydrological Plan, the president of Asaja regretted that Castilla y León is one of the autonomies with the lowest percentage of irrigated area with 15 percent, This is why he asked the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Hydrographic Confederation of Duero (CHD) to remedy this situation in order to obtain “more irrigation” in the Community which is also progressing in “modernization”.
The UPA-COAG coordinator explained that in Castile and León it is the 500,000 hectares of irrigation that “save” the “years of drought”, which is why he called for more irrigation and the “modernization” of current infrastructures.
Finally, on animal health, Asaja called for greater control of wildlife, while UCCL defended the importance of encouraging vaccination as an “effective” tool. “If we don’t do it, every year there will be problems with EHE and tuberculosis,” said González Palacín. Finally, he considered that with the previous team of the Ministry of Agriculture, led by VOX, they were on the “right track” in animal health, which is why he advocated maintaining the vaccination line.
