The president of the Salamanca Provincial Council, Javier Iglesias, yesterday raised the flag of the sector and its professionals because “it is right”, as he said at the opening ceremony of Salamaq 2024the agricultural fair that opened yesterday with almost 500 exhibitors and more than 1,500 heads of selected livestock. An inauguration that he shared with the president of the Junta de Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, and in which the great absentee, for not having been invited, was the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas.
Iglesias encouraged in his speech to join forces to increase “effectively” the collaboration of institutions and companies in the sector to “preserve and expand” the Salamanca agricultural fair and defended that “thanks to Salamaq these days, the voice of the countryside” be heard out loud.
The provincial leader appealed to an “essential and powerful” sector that supports the rural world, “key” to the survival of the municipalities. In addition, as he specified, this event serves to “bring the rural world closer to the urban world”, a “transcendental” idea because, as he indicated, “the most important decisions in this sector are made in offices located in places like Madrid” or Brussels, far from cultivated lands or fields where cattle graze. Thus, he recognized the important challenges that professionals face. “We are aware that sometimes difficulties lead you to consider your profession. In the countryside there is nothing safe and, at the same time, there is nothing safer than the countryside, because we will always need food and we want them to have the quality and guarantees that our professionals offer.
Following, Fernandez Manueco In his speech, he announced that the regional government would continue to provide aid to farms affected by epizootic haemorrhagic disease (EHE) during this year and announced that an additional ten million euros would be allocated to farms that in 2023 would not have been able to benefit from said aid.
On the other hand, he recalled that the The Junta de Castilla y León has granted 145 million euros in funds has in aid for drought, “the greatest contribution of all the autonomous communities”. In addition, he demanded that the Ministry of Agriculture “respect its commitment to the Sheep Plan and the pending aid”, and announced that, if not, the Directorate will implement measures, counting on the participation of the sector, reports Ical.
On the tax front, the Council will extend the abolition of inheritance and gift taxes for the transfer of agricultural holdings to fourth-degree relatives and employees who have worked there for at least three years.
“Synonym for quality”
Fernández Mañueco highlighted the opportunities that the countryside generates, in terms of wealth and employment, as a “motor of life in rural areas” and that, in addition, “guarantees the production and supply of food” that citizens need, emphasizing that “Castilla and León are synonymous with quality.” leader in the bovine, ovine, Iberian, cereals, potatoes, sugar sectorsand in many other operations and productions such as quality wines for example,” he listed.
For the highest regional leader, “when things got tough, the Council was always there” because “we are the reference administration for farmers and breeders. Our defense against the central government’s neglect and mistreatment has been fierce. And I stood up here, for you,” he defended himself.
