Hundreds of farmers have attended the ‘tractorada’ convened by the Unión de Uniones agrarian association today in Madrid to request greater aid for the countryside from the Government. The farmers have met at the Puerta de Alcalá and traveled through the center of Madrid with their tractors to the headquarters of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, which is located opposite the Atocha Station.
Many of the participants in this act come from rural areas in autonomous communities such as Extremadura, Castilla y León, Comunidad Valenciana or Castilla-La Mancha, and have arrived in Madrid today after several days on the road mounted on tractors.
Farmers have directly branded the current situation of the countryside as “ruin”, in which other “black swans” have joined the current drought, such as the escalation of production costs due to the war in Ukraine and the entry into force of a Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) with reinforced conditionality. Specifically, the participants in today’s protest have asked for a greater predisposition on the part of the Government when it comes to approving measures to strengthen the sector.
Aid for just over 3% of expected losses
The agrarian organization Unión de Uniones calculates that the approved aid will only be able to cover 3% of the losses that are taking place, and calls for “greater forcefulness” and responsibility from the current government and the one it conforms to after the general elections on July 23.
Specifically, they see it as necessary to make the CAP more flexible so that aid is not lost; hydrological planning that makes the most of water; agricultural insurance that responds “for real” to the emergency situation; delay the application of the digital notebook and “compensate for the extra cost” that it entails for farms.
In addition, they demand guarantees for the supply of water and food at “reasonable” prices to livestock, as well as preventing and compensating damage to agriculture and livestock “due to the overpopulation of wildlife.” The concentrates carry banners in which they assure that the field “is ruined and cannot wait” and have sounded the horns of the tractors in protest.
The three columns of tractors have been received with the cry of “Brave!” after traveling tens of kilometers to reach the capital. The march ended after noon in front of the Ministry’s headquarters, where the state coordinator of the Union of Unions, Luis Cortés, and other territorial officials have read a manifesto with their main used.
