BY ED ANDERSON
As protests continue in Spain against Agenda2030 and EU regulations, Edward Anderson asks what the humble strawberry tells us about Spain´s farming conundrum.
Last Sunday (17th March), farmers from across Spain once again descended on Madrid and took their protest to the very gates of the Ministry of Agriculture across the road from Atocha station. It was a wall of tractors, noise and some very confused tourists to witness a protest that has spread from France across the continent, but obviously there are specific issues and challenges to Spain.
Firstly, the undercutting of Spanish farmers by products from abroad. Here in Spain, it has been revealed that strawberries coming in from Morocco contain Hepatitis A, due to the water used to grow them being well ´aguas fecales´(which I don´t think you will need a translation for). It´s always worth remembering when people complain about regulation that well, this is why we have it, so you can´t be poisoned by the food you eat. So this isn´t a mere matter of selfish farmers complaining about being undercut by a more competitive service, it´s a matter of public health. And it cannot be right that Government bodies in Europe demand certain standards (that inevitably cost more money) whilst brazenly allowing inferior (and I think a product that can give you hepatitis is inferior) products to flood the market.
However, there´s also the unavoidable problem that the products farmers are creating may not be sustainable as two of Spain´s biggest regions (Catalonia and Andalucía) are suffering horrific levels of drought. It is estimated by sources on both political sides that Spanish Agriculture is responsible for about 70% of the water use in Spain. Well of course, many reading this might say, can you think of a better use for the countries resource if not to feed people? A fair point but the issues with this are clear: Every year there is less of this resource in Spain so the model will have to change anyway and there have been significant environmental effects.
It is now we turn to the strawberry once again, but this time grown in Huelva (Andalucia) on the borders on UNESCO Heritage Doñana National Park, now on the brink of destruction due to climate change but also due to illegal leeching of water by farmers and also the sheer demand for growing strawberries in a climate that is simply unable to sustain that product. Germany already boycotted strawberries from Huelva because of this and now with The Netherlands taking some Spanish meat off the supermarket shelves, again to climate concerns, it won´t even be economically viable to waste that water on products people don´t want to buy. This is to say nothing of farming´s addiction to immigrants (legal or illegal) routinely being paid next to nothing. Which is to say, whether be it because of economics or just a lack of water, Spanish farming is not going to survive in its current form.
Food security is important, as is ensuring people working in these industries can earn a decent living but so is having drinkable water, which 200,000 people in Spain don´t have thanks to farming chemicals (or any water at all in the case of Andalucía and Catalonia). Standing outside the Ministry with farmers and their families, it´s hard not to feel sympathy for people who want to maintain a way of life and feel their frustrations at the Government not having an answer for them but to be honest, I don´t know if there is one.
Born and raised in Shropshire, Edward was peddled onto a worthless degree in Sociology and now currently resides in Madrid, having previously lived in Santander and Barcelona. He currently covers Spanish and European politics, having previously been on the ground in Barcelona for the Unilateral Declaration of Independence and subsequent election. His work can be found in a wide variety of places, from Red Pepper Magazine and Left Foot Forward to Comment Central and is a regular contributor to Bournbrook Magazine. He is currently studying for his Spanish qualification so he can do a web development course and go back to the north of Spain, where they have trees. He can be found on Twitter @HomelessEd3