“Spanish Farmers Join Wave of Protests”

We have been hearing about the farmers’ protests in Barcelona and Malaga but today, in quiet Antequera, the protests were In action. Mind you, a lot of honking but not for long and very organized.

A parade of tractors came down our street in the pouring rain and it was awesome to see. There were about 80 clean tractors coming from both directions and it was actually pretty exciting. The school kids across the street were sticking their heads out of the windows and cheering. Lol. Quickly, the windows closed and it was obvious that teachers had something to do with that.

Here’s an abridged article that I read about the protests.

Spanish Farmers Join Waves of Protest

By Guy Hedgecoe abridged
BBC News, Aranda de Duero

Farmers in Spain have joined their European counterparts in staging protests across the country.

Like farmers elsewhere, they demand more flexibility from the European Union, tighter controls on the produce of non-EU countries and more help from their government.

On Tuesday, farmers took to the streets of agricultural areas in Spain's northern interior, driving tractors in convoys, beeping horns, waving Spanish flags and brandishing placards.

Spain's farmers have similar grievances to their counterparts in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and other countries that have been protesting recently.
They say that regulations which form part of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), along with high fuel and energy costs, make it difficult for them to make a profit.

The costs, when it comes to producing wheat and barley, are very high," said Esteban, a cereal farmer who preferred not to give his surname who was protesting in Aranda de Duero. "You've got to pay for fertiliser, pesticides, fuel - it's killing us. We have to pay very high prices and yet we sell at low prices."

“We just want a future for farming and right now, we don't see it."

The plight of Spanish farmers has been compounded by drought. Many areas of the country have not seen normal levels of rain in recent months which is affecting harvests. Spain is the world's biggest olive oil producer, but prices have been pushed up by low production. Last week, Catalonia declared a state of emergency due to a three-year drought, the longest on record.Read more