Around half a hundred farmers and ranchers have concentrated on Wednesday at the doors of the Ministry of Agriculture to denounce the crisis in the sector and ask the Government to find solutions to a situation that they consider unsustainable. There have been no altercations, although protesters have completely cut off the Paseo de la Infanta Isabel, diverting traffic. "Our main demand," explains Ivana Martínez, general secretary of the Coordinator of Farmers and Livestock Organizations in Madrid, "is a fair price for agri-food products. That they are worth what they have to be worth and not what the big distribution and food chains mark, which are the ones that always take the added value ”. The mobilization comes to the capital after a week of protests in several autonomous communities, mainly against low prices and threats of cuts in the funds of the Common Agricultural Policy, although there are other reasons that have contributed to the sector's tiredness. The Ministry of Agriculture pledged on Monday to give more funds for insurance and to monitor the evolution of agricultural prices.
The protest of the field arrives in Madrid. The main associations of the sector (Upa, Coag and Asaja) have called on farmers and ranchers to concentrate on Wednesday at the gates of the Ministry of Agriculture from 11.30. They denounce the crisis in the sector and ask the Government to find solutions to a situation that they consider unsustainable. The mobilization comes to the capital after a week of protests in several autonomous communities, mainly against low prices and threats of cuts in the CAP funds, although there are other reasons that have contributed to the sector's tiredness.


The sector faces multiple challenges that, in its opinion, put the future of the activity at risk. One of the main ones is the collapse of the prices at origin that are paid to farmers and ranchers, especially in sectors such as oil, although afterwards the products are sold much more expensive establishments of the large distribution. To this is added an increase in production costs, which makes the margin that the producer takes a minimum or even records losses. External problems are added to internal problems. Among them is the renegotiation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funds, which predicts a cut, the tariffs imposed by the US administration of Donald Trump, which hit hard the products of the primary sector, or the entry into large volumes of exports from third countries at a low price and with lower standards than those required for community products, which farmers denounce as unfair competition.
The Minimum Interprofessional Salary (SMI), which as of January 1 rose 5.5% to 950 euros per month - after the 22% increase undertaken last year - has been the last ingredient added to this explosive cocktail Those responsible for the agrarian organizations agree, however, that it has not been the reason for the mobilizations, although they fear that it will affect labor-intensive sectors such as fruit and vegetables or the vineyard.

Farmers and ranchers began mobilizations last week. On the first day of protest, on January 28, workers from the field of Galicia, Aragon and the Basque Country went out. The following day the groups of Extremadura were manifested, where there were violent clashes with the police, La Rioja, Andalusia and Castilla y León. Protests continued in other communities, including Cantabria and Castilla-La Mancha, and this Wednesday they arrive in Madrid. Next week they will continue in other regions, such as Murcia and Andalusia again.