Freshuelva, the association of strawberry producers and exporters of Huelva, has taken part in a protest by Spanish growers in Córdoba to demand a change in European agricultural policy that guarantees the food system and a professionalized model of agriculture.
Freshuelva joined the Spanish trade associations Asaja, COAG, UPA, and Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias, who drew attention to "the agricultural sector's plight, which is threatened by EU policies, the growing unfair competition from third countries, the increase in cultivation costs, the drought, and the crops' lack of profitability."
The protest took place in Córdoba, as the Minister of Agriculture of Europe and the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Janusz Wojciechowski, were holding a meeting at this location. The industry associations demanded "coherent political solutions on climate change, food security, and the protection of the Spanish and European productive fabric."
The growers emphasized the need for "new rules of the game" in which having a food production system based on safety and quality becomes a top priority for the EU and where agricultural products from Europe and third countries are treated equally. For producer organizations, this means an intensification of border controls to guarantee access to food that has been grown under the same phytosanitary, labor, and quality requirements that European producers must meet.
They also regret that the EU's free trade agreements, such as the agreement with Mercosur, "systematically use the agricultural sector as a bargaining chip, making it impossible to avoid the closure of thousands of agricultural and livestock farms throughout Europe."
Freshuelva warns that the agricultural sector in general, and the berry sector in particular, "is in a disastrous situation due to the crazy increase in production costs, which exceeded 35% in 2022, but also due to a drop in productivity because of the drought and prices at source that do not cover production costs."
Source: freshuelva.es