Farmers protests

[olive]

It has been murder trying to get sround. We were in Antequera on Tuesday right next to the blockade of the distribution centre estate and watched the dual carriageway grind to a halt. On the return journey home ( via back roads to get on the A92) we found we couldnt get off the motorway! Got a 4 hour journey tomorrow.

I have some sympathies with the farmers. Having to use less fertiliser, fuel up , prices received for produce low. Cheaper produce available from say Morocco produced with lower fitosanitary rules. Maybe 15% less income compared to just a few years ago.

On the other hand all the farmers we know are doing all right.Got money for holidays, new cars, tractors, the latest labour saving gadgets. The only ones that I think are suffering are the ones not at the demonstrations as they cannot afford to go. Eg 400 productive olive trees.

What do you think?

[costakid]

Not sure about Spain as i do not know any Spanish farmers personally but in the UK farmers have always pleaded poverty but you never see a poor farmer. Always have the latest equipment and a new Land Rover parked outside the big farm house. I do feel sorry for milk farmers whose prices are dictated by the likes of Tesco etc.

[Trooperman]

I joined the motorway just north of Antequera on Tuesday (that's where I live) because I had a hospital appointment. The motorway was virtually empty as people were made well aware, in advance, by social media amongst other means, that disruption was likely. We also knew this and, with local knowledge, avoided the blockade of Mercadona's distribution depot. This approach road to the industrial estate where Mercadona is located is also the approach road to the regional hospital from the motorway.
We were thus not affected, but we know of others who were.
Having said all this, I side with the farmers and against big government who interfere too much, some of it virtue signalling......and it doesn't get much bigger than Brussels.

[Pamela1]

Here in the UK there was a time when no farmer was poor....Nowadays the only rich farmers are those who have lots of land and farm big....The rest are struggling and eventualy there won't be any small farms because they will have been bought and eaten up by the big boys...I guess it will go that way in Spain also...Back to the big land owners..

[Wicksey]

I've heard that traffic around El Ingenio and Torre del Mar has been at a standstill today. Can't seem to find any current information as I have to go that way later. Maybe it will have finished by 6:30pm when it starts to get dark?

[Lavanda]

We have protests in Extremadura, too. The farmers have all the latest kit but share it. Four farmers will share a tractor, for example, and does anyone know why a tractor is upwards of €40,000??? During the tomato harvest here, the farmers work around the clock but, again, share equipment. They are not poor but they are not rich.

Let me see ... the Panama Canal is not working very well because of low water levels and the Red Sea is a war zone. Grain from the Ukraine is nowhere. Joining up the dots, I think that if a country is not self-sufficient in basic foods, its people will starve one day soon.

We'll be all right. Spain produces food. Extremadura's biggest earner is agriculture. Quite right but people need to understand the economics. I support the farmers and if they cause an inconvenient disruption to traffic, at least the drivers are not hungry.

[olive]

Why are tractors so expensive?

They are very complicated pieces of four wheel drive equipment . Manufactured in smaller quantities to say cars so economies of production aren’t there. The development cost is factored in to the end user cost. A rear tyre costs over 1000 euros.

[olive]

Oranges 12 cents a kilo

Plastic bag. 15 cents each

[Lavanda]

I guess that's why farmers share tractors.

Says it all really, Olive.

[olive]

Protests still ongoing here in Spain.

First fines have been issued to farmers

Polish farmers up in arms over cheap Ukrainian grain imports

Cheap strawberry imports from Morocco with hepatitus A

Irrigation bore holes still being drilled.

[Lavanda]

Why are we having cheap strawberries from anywhere (with or without viruses)? I just bought Strawberries from Huelva in the Mercadona, as usual.

[El Cid]

Why are we having cheap strawberries from anywhere (with or without viruses)? I just bought Strawberries from Huelva in the Mercadona, as usual.

Presumably they are cheaper. They are allowed into Spain being part of the deal that allows the Spanish fishermen to access Moroccan waters.

Sid

[Lavanda]

OK

[olive]

Is this deal part of the large influx of Moroccans to be seen everywhere?

Our local town has Moroccans as the predominant pedestrians on the streets at night time.The Spanish classes I attend are 60% Moroccans . Keen learners.

Empty shops springing up everywhere withnclothes shops and fruit and veg shops operated by Moroccans .

What is going on?

Went for a walk this morning and a run down rural complex is home for about twenty male Moroccan young teenagers.

[Wicksey]

Are they Moroccans or from other parts of Africa? A local hotel has been used to house a few hundred of those arriving on boats and there's a lot more young African men hanging around or riding bikes here now. I think they are in transit to be moved on somewhere else, but not sure where.

[Pamela1]

Is this deal part of the large influx of Moroccans to be seen everywhere?

Our local town has Moroccans as the predominant pedestrians on the streets at night time.The Spanish classes I attend are 60% Moroccans . Keen learners.

Empty shops springing up everywhere withnclothes shops and fruit and veg shops operated by Moroccans .

What is going on?

Went for a walk this morning and a run down rural complex is home for about twenty male Moroccan young teenagers.

So who is opening the shops which are being operated by Moroccans?

[olive]

Good questions!

Most definitely Moroccans. Has Spain a special 3rd country visa scheme for Moroccans? I don’t know who is opening the shops but suspect they are owner operated.Fruit and veg shop doesn’t need too much capital.I asked a Spanish friend who is convinced it is all to do with the town mayor keeping resident numbers over the magic 20,000 number in order to qualify for certain central funding. Who knows?

I read last year that our town hosts Moroccan seasonal workers for the asparagus season which is getting into swing now. Our town boasts the second largest asparagus factory in the whole of Europe but the observed influx is from below Christmas.

Our Spanish class teacher deals quite well with the clash of culture that is inevitably evident in lessons. We cover topical subjects from history of Andalucia, Women’s International day, Easter parades, etc. Quite an eye opener.