Swarg Election 2023 | From “heroes” to “arsonists” to rebels in a pandemic, Paradise’s countryside

When Covid hits full force, the primary sector redoubles its efforts to ensure there is no shortage of milk, meat and eggs in shops and supermarkets, The applause stopped as soon as the disease subsided, but the damage to the economy remained, from which no one has survived. Even less, farmers and ranchers, with brutal and progressive increases in production costs, were further impoverished at the outbreak of war in Ukraine (February 2021).

In this way, the people of rural areas are drowning not only economically but also socially. They make the victims feel, they say, a kind of “bullying”.

It is said to be abandoned and abandoned by the administration, for which they seek financial aid and tax incentives – they are bringing droppers. But they also demand something simpler above all: ease of working without “absurd and anachronistic” laws, less bureaucracy and greater agility to processes. Without forgetting a once great problem for this part in Asturias: attacks by wildlife, led by wolves -whose inclusion in the list of protected species is impossible to understand in rural areas- on livestock.

As if this were not enough, the famous wave of fires arrived at the end of March and most of society “bought” that lighter is the hand of the rancher, who feels singled out by the state’s government, the prosecutor’s office and conservationists when it comes to rural areas. Let’s talk about arson and organized networks.

Thus, the heavenly countryside, enough said. This Tuesday, May 16, a day after San Isidro, its patron saint, it plans to converge in Oviedo with a tractor that promises to be massive (more than two hundred vehicles have been signed ) and it will have professionals from the whole region convened as a bloc by all the agricultural organizations of the principality (Asja, Uka, Koag, Usaga and Ura), a historical union embodied in the so-called “rural contract”, which broadly consists of six points Including what they want the political managers to believe. The discomfort, anger and hatred, he says, outweigh their differences. Five groups call for the participation of all professionals: “This is what we have left, protest.”

The second mobilization will take place in less than a month in the Principality of Traktorda and it takes place in the midst of an election campaign, in which the parties have no choice but to mark themselves and make themselves known on issues that concern and demand Are. countryside. At present, the above is the “Rural Manifesto”, which has been debated before some Municipal Corporations (salas, elas) and made available for formation in the General Board of the Principality and others for their signature: PP, Foro, Vox, SOS Asturias and Suma have signed on, Ciudadanos has said it will do so on the 16th, while IU has distanced itself and PSOE and Podemos have left the platform.

The Paradise Tractor unit will also come two days after another major mobilization in the countryside, in this case national, in Madrid called by the SOS Rural Forum, which declares itself apolitical and integrates groups from all over Spain . Its purpose: for the city to cry out, lament and listen to the needs of the peasants and farmers, who feel that society has turned its back on them or, at least, is ignorant of their grave distress.

LA NUEVA ESPAÑA Paradise wants to give voice to the heroes of the primary sector, which is experiencing an average decrease of 0.3% per decade of activity from 1980 to the present: in 1980 more than 77,000 jobs were created, to stand 12,900 in the year 2020.

nino rodriguez, President of the Association of Breeders of the Asturian Mountain Breed (ASEMO). “Without a social organization, we have always been in any mobilization in defense of ranchers and now for even more reasons,” says a man who was general director of livestock until September 2021. wolf. “The prognosis of the sector is poor. Even the weather has changed, with hardly any rain. Production costs are rising unabated and leaving very low profit margins,” he warned. Meat production is affected more than dairy: “Milk still has room for growth, with some water costing more than milk in supermarkets. While meat is already high and the price is too high to affect the end There is not much room. There is support, yes, but it is difficult to maintain liquidity.” And the straw that broke the camel’s back was the fire: “It doesn’t make sense that they blame us for the fire, when, first, there’s nothing proven to allege without further ado. But It’s where we take the most damage.” With that I don’t know, I’m sorry this area is maligned in this way, we are described as terrorists…”.

david perez, a meat farmer and organic producer from Turón (Mieres). “Everything has gone up in Ukraine since the pandemic and the war, but the price of meat doesn’t make up for it. We are very limited and we can’t cover the cost anymore, you have enough to pay for everything No. The grain cost has doubled and now with the drought there is a shortage of fodder. It’s terrible,” he says. Perez points to the wolf and says that in their territory, which never existed, “Now they see each other, there is no one who leaves the sheep alone in the meadow.” And it points to the “uncertainties” of the CAP, the European aid that is expected every year in the region like the May rains, but its processing is becoming more and more complicated. “We don’t know what we will charge, they have reduced it by adding to the land. They reviewed and in my case, I have 2 out of 6.5 hectares of pasture now. But it is because of not cleaning the public.” The forest eats the bush grass and then we close the pasture. We ask them to clean, to clear the brush, to open the tracks, but they don’t do it and then these things happen”, he is very much in the context of the council and the princely state. And he concludes IS: “There are many reasons to protest in the streets.”

graciela vale, rancher, cheesemaker and president of the Gamoneau regulatory council from Peruyes (Cangas de Onís). “It shouldn’t be bad language, but it’s very clear: the rural world is going to shit. But people don’t realize that we are a strategic area and if we disappear, they will starve,” The Cheesemaker warned of some disappointment. He does not believe the allegations that cattle ranchers are behind the fire. “They treat us like criminals, not only animal criminals, but nature criminals too,” he laments. “There are many open fronts: fire, protection of wolves, that production costs are not covered by the price paid to milk and meat …”. Vale warns that such a situation “can be tolerated for a season, but not permanently.” Because he knows that the increase in the cost of feed, power, water, diesel, all cannot be recovered from the consumer in the final price. “Someone gets tired, disheartened, but we must continue to fight. A tractor will go by my house to protest on 16 May. We must unite there”, emphatically said.

rocio diaz, farmer of Ables (Llanera). This young engineer must feel proud and valued for taking charge of the family farm in Ables (120 cows). But on the contrary he is disappointed and sad. “The countryside suffers from a lack of generational respite, young people see all the sacrifices that are involved and they don’t keep up. If retirement and farms are added to this, the countryside will disappear,” he summarized . Díaz, like the rest of the professionals, speaks about the sharp rise in production costs after Covid and the war in Ukraine. “The food chain law is not being followed, since the selling price is low or very close to the production price, the trade margin is negligible. And there is zero support from the government, but it seems there is a will to put it in place.” Jobs. In the Rural Development Council, you may lose the right to receive assistance for the time they spend on solving the procedures themselves.

amparo fernandez, in charge of the Villarello Animal Farm in Los Oscos. “We farmers want our work to be valued, we are the only ones who take care and maintain the rural environment, so we demand that the law of the food chain be implemented and respected, so that production cost can be covered.” 200% growth in the last year”, describes this professional who has faced him on more than one occasion with heavy bureaucracy and problems collecting assistance. “It is impossible to reach the new CAP. In addition to the economic cuts it entails, both at the administrative level and when it comes to managing our work, the demands are high and in some cases impossible to meet.” All this leads Amparo Fernández to the conclusion is: “We think the ranchers and farmers are not interested in us and are trying to make us disappear.”

manuel lopez, beekeepers, produce the honey “Fuentes del Narcia” in Cangas del Narcia. “Our problem is very high production costs, they have increased by more than 35% and therefore, we are no longer competitive with honey coming from outside, which is cheaper”, summarized this beekeeper who decided to professionalize the hives. His family who were always present decided. Nor is López happy with the “criminalization” of those working in rural areas. “It is not normal to blame the people who work here for the fire. I can understand that there are elections and a politician has to come out saying he is going to put people in jail for the fire. But I What doesn’t.” Do not understand that they pay only for sinners. Brainless and terrorists can exist in all areas, so they should not accuse us all while we love and care for the countryside the most,” complains the beekeeper.

yaiza rimada, rancher and manager of La Saregana Cheeses in Santiago. “The problem with the primary sector is that it is not profitable, does not cover expenses and thus goes nowhere”, emphatically summarizes Rimada, who years ago opted to go a step further. And instead of selling, he himself used to make cheese from milk from the family farm. “And luckily we did it, because if not, it would have been impossible,” he says. “Everyone says that what we are complaining about is that we have subsidies. But it is that they are compensation, because without CAP it would not exist”, the cheesemaker explains. Who Warns: “I don’t want aid, but want to be able to live on it with due value and dignity. But these are very ugly times.”

jose manuel peláz, farmer from Cañero (Valdés). “Well, look, what I want is, for the first time, respect for the rural environment,” says this professional who has recently fought to free the mountains and help neighbors in the Valdesano council. “We need to stop being the pimpumpum dolls of the administration we’ve been used to for years.” Peláez warned, like the rest, that their work is essential because it produces food “that the population eats. It should be valued and paid fairly for it.” And another request: “It is good that measures are being implemented to attract young people to the countryside, but the first thing should be to help those of us who are here so that we can continue here and live with dignity.” live together. The jobs that already exist should be maintained.”