At the threshold of the Catalan and European elections and the agrarian protests that shook the foundations of the entire European Union have already been appeased – for the moment –, Rosa Mª Pruna Esteve reflects on the future of the agricultural and livestock sector. The promoter and president of the Km-0 Producers Association and former president of the agricultural union Asaja (Associació Agrària de Joves Agricultors) is hard on current policies, both regional and European, and calls for a change of course so that the sector can enjoy decent incomes and continue feeding the world. This is precisely what Pruna tries to do from her family farm Bovidria, in Les Franqueses del Vallès (Vallès Oriental), dedicated to the production of beef. The expert was invited by the Club of Rome to give a presentation on the future of the sector in the modernist building of the CaixaForum Macaya.
What has been gained from the agrarian protests?
Nothing for the moment. It was a very well organized movement with a lot of youth… because it is said that there is no generational change in the countryside, but it is not true. At the very least, it has served to make citizens see that there is a field alive and with relief, but this can end if things are not done well. Saying that the name of the department will be changed will not serve any purpose. They took to the streets to protest against bureaucracy because Catalonia is the queen of bureaucracy. There was protest because practically nothing has been paid to compensate for the damage caused by the drought… and little or nothing has been resolved in these aspects. The session in Parliament dedicated to agriculture was nothing more than a paripé.
Should the sector continue to pressure?
More than ever now that elections are approaching in Catalonia and in the European Union. We must apply pressure again because the European Union is moving further and further away from the objectives of the common agricultural policy (CAP). This was born after the Second World War, because there was a great lack of food. Its reason for being was to ensure food for the entire population and ensure decent incomes for farmers. In these years we have produced plenty of food, but we do not know where decent incomes are. Furthermore, what sense does it make that they impose limitations on cereal production, forcing us to leave land fallow, while the European Union has to import cereals from the other side of the world. We have to put the CAP back on the table to reform it.
In the agrarian protests, the 2030 Agenda was criticized, but you defend that the UN plan is in favor of agriculture. Because?
The messages we receive are that the 2030 Agenda consists of protecting the environment and regenerating nature, but in reality the objectives that comprise it seek, above all, to eradicate hunger and poverty in the world and take care of global health. Agriculture is crucial to achieving these goals, but instead we are being asked to reduce our food production, just when climate change is already severely damaging our crops because agriculture is suffering the most from climate change. With covid the world realized the importance of food security, but who remembers now? The world and politicians are now more for war than for peace, when peace in the world was the great reason for the 2030 Agenda. Now war rules more. We have the third world war at a step.
Are agriculture and the environment at odds?
If we want to have a well-cared for environment, it is necessary to protect agriculture and livestock because we are the first interested parties, since our profession is involved in it. Instead, they make us see that we are to blame for their destruction.
She is also a great defender of family farms, like hers.
The 2030 Agenda protects them because they represent 90% of the farms in the world. Instead, they attack us by pointing out that we don’t produce as much either, that we are inefficient and generate greenhouse gases… Is agriculture really to blame for climate change and not the burning of fossil fuels? What about airplanes? And with the boats? In these elections it is necessary to review what we do and where we are going to ensure food security and agricultural income.
How is climate change affecting agricultural production?
If the drought continues, there will be nothing left. In other areas, the problem is flooding. The European Union must prepare to lose crops due to climate change. When there are major natural disasters, we need it not to be the member states that have to pay their farmers to compensate for the damage, but rather that all the countries of the European Union pay through a common aid pool in the framework of the CAP. The money in this common purse must come from tariffs generated by agricultural imports. It cannot be that agreements like the one with New Zealand are signed, in which this country can export its food to the European Union without having to pay tariffs. Farmers and ranchers are very angry about how the EU countries are dealing with all these changes.
Does the solution involve a guaranteed agricultural income as the Government promised?
It is not the solution. What we want is to work. We are entrepreneurs. We are companies. We want to work and do our job well done. We are producers, not gardeners of society. We do food. We do not want a guaranteed agricultural income, but we do want the food chain to be reviewed and our productions to be better protected. That local purchases be prioritized. Other countries in the European Union have been doing it for more than 30 years, although it must be recognized that, in this field, Catalonia is doing things well.
How do you see the future of agriculture?
Never before have there been so many young people so well prepared and such innovative farms. We are leaders in innovation and have innovated much more than the agri-food industry. But all these investments have not translated into decent incomes and this, together with the large amount of bureaucracy, is what makes young people decide to leave. We are also in unequal conditions compared to food that comes from third countries, which is cheaper, although these lower prices do not reach the consumer either. Free trade is perfect under equal conditions, but we do not have them. This is where the Administration must do its job. Agriculture has a future, but those in power must keep it in mind and bet on it.
