“We perceive that prices continue to be determined by the strongest link, and from there downwards.” This is the message that the farmers conveyed yesterday to the Ministry of Agriculture at the meeting of the Food Chain Observatory, an appointment prior to the meeting that Minister Luis Planas will hold today with the representatives of the professional organizations Asaja, COAG and UPA and in the that they await concrete measures. The field, which has already protested before distribution centers of some companies, demands to know the prices and costs of their productions.
Coinciding with the ninth day of protests on highways, secondary roads and streets in different parts of Spain, the farmers presented to the minister and the entire food chain the demands that they will influence this Thursday in the meeting with Minister Planas. Regarding prices at origin, farmers consider it necessary to agree on a “cost and price index” that will make them reverse the functioning of the sector. They demanded that “prices be set from the bottom up, and not the other way around,” so as not to have to sell at a loss. With these words they pointed out the distribution and the intermediaries.
Planas was aware in the quote of the “specific” problems that continue to occur in the food chain and that harm the “weakest link”, which is how he defined farmers and ranchers. Specifically, the Minister of Agriculture spoke of “very diverse commercial situations” that involve non-compliance with regulations. To try to solve it, he encouraged agricultural organizations to insist that their members “formalize complaints from their members to the competent authorities,” that is, to the Food Information and Control Agency (AICA).
The minister also promised representatives of the entire food chain to strengthen ex officio controls. Specifically, as the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced a few days ago, Planas announced that his department is already working to increase inspections to reinforce “compliance” with the Food Chain law. He did not say whether the AICA will hire more technicians, but he did point out that this reinforcement will focus on analyzing “the commercial relationships of companies with their suppliers.” The Ministry of Agriculture rules out increasing sanctions on distribution companies and intermediaries for serious or very serious breaches of the regulations.
The farmers' representatives demanded from the Ministry that the AICA increase ex officio inspections regarding costs and prices, influencing their claim to be able to make profits when producing. In the firm sanctions on the inspection agenda there are none for sales at a loss, according to the consumer association Facua.
To try to reach a consensus on the calculation of production costs and setting prices, the Ministry of Agriculture presented to the participants in the Food Chain Observatory the “study of costs and income of agricultural holdings (Ecrea 2.0). It is an interactive tool to consult technical and economic information on productive activities. The problem is that it is updated at the end of 2021 and, therefore, the data it contains is not recent.
Government and farmers agreed at the food chain meeting that, after more than two years in force, the specific law to avoid selling at a loss works but has to be strengthened. The minister pointed out that from January 2022 to December 2023, prices at origin rose very significantly, but he also assumed that a “microeconomic reading” must be made where difficulties in applying the regulations in force are evident.
