Few people are as familiar with the Parc Agrari del Baix Llobregat, the last major agricultural stronghold in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, which is called to be the local food pantry for a territory in which more than 3.3 million inhabitants live together, as Lluís Solanas. He is now the president of the Cooperativa Agrària Santboiana, but he has been working as a farmer since he was 16 years old. He has spent almost four decades cultivating these extensive fields sandwiched between large cities that grew rapidly in the last century, important infrastructures such as the port and airport, and the sea. “If it doesn't rain before summer, jobs will be lost,” he laments without hesitation. And in the delta of the Llobregat River, the second largest in Catalonia, they have been designing strategies for some time to alleviate the drought. One of them even affects his most emblematic product.
Different foods are grown in the Parc Agrari del Baix Llobregat, mainly vegetables. But its star product has always been the artichoke. Traditionally, a variety called Blanca de Tudela has been planted, tender and tasty. “You can eat even the trunk. You sauté them as if they were asparagus and they are very good,” says Solanas. He has no hair on his heart. But the traditional artichoke has a defect: it is very weak to lack of water. “He really likes the rain,” summarizes the farmer.
It is usually planted between July 25 and August 15 and takes advantage of the summer storms, almost non-existent lately, to get a good growth spurt. It is irrigated by blanket, by flooding, as is usually done in the deltas. Now with less water and coming from purification plants. However, their traditional way of growing up has been altered.
Probably as a result of all this another serious problem has arisen for Blanca de Tudela. It is rhizoctonia, "a fungus that rots them", describes the president of the Santboiana Agricultural Cooperative.
Although it is now that the most distressing situation has been reached at the moment and it is really “affecting more and more”, according to Solanas, the truth is that the drought and water management are already complicating crops in the metropolitan area of Barcelona and the artichoke. specifically for a long time.
That is why for three years Blanca de Tudela has had a sister who is gaining ground on her. It is called Green Queen and is a “hybrid” variety of artichoke. “It is more resistant to fungi, lack of water and being watered with regenerated water,” describes Solanas. Although it is more expensive to plant than the traditional artichoke, thanks to its resistance today it is more profitable for farmers. “It also holds up better to store displays. “More and more people ask us for it,” adds this expert.
In the Solanas fields, located in Sant Boi de Llobregat, you can see the difference between one and the other with the naked eye. While the Blanca de Tudela has grown less and its leaves have a duller color, the Green Queen is taller and has a very bright green. And once cooked, already on the plate, they are also different: “I notice it. While the one from Tudela has a more intense flavor, the Green Queen is softer,” Solanas portrays.
Although the new hybrid variety began to be planted incipiently, Solanas assures that today "one artichoke is being replaced by the other." Currently, the Parc Agrari del Baix Llobregat has some 3,500 hectares in area near Barcelona. It is Sant Boi de Llobregat, with about 900, the municipality with the most. According to Solanas, in this town 70% of the land is dedicated to artichokes. “Right now, I estimate that there are already 80% Green Queen and only 20% Blanca de Tudela. And surely next year the trend will increase,” he remarks.
“We are increasingly moving towards monoculture,” says Solanas. A situation that is explained because the artichoke is more profitable for farmers but also has its dangers. “After so many years of planting artichokes we already have scorched earth and perpetual rhizoctonia. Crops should be rotated,” he believes. “We'll see how things turn out in a few years with the Green Queen, but I don't have a crystal ball,” he adds. But you also have to make it to the end of the month. This is partly helped by the new farm store installed at the headquarters of the Cooperativa Agrària Santboiana, to which “more and more people are coming” to buy their local vegetables.
This change in trend in the artichoke is by no means the only one that has occurred in the area historically. In fact, difficulties and threats have always been overcome here. Solanas' family knows this well. Before the cities grew and the trains and highways came along, they already farmed the land. His ancestors began “around 1700 making wine, until phylloxera arrived in 1900 and they switched to fruit.” Now Solanas is one of the few farmers in the area that maintains peach production.
The future? “The Baix Llobregat model of small producers has an expiration date. The competition does not have the same costs as us,” he assumes. He is one of the farmers who participated in the recent protests. And on top of that, the drought: “If it doesn't rain you can't plant anything. “We can’t hold out much longer,” he predicts.
