Chelo Aznar, a 51-year-old farmer from Fuendejalón (Zaragoza), has spent half her life dedicating herself to the countryside. She and her husband, Alberto, grow grapes, olives, almonds and cereals on their more than 40 hectares, and also work third-party lands with their machinery. Petite and lively, she says that she has rural in her veins, but that the avalanche of paperwork and lack of profitability is decimating them. “A lot of talk about Spain being emptied, but those of us who filled it are being kicked out,” she laments.
Their complaints are reminiscent of those that reverberate these days from all corners of Spain. In concentrations and tractor movements, the primary sector points to excess bureaucracy as one of its great evils, along with increased costs, new environmental requirements or “unfair” competition from non-EU countries. “We are not managers, we are farmers,” reads more than one banner on the backs of tractors. Chelo couldn't agree more.
“For anything you want to do, you need applications, authorizations and permits, all with their corresponding fee,” she says in Zaragoza, where she also presides over the Federation of Rural Women and Families (Amfar). “So much paperwork robs us of strength, time and motivation to move forward. Someday they are going to ask us for a form to enter our farms! ”She adds.
Bureaucracy has always been part of their routine. However, he remembers that when he started at the end of the last century it was more bearable: less procedures and more personalized treatment, normally through the Regional Agro-Environmental Offices (OCA). “They guided you and things were solved in the moment,” he explains. But over the years, the volume of paperwork has grown and the procedures are often telematic, something that makes it difficult to manage. “A small incident can set you back everything,” he clarifies.
Peasants point to Brussels and its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as the architects of the increase in bureaucratic burden and the issuance of a series of guidelines that reduce the productivity of their farms. But the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the autonomous departments are not spared either. Just a year ago, farmers and ranchers filled the entrance to the territorial services of the Department of Climate Action of Lleida with shredded papers to denounce the excess of paperwork, a situation then aggravated by the obligation to present the annual declaration of hazardous waste. They considered that they did not have to do this because the administration already had that information. “We have to dedicate ourselves to taking care of the animals and not spending so much time on paperwork,” asked the head of the Pork sector at Unió de Pagesos, Rossend Saltiveri.
In the current protests, many criticisms focus on the obligation to use the Digital Notebook, a kind of record of telematic activity. In it, the farmer must record all his work: what he sows, on what plot, the fertilizer he uses, the amount, if he uses phytosanitary products, etc. Whoever prunes or waters will also have to specify it. Livestock farmers are not spared either, as they must detail where their animals graze or how much they move. Chelo says that before they also did it, but manually and without deadlines as tight as now, of only one month. “It is very good that there is control, especially with things like eating, but this extreme supervision has us suffocated,” he asserts.
In these administrative tasks, she estimates that she can spend an average of one hour a day. More at specific times like the harvest. By dint of putting in the time and desire, she says that she handles digital certificates well, scanning and attaching documents or sending geolocated photos through an administration application, as they ask for many procedures. However, this is not the case for all farmers, especially the older ones, who often do not have the technological means or the skills to navigate these trails. “They are tired of asking for favors, it takes away their desire for everything,” she says.
Therefore, amid criticism of bureaucrats who legislate on the countryside from an office and politicians who now want to win medals on account of the mobilizations, Chelo asks the administration to listen to them and address their demands. His wish list includes fairer prices, requiring the same standards for imported products and reducing paperwork, with a one-stop shop and more personalized attention. “In short, make our lives easier. Without the primary sector, the countryside dies.”
