The enthusiasm for caring for olive trees, almond trees and vineyards expressed by Messa Shields, a 29-year-old Californian, provides a certain relief to the residents of Bot, the town in Terra Alta that has lost the most inhabitants in percentage terms since the beginning of the 21st century. specifically 271, almost 33%. An avid traveler, Messa loves the land and working outdoors, a lifestyle he can lead at Bot. Attracting new residents is a reason for satisfaction in the region of Catalonia with a greater drop in population, specifically 5.9%, followed by Les Garrigues (-2%) and Ripollès (-1.6%), among the years 2000 and 2023. During this period Catalonia increased almost 28%.
The depopulation responds to a host of factors in a land far from the centers of power and that has made an effort to heal the wounds of the Battle of the Ebro. The arrival of Messa and other young people who do their part in the attempt to revitalizing the rural world is great news in the oldest region of Catalonia. 29.20% of the inhabitants are over the age of 65, compared to the Catalan average of 19.27%. Idescat statistics also highlight that it is in first position in the aging index (253.7 out of 133 on average) and that it is the second with the most pensioners (27.4%), after Berguedà. Furthermore, this is where this group charges a lower amount on average, 1,024 euros. Regarding gross disposable family income (RFDB), it is among the bottom five regions, according to Idescat figures.
Depopulation and poverty have driven the concentration of wind turbines, a total of 161, making this area the one with the most installed wind power, so far 379.29 MW, 27.5% of the total in Catalonia, as indicated by the data published by the Generalitat. “Promoters look for poor and aging territories, where the price of land is cheaper and it is easier to convince neighbors. Twenty years after the mills started up, the supposed benefits they promised have not been seen, they have not helped to establish the population and perhaps they have stopped other initiatives related to tourism and specifically wine tourism. The wind farm workers registered in these municipalities only represent 0.7% of their active population,” highlights URV geographer Sergi Saladie, who regrets that the Generalitat has “inhibited itself” by not having promoted a plan for the distribution of wind turbines throughout the territory and thus meet the objective of producing energy close to consumption centers. Saladie, former CUP deputy in the Parliament, is the author of Conflicte entre el paisatge i l’energia eòlica. The case of the southern regions of Catalonia. It is worth remembering that the regions of Tarragona and Lleida contain the vast majority of parks.
Some municipalities with few resources once embraced these energy generation infrastructures, but the wine sector has expressed reservations for years. The mayor of La Fatarella, Jordi Rius, remembers that the regulatory council of the DO Terra Alta, of which he is secretary, said “enough with wind massification” when he understood that it has become “one of the main problems, not only landscape but also economic for the wine sector.” Rius adds that Terra Alta produces 90% of Catalonia's white Grenache.
“We have already more than fulfilled our quota of solidarity, I appeal to the Government of the Generalitat to set limits, so that the rest of Catalonia also complies. Obviously we are not against renewables, but we are against how they have been deployed. Is it necessary for us to fall into an obsolete system in which the promoters are large companies or can we be the ones who organize ourselves in small communities to generate our energy? Our winery works 95% with solar energy that we produce ourselves. My business, wine making, also depends on the landscape, on preserving the ancestral heritage of the dry stone margins... It has cost us a lot to enter the market and now we must maintain ourselves," explains Núria Altès, co-owner of the Herència winery. Altès, in Gandesa.
“This is a complicated issue, at the time everyone went their own way and depopulation has allowed the overcrowding of mills; There are neighbors who benefit because they can charge up to 6,000 euros for each wind turbine they have placed on their land and others who suffer its impact without having any benefit,” considers Núria Mulet, mayor of Bot. This graduate in Environmental Sciences from the UAB is part of the small group of her generation who, upon finishing university, decided to return to Terra Alta. “Here the message has prevailed: Guys, go study and earn a living abroad, returning was synonymous with failure,” says Mulet, who did his final year project on an ecological restaurant in the old railway station of his town, a enclave frequented by cyclists who travel along the Via Verde.
The mayor estimates that Bot, with 559 registered residents, earns around 100,000 euros between taxes and through the agreement to compensate for the impact of the mills. The municipal budget for 2024 is around 1.2 million euros.
His partner, Messa, with whom we began this report, brings fresh air to this town that last year counted five newborns and 15 deaths. Of the twelve municipalities in the region, only two have gained population during the period analyzed: the capital, Gandesa, and Prat de Comte, with 576 and ten more neighbors in each case. The growth of the former responds largely to the arrival of immigrants, who represent 22.5% of the total inhabitants, notes journalist and councilor Josep Garriga. The process of centrifugation of the population from smaller towns towards larger ones with more services also influences it, as happens in all regions.
In the debate on depopulation, Garriga regrets that localism has prevailed in Terra Alta, that a common front has not been promoted to be stronger when raising demands. He believes that with better infrastructure and connections, Terra Alta could take advantage of its location at a sort of crossroads.
Also in Gandesa, the local chronicler and former mayor Anton Monner points out that it would be fair to approve discounts on the electricity bill for the residents of Terra Alta with the argument that, “here, more than 25% of the wind energy in Catalonia is generated. ”. He also believes that the compensation that municipalities have received should be invested in creating jobs and not in electoral politics.
“I don't see that measures have been applied to rebalance the territory,” laments Jaume Martí, general director of Agrícola Sant Josep, Bot's cooperative. Poor communications and a shortage of housing make it less attractive and hinder progress, in Terra Alta and in other destinations that are also losing population. “Many times we look for qualified technicians and you can prepare now, you need a lot of time to fill these jobs. Right now we have a production technician, but it took us four months to find him; in another place everything would have gone much faster. He is from Benicàssim and by chance he has found a house in a nearby town, in Batea,” says Martí. He predicts that at a time when the countryside faces relevant “administrative and environmental challenges, the farmer of the future should have a wide spectrum of agronomic knowledge to face drought, in addition to having business orientation; Otherwise, it is difficult to be profitable.” And he adds that taking into account that wine consumption has declined worldwide, it is worth betting on quality rather than quantity and, above all, moving forward in the challenge of diversifying economic activity.
Data from December 2023 from Idescat indicate that 57.7% of Terra Alta Social Security affiliates are in the services sector, 17.5% in industry, 17.2% in agriculture. and 7.8% in construction.
The mayor of Bot believes that it would also contribute a plus to the dynamism of the area to delve into agricultural transformation initiatives that provide more added value to the area's products. And above all, it would be balmy to put an end to the pessimistic discourses that devalue a region with many attractions and damage its self-esteem. “It is necessary to put an end to this apathy that leads us to have no future,” defends Mulet, immersed in the search for resources to rehabilitate the old teachers' houses and transform them into four homes. They also plan to locate a tasting room and promotion of local specialties, mainly wine, olives, oil and sausages, in one of the premises of the old train station. The In-FCTA film festival, promoted by actor Ivan Massagué, has been a catalyst that has placed Bot on the cultural map. This March, the Cicle Estacions was also launched, which combines the arts with debates linked to rurality, oenology and gastronomy.
“Here they have not seen any American who wants to be a farmer, we have few successful experiences of people from outside who have put down roots,” adds the mayor, looking at Messa. But the young Californian, in love with the land, has gone in one year from running a single farm to gaining the trust of a total of ten owners, most of them retired. In addition to taking care of 25 hectares of fields, he has enrolled in organic farming courses. Messa does its part in the challenge of generational change.
