The countryside is keeping its pulse with a new round of protests in several Spanish cities after a day that left behind major collapses in Catalonia, the surroundings of Madrid and southern Spain. Neither the reversal of the Brussels anti-pesticide plan, nor Pedro Sánchez’s commitment to more control over prices and the food chain, nor the outstretched hand of Pere Aragonés served to calm the agrarian tide. The mobilizations continue this Thursday in many parts of the country and are expected to continue throughout the month of February.

Of all the cities, Barcelona was the most affected this Wednesday by the unrest in the countryside. A historic march with 2,000 tractors advanced from Lleida, Tarragona and the center of the territory to converge in the heart of Barcelona after noon. Some of the main roads, such as Diagonal Avenue or Gran Vía, were partially paralyzed, with numerous resulting traffic problems, and served as parking for tractors. Some of them will spend the night parked in the center of the city due to the risk of returning to their destinations – some had to make journeys of up to ten hours back -, others have decided to leave the Catalan capital due to the notice that they have to remove the vehicles. at six in the morning or they will be fined. The Generalitat allowed the stay after President Pere Aragonès and the Minister of Climate Action, David Mascort, met with representatives of the 6F movement in Catalonia and some of the most representative sector organizations, such as Unió de Pagesos, l’Associació Agrària of Young Farmers, the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Catalonia and the Association of Young Farmers and Branches of Catalonia. While the meeting was taking place, hundreds of farmers gathered in Plaza Sant Jaume, where moments of tension occurred.

Throughout the afternoon, hundreds of farmers expressed their discontent in the city center and demanded solutions for the crisis that the sector is experiencing. Fair prices, an end to unfair competition, less bureaucracy and a brake on new environmental regulations were the focus of the demands. Mascort assured that he understood their demands and called for a new meeting in about fifteen days to analyze measures that can redirect the situation. “It is time to be by his side, not to announce anything,” they stressed in Palau.

While waiting to finalize solutions with the Generalitat, the Catalan camp assured that it was willing to keep up the battle. “This does not end here,” the farmers’ representatives insisted. After this first demonstration of force promoted by the 6F movement and with the support of Unió de Pagesos, the union has called for a new mobilization on February 13.

In the rest of Spain, the representative associations of the countryside today begin their demonstrations in “unity of action.” Asaja, COAG and UPA have planned around thirty tractor units throughout February in different provinces. The first are held in Ávila, Huesca, Ciudad Real and Salamanca. Its promoters asked this Wednesday for the support of “all types of neighbors.”

The same associations evaluated with interest Pedro Sánchez’s announcement in the Congress of Deputies about a reinforcement of the Food Chain law. The Ministry of Agriculture plans to hold a meeting of the food chain observatory on the 14th where it could specify some measure, depending on the evolution of the protests.

From the department directed by Luis Planas they refer to the increase in resources of the AICA, the food information and control agency, which is in charge of supervising that the regulations are complied with in the sector. The Government is also willing to study new measures related to agricultural insurance and to work on proposals to simplify the CAP through a working group. Regarding the mirror clauses, which would reinforce control over non-EU products, the Executive has acknowledged that it is in the minority to promote this measure in the EU.

The distribution, which this Wednesday began to be affected by the farmers’ protests, demanded that the protesters not paralyze “the free movement of goods and people” and asked the Ministry of the Interior for measures to guarantee transportation. Large supermarkets reported delays and incidents on their platforms in Catalonia, Madrid, Castilla y León or Levante, among other areas, although they indicated that they do not foresee supply problems at points of sale. “Although all the demands are legitimate, not all the ways to try to achieve them are,” they defended.