Hundreds of thousands of farmers across Spain on Friday blocked roads, lined streets with tractors or sold produce at cost to protest against low prices which they say are forcing them out of business. Spain's four leading farmers' unions said more than 90 percent of co-operatives had downed tools to join 200 protests across the country.
The strike is a prelude to a rally set for Saturday, in which 100,000 farmers are expected to march through central Madrid to the Agriculture Ministry. French farmers also protested against low prices last month, and European Union dairy farmers won subsidies after weeks of protests. Manuel Zafra, a farmer in the southern region of Andalusia, said he could no longer make a living from his 2,000 olive trees, as his father and grandfather did.
"If they pay us 30 (euro) cents a kilo, which costs us 20 cents to pick, we cannot live for the rest of the year on 10 cents," Zafra told state television. Unions estimate farmers have been squeezed between a 26 percent drop in real income between 2003 and 2008, and a 34 percent hike in costs, which has added 124,000 people to Spain's growing dole queues.
Farm-gate prices have fallen particularly hard in the past year, and no longer cover estimated production costs for grain, dairy and horticultural produce, olive oil, citrus fruit, wine or meat. Farmers calculate, for example, that at current prices they receive 291 euros ($432.2) for each hectare of barley they plant, but have to spend 391 to grow it, even after cutting back on expensive fertiliser. Because of its poor soil, Spain relies on hefty grain imports, but it is a major exporter of olive oil, wine, horticultural produce and pork.