Eusko Label is the official label of the Basque Country used to distinguish the superior quality of food under the auspices of the Basque Government (although it is a private entity). But in this task, the EHNE says that a lot of public money is spent inappropriately. We met with the president of the Basque Country Farmers’ Association in Bizkaia, Mikel Kormenzana, who made three main criticisms of Eusko Label: promoting an industrial and intensive model that favors large distribution chains instead of guaranteeing quality, not seeking the participation of the sector and not having profitability for farmers.

In the case of Ortuarians, for example, the EHNE says that the label looks good, but it does not guarantee quality, because what it measures is that the product has so many centimeters, of certain specific varieties (“and not the variety here at all”), what color it has... The hydroponic system is used to obtain all or the vast majority of the vegetables. In other words, they put them in bags and grow them with chemical treatments (transferring water, nitrate, phosphorus and potassium through tubes), in greenhouses, not in the soil. And so, Kormenzana tells us that a batch of peppers, deceptively brought from Morocco, were sold in our market under the name of Guernica Peppers, precisely because no criteria are specified in the way they are produced: “If you don’t promote a differentiated production model, they will do better in Morocco than here. If I make the tomato in the hydroponic system, in the greenhouse and with heating in December, in Morocco they will do it without heating, cheaper, in addition to having more flavor of the hangover due to better weather conditions. If you push the intensive route, and you want to buy the same product for the summer even in winter, you will not be profitable and the energy expenditure will be high.” The trade unionist believes that if Labela is to guarantee quality, these things must be taken into account.

The EHNE believes that vegetables grown outdoors (or in greenhouses, but) planted in the ground should be promoted and that an ecological model is really needed to guarantee quality, or at least consume less energy, with little or no use of chemicals or agrochemicals, protecting native varieties. However, with the industry in mind, they say that three products have been strengthened (tomato, lettuce and pepper) and the rest has been neglected: “Where are the leeks, the pork, the onion... that once were here?” Kormenzana criticizes the fact that public money has destroyed the sector, because we now bring from abroad what was once a product here.

Labellar milk is also not a sufficient guarantee for the union, which only ensures that it is the milk here. They also measure protein and fat levels, but they are not included in the production model, which is “how the cows are, what they eat, what kind of place they have...”.

Gurokela, Giokela, Lumagorri, Basque Hen

Similarly with meat: Kormenzana has proclaimed cheap and profitable models linked to land for the fattening of chickens, lambs and cows, not by means of feed, as is usually done, but with grass. The fact is that this requires a lot of land, and there is little in the Basque Country, “and what exists is used for anything other than agriculture.” In order to avoid GMOs in feedingstuffs and ensure their quality, the EHNE presented to the previous Government a number of alternatives; they looked for other protein intermediates for feedingstuffs, non-GMO soybeans, in order not to introduce soybeans into the feed... But they say the administration has ignored it for years. Currently, organic producers are the only ones that do not consume transgenic feeds. The farmer insists that if the consumer later asks the sector to account, as happened with mad cows and other cases, the responsibility lies with politicians and technicians because “they have decided where to put the money and which model to promote”. In any case, Kormenzana recognizes that

Eusko Label uses more appropriate criteria in the case of meat than in the case of orthotics, because the conditions of the meat were developed in the initial years of the label, and in those beginnings the sector had a greater participation: they breed native lambs and calves, they must have a certain space, veterinarians follow the animals... The private brands Gurokela and Giokela, on the other hand, bring calves from abroad. In 1997, when Eusko Label decided to limit the origin of animals to the Basque Country, they decided to work under a different brand. Lumagorri (labellado) grows chicks of the Atlantic variety in chickens, but because there is no longer any variety here. In fact, the recovery and education of the chick breeds in the Basque Country is the mission of the private brand Euskal Oila. “We even thought at first that these races would grow, but today our goal is to be able to live off the farm. If a breed like this were to resurface, great, but at this time it is not profitable enough to deal with this type of breeds; our meat on the market is a little more expensive and if you put it to the consumer more expensive than that... What we guarantee is a clean and free parenting system,” said Iñaki Urkijo, President of Lumagorri.

Kormenzana accuses Eusko Label of betting on an intensive model looking for large volumes of production and thinking about the industry, as well as Reyno Gourmet of Navarre, which claims that Navarre is even more industrial. “This model requires a lot of investment and therefore greater productivity or production, lowering prices and indebting the farmer. Many of the villagers who clung to the hydroponic system have disappeared, or are very ill now. See also the Schools of Pastors promoted by the label: A young man takes 300 sheep, with cheese and 80 million pesetas spent, and what has he found? The market - that you have to do it little by little and that selling 300 sheep's cheese in the first year is very difficult. And we have to lower prices as a result of the increase in production.” Kormenzana believes that the intention of the label is to have more raw materials, cheaper, for some of the intermediaries to do their business: the agricultural industry and the large distribution chains. “Eroski is the driver of it, things have always been done for his benefit.” We

have sent criticisms to Alazne Uribarri, Director of Verification of the Quality Foundation in charge of Eusko Labela. Do they promote an intensive model? “Our goal is to give value to the brand so that it is useful for the product, so that farmers can compete in the market, and we work all the marketing circuits to transmit to the consumer the distinctive characteristics of the Eusko Label product: traditional, butchers... but also large surface sales, because we can not forget that the current consumer also goes to them and it is our duty to reach where the consumer is.”

What do consumers think?

According to the research carried out by the Quality Foundation last year, when asked if people know any agri-food brand, 85% answered Eusko Label, and when asked if they know Eusko Label, 95% answered yes. Questioning these people about the characteristics of the label, they repeat four more: that they are high-quality products from the Basque Country, traditional/farm products with all institutional guarantees, and that they are more expensive. According to Uribarri, “the first three factors are more powerful because the consumer of Eusko Label is faithful; we are quite militant here and the consumer is willing to pay more if they have good reasons”. But Kormenzana thinks they're selling lies: “When the consumer sees that a tomato has Eusko Labela, he represents the tomato planted in the garden of the farm, with his grandfather in the lap of Anbou, because the advertisements they make are like that. But all tomatoes are made in the hydroponic system; if you are so proud of that system, why not put your grandfather in the ad planting the tomato in the bag?”

Poor profitability

Although one of Labela’s intentions is to differentiate the product in the market and acquire a decent income for the farmers, the EHNE member says that this has not been achieved because they sell vegetables, for example, at low prices: “Companies or cooperatives have become the target, increasing themselves and having more markets, lowering prices and losing farmers’ strength.” He adds that this differential price in beef was achieved in the past, but not so much now. And the same with the lamb; a long time ago it was, but now it does not seem profitable to the labeler: “In Gipuzkoa and Álava, the Eusko Label labels charge about 2.80 euros per kilo of lamb and, on the other hand, the private Biscay Lamb, which operates outside the label, charges twice (thanks to the alliance of butchers, shepherds, slaughterhouses and trade unions promoted by the Erralde slaughterhouse, controlling GMOs, guaranteeing quality, preferring traditional slaughter...). It doesn’t make sense to spend so much public money to not benefit later.”

Alazne Uribarri has admitted that the brands closest to the consumer are the ones that win the most in the marketing chains and that the first link is usually the most affected. An alternative to reverse this can be short circuits or closed consumer cycles, but the Director of Verification recalls that this is a solution for a few, because the consumer generally moves on large surfaces. “I would have asked the question in a different way: what would have happened if there had been no Basque Label in these ten years? I remember that in 1996 there were farmers who could not sell meat and the solution was to form a brand to differentiate their product. Eusko Label has been a very powerful tool to revalue and promote products, giving them competitiveness in the market. I would like the farmers to earn more, but I don’t think it depends more on us than on many other factors.”

Mikel Kormenzana also complains about his participation; there are two criticisms of Eusko Label: that there is little participation of the people of the sector and that there is an arbitrarily chosen one, without reasonable criteria. At the beginning (the organization was born in 1992) they negotiated a series of decalogists, regulations and protocols with the sector, but since then they have not been asked by the EHNE member for an opinion, and ultimately they themselves see the needs of production, where to do it. “Some in the sector will participate in the decisions, but in a personal way, not in the name of a delegation, and this difference is fundamental. In all these years we have not been asked (or heard) anything by the unions and we have the representation of the sector, in which farmers, ranchers and others are organized.” Kormenzana denounces that this has been the case so far and that the new government says that they want to have

a more open and democratic participation; “we will see”. In fact, the trade unionist says that his chiringuito was very well organized by the previous government: “For years they have tried to get Idiazabal Cheese into the label under enormous pressure, saying that they would also be deprived of subsidies if they didn’t get in. Idiazabal only uses Latxa and Carranza sheep, and Eusko Label wanted other breeds to be added, arguing that more milk was needed and that other breeds provide more milk. But it has been shown that no more milk is needed, because on the contrary, this intensive model only leads to lower prices.” In the end, Idiazabal did not accept the inclusion in the criteria of the label, and the intervention of the Quality Foundation is limited to the control of the cheese. In addition to certifications, Eusko Label also offers a control service for its products, Idiazabal and the three txakolis of the Basque Country. Uribarri clarifies that controls are carried out at all stages of production, around 4,000 audits and many other analytical resolutions.

On the subject of participation, the Director of Verification added that all the voices in the sector are willing to listen. The Board of Directors consists of: Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Basque Government (President); five other representatives of the administration, the President of the Quality Foundation, Uribarri himself and five representatives of the sector (one representative of Blond Akitania, Lumagorri, Kaiku, the Getaria Brotherhood and the Association of Orthularis). Decisions are made in professional committees made up of politicians, technicians and the largest producers of Eusko Label, and Uribarri believes that the sector is sufficiently represented. “The unions don’t have a standardized presence in us, but we have a relationship on demand.”

The alternative is not the way

Direct selling has gained more and more strength in countless locations, always with a model and guarantee behind it. For Kormenzana, the consumer sees that traditional brands do not guarantee him what he wants, that he does not know what he eats or where he comes from, and that farmers do not achieve profitability with both the brand and the label; as a result, they meet each other along the way: “But that’s very sad, that the consumer and the farmer have to walk separately while spending and spending public money.” That’s why the EHNE

trade union is betting on the label. They want to make it clear that they are not against the label or the quality brand, on the contrary, but they want a label that guarantees quality and profitability. Because that's the way to deal with private and white brands. “We have criticized the fact that resources are put to the benefit of the industry and the distribution chains; the white label goes a step further and directly removes the industry from the middle to further strengthen the distribution chains. White brands are used by distribution chains to set lower prices, becoming masters and nullifying the profit of those below (the industry and especially the producer).” Kormenzana recalls that currently in the Spanish State, 60% of the market is in the hands of five brands of hypermarkets, so they set the conditions themselves. It is clear that in the face of this whole picture, consumers must begin to ask, demand and demand, ceasing to be passive buyers.