They have been working for about a year on the new Foral Decree regulating livestock farming in Navarra. However, some critical livestock farmers have shown up with the livestock model that drives the new decree: “The draft Foral Decree was made on the basis of intensive and industrial livestock production, valuing exclusively its economic importance,” they denounced on October 23 at a press conference at the Katakrak bookstore in Pamplona. In the Ombudsman of Navarra they have submitted a letter signed by 27 farmers and 9 mayors and mayors.

Loss of the communal

At the Katakrak hearing, the mayors of the Atez Ezekiel Martin Valley, the Baztan Valley, Joseba Otondo and Leitza Mikel Zabaleta participated. Mayors denounced that the Government ' s draft decree profoundly marginalized the values of the extensive livestock model prevailing in their counties. Livestock model that allows “the quality of products, animal welfare, the balance of ecosystems, the distribution of seeds, fire prevention or the maintenance of the territory at economic, social and environmental levels”.

In the new Foral Decree, animal welfare conditions include the fact that each farm has its own hose. “When the animals are on common ground, when there are collective hoses and watering vents for the animals, why will each have to buy theirs?” the farmers ask. In the same vein, the measure prohibiting joint action between different livestock holdings is as follows: “In traditional livestock farming, animals are often found in the common land and the animals of different owners and species share drapes, drapes, etc.”, they say.

Distinction between the two application models

The signatories to the letter also consider the measures used to classify holdings according to their volume to be inadequate. The current classification of dairy sheep is made in three groups: small (up to 1,000 sheep), medium (between 1,000 and 2,000 sheep) and large (over 2,000 sheep). The signatories believe that the current reality requires a broader classification, differentiating household, small, medium, large, super large and macros.

What is the request that the following farmers and rural mayors make to the administration? Drafting a decree of clear differentiation between the intensive industrial model and the traditional extensive model, adapted to the particularities and organization of each region and situation. Otherwise, the consequences will not be very positive: problems for young people to settle in the sector, difficulties in the transfer of farms, problems for the management of communal lands…