Automatically translated from Basque, translation may contain errors. More information here. Elhuyarren itzultzaile automatikoaren logoa

The question of the cultivation model is the basis of the welfare of the peasants

  • Basque Country, Greece, Netherlands, Germany, French and Spanish States, Italy... The farmers' protest in recent weeks is at European level. Stimulated by discomfort and complaint, the movement is expanding. Both the need to sell production at a lower price than it has cost, as well as unfair competition or the burden of the obligations imposed on them by the bureaucracy, have many reasons to go out into the streets. However, the eleven diseases have the same basis: Model of productive agriculture that begins the day after the Second World War. The agro-industrial model has been pushed to the extreme and its limits are evident. Farmers' representatives, however, do not question the same system. On the contrary, in order to continue with this model, they require the elimination of environmental measures.
Milaka eta milaka laborari elkartzen ditu azken asteetan loraturiko mobilizazioak. Direla agroindustriaren aldeko sindikatuek deituriko hitzorduak, agroekologiaren alde dabiltzanek finkaturikoak, zein talde asindikalek antolaturikoak, karrikara ateratzeko hamaika ekimen daude Europako hainbat herritan, tartean, Euskal Herrian.

Protests by farmers spreading at European level in recent weeks have highlighted the profound crisis in the primary sector. If a joint reading cannot be made of the demands of one or another union or of the demands of the asindical groups, we can come to a clear conclusion that serves all: The model of productive agriculture, which started the day after the Second World War, has been pushed to the extreme and has its parallel limits. While this finding has the approval of all parties, always leaving aside those in bad faith, the issue is complicated when it comes to the causes of the crisis and the solutions to be provided.

At a time when the FNSEA and JA trade unions in the Northern Basque Country and the French State have given a mandate to end the blockades and protest the peasants of Hego Euskal Herria and the Spanish State, it is becoming clear that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the market that does not guarantee a decent income to farmers are at the root of the crisis. In view of the responses of the French Government and the European Commission in general to the complaint, what is on the negotiating table has been clarified: it is about cutting the way to an ecological transition incompatible with agro-industry.

“That we have the Green Pact of Europe at the basis of the complaint of farmers from different peoples? It's possible. Is the European Green Pact the cause of farmers' difficulties?
Pierre-Marie Aubert

The FNSEA and JA trade unions, the promoters of agro-industry, and with the political power in their favour, were satisfied with the negotiations: By 2030 they have managed to suspend the Ecophyto Plan for France, which aimed to reduce the use of pesticides by 50%. They have also ensured that the Independent Biodiversity Agency, responsible for ensuring respect for environmental standards, is in the hands of the State. Similarly, agro-industrial lobbies are subject to the demands of the Whatsapp asindial groups in the Spanish state, the elimination of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, the mitigation of CAP conditions for the environment, including the obligation to abandon 4% of the surface.

Basque Country, Greece, Netherlands, Germany, French and Spanish State, Italy... The movement is European and from Europe there are responses in the same direction: on 6 February, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suspended the measure of reducing the use of pesticides by 50% by 2030 and the obligation to abandon 4% of the fallow land land land is quickly mentioned in Brussels.

France Culture en France, Allemagne, Pays -Bas: haro sur le Pacte Vert Européen (France, Germany, Netherlands: Pierre-Marie Aubert, researcher at the Institute for International Relations and Sustainable Development (IDDRI), said in his radio programme: "Do we have the Green Deal as a common denominator of the anger [of farmers from different villages]? It's possible. Is the Green Deal the cause of the farmers' difficulties? That's not." Maleruski, that is how the crisis has come to us and they are getting answers in line. At the end of the day, we have only to make lobbies for agro-industry. And it's not new. After the European decision to authorise glyphosate there is a toxic production by Lobby on 10 December last year, in the report we referred to the same subject and then there was no road cut for tractors.

In this period, however, pressure groups have absorbed the distress and despair of the peasants, and that is the dirty play of the powerful that the media keeps us hidden. In order not to be excessively obvious, a number of measures are being taken to improve the economic situation of farms, including the burden of CAP subsidies and the guarantee of immediate extraordinary economic aid.

Aware of this wandering, some 50 environmental groups from the French State soon joined the peasant movement: "To refute what the authoritarian speeches say that they intend to enrich even more, stimulating the propaganda of the government and cowardice it among us: we will continue to be their allies, because it is a vital issue." In the same vein, Confederation Paysanne, ELB and EHNE Bizkaia are also fighting, making agro-industry better and opening the door to agroecology.

As far as the French state is concerned, Confederation Paysann continues to fight, unlike the FNSEA, because this minority union is committed to popular and sustainable cultivation.
Lobby machine to prevent changes

Water and land contaminated by pesticides; land impoverished by monoculture; unjust prices of financial fixation; loss of farmers’ sovereignty; weakening of biodiversity; disappearance of typical farms (five million European farms have disappeared in the last twenty years and another six million by 2040); precarious situation of multiple farmers; uncontrolled global merchandise of pesticides. These are the main limitations of the agro-industrial system. All this, moreover, in a context of climate crisis: 23% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from industrial cultivation and, at the same time, farmers are the first victims of extreme weather events. Here we are.

Investigating the
two directions of cultivation, the
status quo and the
ecological transition, the
FSEC report has a clear conclusion:
We would earn
between 5 and 10 billion dollars with the systemic transition.

In the article published on the web AOC Crise agricole: the politique of rustine in impasse (Crisis of cultivation: the policy of the petachuelo in the malignant port), researcher Alexis Gonin explains in detail that we are at a crossroads, or we continue with that productive tendency, taking it to the extreme, or we direct a systematic change radical feeding, with a complete review of the systems. According to what it says, the CAP has always been able to meet the challenges set by the context (the food sovereignty of Europe, first, placing Europe on the world market) and has to be relocated at present: Turning the extreme ecology of cultivation into reality, the new CAP should put the health of consumers, workers and the environment at the centre.

In Bizkitarte, the "ecological modernization of cultivation" developed in recent years does not respond to current challenges. "Immaterializable oxymorone is that of green productivism as green capitalism," says Gonin. Farmers' concerns are also growing: "We can highlight the rejection of the rules in the farmers' complaint. These rules are prototypes of crop modernisation policy. We are exposed to the contradiction of the model: we want to continue with productivism, but corrected the most harmful albokaltes, especially the ecological ones. They have been written by bureaucrats from Brussels or Paris to respond to urgent environmental needs. In this complex administrative chain are the peasants and have to comply with increasingly precise and technical standards".

The Potolos trade unions behave as if they were a priority in mitigating the instability of the accumulation of rules, but in the negotiations they are directed towards their own interests: the elimination of ecological standards.

Actually, the solution is clear: systemic change.

For four years, the Food System Economics Commission has published a scientific report by thousands of farmers. This report, written by nearly 60 independent researchers worldwide, speaks clearly: the current crop model annually deduces environmental costs of 3 billion dollars and another 11 billion dollars in health. Investigating both directions, status quo or ecological transition, they have a clear conclusion: We would earn between 5 and 10 trillion dollars from the systemic transition. Global change means that we do so locally and globally: we change cooking habits – more meat, witness consumption and more ecological benefits – and we articulate determined food and cultural policies to promote sustainable agriculture – the imposition of large users of pesticides and the reorientation of that money towards the typical farms and the most precarious consumers and the clear promotion of agroecology.

"The cost of this transformation, with an annual range of 0.2-0.4% of global GDP, is low compared to the trillions of dollars it would deduct. Food systems are interesting tools for dealing with climatic, natural and health emergencies, improving the standard of living of millions of people," says researcher Herman Lotze Campen. If the will to provide a permanent and honest remedy to the farmers is denied, the decision-makers in this report would have interesting clues. The problem is that, for the time being, they look at the welfare of agro-industrialists.

The practice of the lobby for the elimination of environmental measures is obvious. In this regard, the European Commission has agreed to remove the target of reducing pesticides by up to 50% by 2030. In front of them, environmentalists have shown their support for the farmers. In the photo, open the message of solidarity from Paris.

 


You are interested in the channel: Laborantza
2025-05-21 | Estitxu Eizagirre
Spring Festival of the Amillubi Project
Collective organization and relay as a subject of study
On May 10th, the citizens and farmers of the Food Sovereignty Movement met in the Amillubi project, located in the Iraeta neighborhood of Zestoa. In this second edition of the Spring Festival, two roundtables were organized in the morning and the shed in front of the Amilibia... [+]

Flights to Mallorca
The ability to adapt to the situation of the time in the place and in the epoch of capitalism is sometimes surprising to me. The similarities are explained where you don’t expect them to, and you suddenly realize that the appearance of the monster in Mallorca is not so far... [+]

The Court of Appeal awards the sentence against the defendants of Marién to 8,742 euros
The militants of the collective Ostia will have to pay the company Bouygues 8,742 euros and another 2,000 euros for the expenses of the lawyers. In the act of disobedience carried out in December 2022, they have been punished for having tarnished a model of this promoter.

2025-05-15 | Estitxu Eizagirre
Day of the Farmers
The Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa meets to denounce the exclusion of organic farmers from a subsidy
Today, May 15, is San Ixidro, Farmers’ Day. The Wood Ta Kandela farmer’s action denounces the exclusion of organic farmers from the subsidy to increase the cultivated area. That is why dozens of people have gathered in front of the Provincial Council at 12:00. It recalls... [+]

Location of San Ixidro
This year I have no special illusions for the day of San Ixidro. I can't find the environment. Look around and have a great atmosphere. I have had to put my head to work in search of warmth, and look where, I have been exposed to the smiles of friends who have been waiting for... [+]

Spanish Decree for the Promotion of Healthy and Sustainable Food in Schools
Once again... nothing to change.
The Spanish Government has just issued the Royal Decree on School Canteens, which will influence the management of school canteens in the Southern Basque Country. Spoiler: it is a document that shows no intention of developing a healthy and sustainable food system.

2025-05-12 | Garazi Zabaleta
Assistance in Orthulaedics
Public job in Debagoiena to give encouragement to small producers
It was a year ago that the project was implemented in Debagoiena. A worker has been hired to work alternately on small farming projects in the valley, thereby alleviating the workload for producers and dignifying the conditions. “They found that the sector was vulnerable and... [+]

2025-05-12 | Jakoba Errekondo
The dolar is a forest, even the cider
This year is YES. This year will be the apple year (Malus domestica). And in order to properly greet and take advantage of the affirmative, among other things, we will have to produce dollares.

Lack of commitment of the Department of Territorial Green Balance of the DFS
The name doesn't actually preserve the being. The paper is not enough, although the paper holds everything. Until it gets wet. This is the case with the Department of Territorial Green Balance of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa. In fact, he has renounced what the name should... [+]

The ELB, Lurzaindia and Ostia networks revolutionize the lands of the Marien de Canbo
On the 17th of May, the public is invited to attend and make an appointment to grow vegetables. To this karia they have completed a full day program in favor of having the lands of Marienea confiscated for cultivation.

2025-04-30 | Nicolas Goñi
India erdialdean, idortze globalari aurre egiteko laborarien eta ikertzaileen elkarlana

Klima aldaketaren eraginez, munduko lurralde gero eta gehiago idortzen ari dira, milioika pertsonaren jarduera eta bizimoduak kolokan ezarririk. Fenomeno horren frontean dago India erdialdeko Maharashtra estatua, non klimaren berotzeari eta lehortzeari metatu zaizkien oihan... [+]


2025-04-28 | Amanda Verrone
The Human Right to the Earth: For Who We Are and Who Have Led Us
April 17 marks the 29th anniversary of the massacre of 21 landless workers in Eldorado do Carajás, Brazil. Since then, La Via Campesina commemorates the date as the International Day of Peasant Struggle, in honor of people who were murdered in cowardice for defending their... [+]

A popular vegetable plantation is organized to protect farmland in Mariena
The ELB, Lurzaindia and Ostia extend their call for the protection of the lands of Cambo (Lapurdi). On the 17th of May, a walk, an event and a popular plantation are organized."The present and future of the territory depends on our involvement," they say.

2025-04-07 | Garazi Zabaleta
It's just that...
Agroecological projects that can be developed on a small plot and without huge investments
The Basaldea de Vitoria-Gasteiz is located in the Exclusive Regenerative Agriculture Project in the Abetxu neighborhood, which is driven by Jaime García, Joseba Vigalondo and Javier Chaves. “In the primary sector, our goal is to promote new additions to the agroecological... [+]

2025-04-07 | Jakoba Errekondo
So-called agriculture and land cultivation
For the farmer, gardening is only an impediment. A lot of today’s “advanced” farmers think so. In their work they don’t need orchards, chicken houses, apples or hives.

Eguneraketa berriak daude