The map of agrarian protests: Galicia and Catalonia, the hot spots, Galicia in impasse due to the elections

Except for Galicia, which has its first official mobilization scheduled for this Wednesday in Santiago de Compostela (after some isolated protests in Ourense) to avoid interfering in the regional elections next Sunday, the mobilizations in the agricultural sector are taking place in almost all autonomous communities. Because our country has a wide variety of crops, farmers and ranchers are affected in every corner of the country. However, some territories have seen more monitoring than others. Catalonia and La Rioja, for example, have been particularly active. Just yesterday, farmers in Catalonia blocked roads and access to key locations. The drought of the past two seasons has devastated crops and caused a shortage of straw and forage. This has resulted in a significant decrease in the production of wheat, barley, oats, and rye in Spain, with the lowest yield in three decades. As a result, Spain needs to import a large amount of raw materials for food and feed. Aragón, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, and Extremadura are also suffering from the shortage of dryland cereal, with continuous mobilizations and incidents occurring in some areas. Another sector experiencing difficulties is wine production, as consumption is showing signs of exhaustion, particularly in reserve and highly qualified wines. This trend, which has already affected France, is now impacting winegrowers in La Rioja and Álava. The severe drought and heat waves in the past summer resulted in one of the lowest wine yields in recent years. On the other hand, some productions, such as fruits and vegetables in Andalusia and the Levante area, are not significantly affected. While there are many farm workers in these regions, the mobilizations have not been particularly significant in terms of the number of participants, although there are plans to block access to Seville today. Traditional agrarian organizations are gaining prominence in the second week of mobilizations due to the decline of the ‘6F’ platform that initially led the revolt. This may result in a more coordinated and unified response from the sector. A ‘Super Wednesday’ is planned for today, with concentrations in various cities, and a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, is expected on Thursday to discuss concrete measures to alleviate the agrarian revolt.

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