Hundreds of farmers converged on central Madrid on Wednesday as part of protests against European Union and local agricultural policies and to demand measures to ease rising production costs.
The demonstration, the largest ever in the Spanish capital after more than two weeks of daily protests across the country, will include a rally in front of the agriculture ministry headquarters.
Many tractors flew Spanish flags and some farmers carried banners reading: “There is no life without agriculture” and “Farmers on the verge of extinction.”
“It is impossible to live from rural industry, although that is what we want, to live from our work. That’s all we ask“, Silvia Ruiz, 46, a cattle breeder in the north-central Burgos region, told the Associated Press.
The Union of Trade Unions organizing group said 500 tractors and farmers who came by bus were taking part in the mobilization. Many tractors may have to stay outside the city due to government restrictions.
Similar protests have taken place across the Union in recent weeks. Farmers complain that the 27-nation European Union’s policies on the environment and other areas are a financial burden and make their products more expensive than imports from third countries. Spain and the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, have made some concessions in recent weeks, but farmers say they are insufficient.
Besides EU policies, Spanish farmers say a law aimed at ensuring that bulk buyers at big supermarkets pay fair prices for their produce is not being enforced as consumer prices soar .