Dozens of tractors parade through Valencia’s streets as a protest against unfair competition

In an effort to draw attention to the unfair competition that Spanish farmers believe they are facing from non-EU producers, approximately fifty tractors will be travelling through Valencia’s main streets today.

When asked why they are coordinating with the Unió Llauradora i Ramadera to stage a demonstration across Spain, Víctor Viciedo (Unión de Asociaciones del Sector Primario Independiente) told reporters that they feel the country has made “insufficient” progress since the primary sector’s mobilisations a year ago.

The protests, which started on social media, are an outcry against what Viciedo calls “unfair competition from an entire continent,” higher production costs, and a lack of institutional backing for the economy.

As soon as he left the streets, “all that was put back into motion,” he added, adding that regulations including the law on the restoration of nature and the law on the sustainable use of phytosanitary goods had been immobilised after last year’s protests.

The mobilisations could reach as far as the French border and include tractor marches in the following regions: Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, the Basque Country, Murcia, Aragon, Navarre, and the Valencian Community.

Additionally, the organisers take issue with several European environmental rules and their effects, including limitations on phytosanitary product use and climate targets that they feel are unrealistic.