All Spanish farmers share the same complaint: unfair competition against other countries and the low prices at which the produce that has cost them so much to cultivate is sold, which is even ridiculous. Lucía Morales, a farmer from Almería, claimed this this year in one of her videos on Instagram, a social network where she shares some of the realities of this sector.
“I can’t imagine how today, with the way the market is, a bag of worms is worth more than a kilo of melons, when this is healthy,” Morales claimed. Immediately afterwards, in the same video, another Almería farmer, Germán Fernández, intervenes, who supports her in this speech, adding other difficulties that these professionals are going through.
You may be interested
Carrefour busts the price of ‘Reserve cured’ serrano ham from a well-known brand with a unique offer for a very limited time
The Rental Law confirms this: the tenant has to compensate the landlord if he or she fails to comply with these rules.
“And it’s not just that, Lucía, it’s also the effort that farmers make every day to move this forward, fighting against pests, the climate, the weather, all the elements and in the end that our work is not valued,” he detailed.
“We all lose, farmer and consumer”
In this joint publication, both add a reflection on this topic in the description, including the battle to combat ultra-processed foods. “One of the great enemies of the farmer today are not only products from third countries like Morocco, but also ultra-processed ones,” they explain.
Regarding this, they continue to explain: “At what point have we normalized that an ultra-processed product, loaded with sugar, fats and preservatives, costs more than a kilo of melon?”, a melon that, they specify, in addition to being healthier, is “cultivated with effort by local hands.”
With this reality, they assure that “we all lose.” On the one hand, the farmer, “who works daily for a quality fresh product” and, on the other, the consumer, who “moves away from a healthy diet.” And, in this sense, they claim in the text of the publication that “the countryside produces health” but that “it cannot compete with shiny packaging or million-dollar campaigns.”
His reflection sparked more than 1,000 comments, the majority showing their support: “We have to go back to what we used to, eat naturally and stop eating ultra-processed foods, they make us sick” or “maybe the price (or that worms cost more than oranges), there is a cultural fact… it is possible that people are lowering the general quality of food… if you look, how many children go to school with an ultra-processed food every day?” days in the backpack from home? Is it possible that parents no longer value a fruit or vegetable?” are some of them.