The Spanish countryside is going through one of its most delicate stages in decades. Farmers face increasingly high production costs, for energy, water or agricultural resources and materials, while the prices they receive for their products remain stagnant or even go down. This lack of balance is putting the viability of many small family farms at risk, especially in areas like Almería, where intensive agriculture supports a good part of the local economy.
Now, the videos of Samanta, a farmer from Almería with a small family greenhouse, have gone viral in recent days after denouncing the situation of rural producers. In his first message, he denounced the situation of farmers, who sell their products “at ridiculous prices” and suffer pressure from “supermarkets and intermediaries.”
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Samanta explained that many small producers cannot offer high salaries because the margins are very low. “Farmers pay what we can because most of the time we sell at ridiculous prices“, he denounces. He also commented that the majority of farm workers are foreigners and that it is difficult to find staff stable, since many leave when they manage to regularize their situation.
Some statements that have been misinterpreted
After the controversy generated by her words, the farmer published a second video to clarify that she does not support labor exploitation and that her statements had been misinterpreted. “The phrase “we pay what we can” is taking its toll on me,” he acknowledged.
The woman from Almería stressed that, although she considers that the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI) is insufficient for the effort required by field work, small farmers cannot assume higher salaries: “I don’t believe that any farmer pays less than the SMI, but as a farmer myself, I see the SMI as little for field work.”
Samanta also highlighted the difficulties of offering stable employment on small farms like hers. He explained that his land is small and, therefore, “I cannot offer full-time work because I have very little land.” She stated that it is difficult for her to find people willing to work part-time, which forces her to take on most of the work alone. Furthermore, he recalled that agricultural activity is not continuous: between one harvest and another there are months in which there is no production. “Those months I suffer because no money comes into my house and the bills keep coming,” he lamented.
In her testimony, Samanta highlights the family reality of many farms in the province. She explained that she works in a 4,000 square meter greenhouse with her husband, who combines her job with agricultural tasks. “If he comes in at 10 at night and leaves at 6 in the morning, he comes directly to the greenhouse at 6 to help me,” he said. In his final message he asked for unity in the sector: “We all have to fight for the countryside: the workers, the owners, the businessmen, the small and large farmers.”