This week the annual assembly of the Spanish Federation of Associations of Fruit and Vegetable Exporting Producers (Fepex) took place, held at the University of Lleida, during which the united voice of sector representatives from all production areas: Andalusia, Region of Murcia, Valencian Community, Catalonia, Extremadura, Aragon, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, La Rioja, Navarra and Catalonia, the latter hosting the event.
In his speech, the president of Fepex, Jorge Brotons, made reference to the serious situation facing the agricultural sector in the Levante area after the cuts to the Tajo-Segura Transfer promoted by Minister Ribera. In the words of Brotons, “Unfortunately, environmental theses prevail in legislative activity” against the opinion of agricultural producers. The ministerial thesis that the ecological flows in the Tagus had to be increased has been widely refuted in the Levante and for this reason “we must find a way for the Levante to receive the necessary water resources if not, I don’t know how they want us to maintain the activity productive,” Brotons said.
Likewise, he pointed out that “2023 will be marked by the adaptation of productive reality and commercial to these new hyperregulation of the sector”.
In the productive field, they say, three Royal Decrees that establish greater demands for producers, both in the field of fertilization and phytosanitary and the submission of very detailed information by electronic means to the administration, are especially worrying, according to Fepex. In the field of commercial activity, the Royal Decree of Containers and container residues due to the obligation to commercialize sales units of less than 1.5 kilos in bulk, which will generate greater food waste and destroy private brands of recognized quality in the market.
Agriculture and climate change
In the public part of the Assembly, the professor of Applied Physics at the University of Alcalá de Henares, Antonio Ruiz de Elvira addressed the effects of climate change on agriculture. The expert, with 42 years of experience in climate issues, warned that “climate change cannot be stopped due to the lack of consensus among nations” and criticized the measures against agriculture of what he called “living room ecologists”, because “without fertilizers, agriculture could only feed a billion people and not the almost 9,000 people on the planet.” Likewise, he presented different measures in which national agriculture is already working to reduce its environmental impact and adapt to climate change, as well as new proposals that he has encouraged to address as soon as possible.
To conclude, the Assembly hosted a round table of experts from which the opportunities for digitization and technological innovation in national horticulture were agreed upon.