“I am probably the minister who has been in charge of Agriculture the longest” pointed out a couple of months ago the head of Atocha, Luis Planas. But it has not been until this week that his mandate has surpassed that of the one who, until now, had been the longest-serving in the position: the also socialist Carlos Romero, who held it from December 1982 to March 1991.
Both have been at the forefront of Spanish agriculture for more than eight years (or more than 3,022 days) but separated by four decades of distance, which has led to many changes in the portfolio, and, despite the time, some issues remain relevant.
Spain in the EEC
Carlos Romero was minister under Felipe González for three legislatures in which the most notable event was the entry of Spain into the European Economic Community (specifically, in 2026 it will commemorate its 40 years). It was then when Brussels became a place of administrative pilgrimage for Spaniards (where Romero traveled by train because he did not want to fly), the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, began to be known, and Spanish agriculture began a considerable agrarian transformation partly thanks to these subsidies (it is the fourth recipient of agricultural aid from the European Union).
In 1986, Luis Planas was already a deputy for Córdoba in the Congress of Deputies and just that same year he became part of the European Parliament. He took charge of the Ministry of Agriculture in 2018, and since then he is one of the three ministers (along with Fernando Grande-Marlaska and Margarita Robles) who have remained in the four legislatures of Pedro Sánchez as president.
Big changes...
More than 40 years is a whole life and the changes in the Spanish agricultural sector are many and considerable. According to the Agricultural Census of 1982, in Spain there were then 2,379,327 agricultural holdings which after entering the European Economic Community were reduced to 1.5 million, as the criteria for community harmonization were used and those with less than one hectare of useful agricultural area were not counted as such. As of today, Spanish agriculture is much more professionalized and specialized in various crops in which it is a leader (olive grove, nuts, fruits and vegetables, vineyards, pork, poultry,...) and all this has led to currently there being 600,000 farmers and ranchers in the country, of which about half are exclusively dedicated to agricultural activity.
Another important difference is the integration of the primary sector with the food industry and distribution in an economic concept known as “agri-food chain” which, despite having asymmetric links that maintain their differences, has improved its relationship thanks to the dialogue fostered in recent decades and the Food Chain Law, passed in 2013 with Miguel Arias Cañete and reformed in 2021 by Luis Planas.
… with some similar issues
Four decades later, the portfolio that Carlos Romero held in 1982 still has its headquarters (the Palacio de Fomento in Atocha) and also its name: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, which in other periods was called the Ministry of Environment, Rural and Marine.
One of the main strengths of the Spanish agricultural sector continues to be the agricultural insurance policy, born with the Agricultural Insurance Law of 1978, which during Carlos Romero's mandate consolidated its first steps and to this day remains in place.
Irrigation, (fundamental for the agricultural economy because it generates 75% of agricultural production) had important plans for the creation of new areas 40 years ago that are no longer expanding but are being modernized and consolidated.
And coincidences of life: four decades later, African Swine Fever, against which Carlos Romero's team established eradication plans, has become prevalent again in Spain, although now with a much more powerful and professionalized pork sector than in the 80s.
Planas the longest-serving
From now on, Luis Planas can boast of being the Minister of Agriculture who has been at the head of this portfolio the longest, and he can request a preferential place in the gallery that houses the portraits of his predecessors.
With this long mandate at the head of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Planas makes up for his two brief periods in the Ministry of Agriculture in Andalusia, in which he was there on two occasions but for a short time (seven months between 1993 and 1994 with Manuel Chaves as president, and 17 between 2012 and 2013 with José Antonio Griñán).
At almost 74 years old, Planas' next goal is to be the Director-General of the FAO, in whose promotional campaign he has been focused for the last few months and whose voting will be decided in June 2027.