The professional agricultural organization UPA-UCE Extremadura has demanded immediate answers to the "serious crisis" facing the beekeeping sector and, in general, the entire agricultural field in the autonomous community.
In this regard, it demands a specific support plan for beekeeping, actions against blue tongue disease, and aid for those affected by the Las Hurdes fire.
At a press conference held this Tuesday in Mérida, the livestock secretary of UPA-UCE Extremadura, Jamaica Risco, has asked public administrations (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Junta de Extremadura) to adopt urgent measures in response to the collapse of production, the exclusion from aid due to rising costs resulting from the Eastern War, and the losses caused by storms, the heatwave, fires, and the "high" mortality of hives caused by the bee-eater.
As she explained, production has already decreased by around 50 percent, along with a significant increase in costs related to transhumance.
In this context, she considers it "especially concerning" that beekeeping has been left out of the aid associated with the rising costs of inputs caused by the Middle East crisis.
UPA-UCE reminds that it is the only livestock subsector without the right to a diesel fuel subsidy, despite the fact that the transport of hives can entail an expense close to 20,000 euros per farm.
Additionally, beekeeping operations have been excluded from the aid activated for the damages caused by storms, although many hives are located in municipalities affected where other farmers and ranchers have been able to access these compensations.
In light of this scenario, UPA-UCE conveyed on July 28 to the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, and Natural Environment the urgency of articulating a response for the sector.
In that meeting, the organization emphasized that the "lack" of budget from the Junta de Extremadura cannot become an excuse to leave professionals who have suffered the same meteorological phenomena as other sectors that have received aid in communities like Andalusia without support.
For this reason, UPA-UCE sees it as "essential" that the president of the Junta, María Guardiola, provides the ministry with sufficient funds to support Extremadura's beekeeping.
Likewise, the organization asked the council to send to the Ministry the location data of the beekeeping settlements that the regional Administration has, so that these operations can be included in the third list of aid for the damages caused by the storms, the publication of which is scheduled for September 2026.
Fires and heatwave worsen the situation
In a press release, the agricultural organization warns that, far from stabilizing, the situation has deteriorated even further during the summer months.
It points out that the combination of the heatwave and forest fires is causing new damages to the operations, and warns of the existence of hives "devastated" by fire and settlements "completely razed" by the flames.
For transhumant beekeeping, it is "especially concerning" that these hives have to return to these settlements once the summer transhumance is over, when "in many of them the fire has practically eliminated all available vegetation, compromising the feeding of the bees and, therefore, the survival and productivity of the colonies."
To this scenario is added the impact of the bee-eater, whose pressure on the hives reaches "especially severe" levels during episodes of high temperatures. According to the data provided by beekeepers, there are settlements where losses range from 10% to 100% of the hives.
The problem worsens because the "constant harassment" of this predator prevents the bees from going out normally to look for water, something "especially critical" in periods of extreme heat.
UPA-UCE warns that all this will have a "very negative" effect on the number and condition of the hives that will manage to reach the next wintering, in a context where mortality rates above 20% have already been recorded in recent years.
Risk to the continuity of operations
The agricultural organization estimates that the abandonment of beekeeping operations is already around 10%, while the generational change remains "stagnant." "We are facing a situation that puts at risk the continuity of many operations and, with it, the future of a sector fundamental to our rural environment and to the very conservation of ecosystems," it points out.
In the same vein, it maintains that beekeeping cannot continue to be treated as a "secondary" subsector within support policies for livestock farming.
For all this, UPA-UCE is carrying out the necessary procedures to request an urgent meeting with the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, and Natural Environment.
The organization considers it "essential" to address the situation of the sector "immediately" and propose concrete measures that guarantee the viability of the beekeeping operations in Extremadura.
Concern about blue tongue
In relation to blue tongue, the Secretary General of UPA-UCE Extremadura, Oscar Llanos, already on May 8, 2026, warned about the lack of vaccines in the region to protect the livestock against this disease.
A few hours later, the Ministry of Agriculture disseminated a document "recognizing this fact." The organization insisted that the ideal vaccination period was before the arrival of high temperatures and denounced the "lack of management" by the acting Government, which "had not managed the acquisition of the necessary vaccines to cover the livestock."
UPA-UCE emphasized to the farmers the need to vaccinate and, after more than 100 days of the new government in the Junta de Extremadura, it points out that a Agricultural Council has still not been convened to work together on measures against the blue tongue disease.
Alongside these two major fronts, and once the Las Hurdes fire was controlled, UPA-UCE emphasizes that it will maintain its demands.
It considers that all political groups must listen to the sector, as their experience and knowledge is "positive" for the management of fire prevention.
In this regard, UPA-UCE explains that a proposal document is being prepared to support these areas of "special difficulty," such as the mountainous and hillside regions.