The Union of Small Farmers and Ranchers (UPA) of Castilla-La Mancha has denounced the "critical situation that many of the region's grain producers are going through as a consequence of the harvesting restrictions imposed by the Ministry of Sustainable Development through the daily maps of the Potential Propagation Index (IPP)".
According to the agricultural organization in a statement, the way these limitations are being applied is making the normal development of the campaign unviable and generating "irreparable" economic losses for hundreds of family farms, especially in the final stretch of the harvest in the provinces of Guadalajara and Cuenca.
UPA points out that the IPP maps disseminated by the Ministry are preventing harvesting work in many grain-producing regions of Castilla-La Mancha. "Far from offering a useful tool for planning work, these maps are being modified even during the course of the day, generating absolute uncertainty among farmers, who cannot organize their work".
"Without going any further, this morning the IPPs in some regions were changed mid-morning. The organization also considers it inadmissible that these maps are not published with the regularity and advance notice necessary to organize a campaign that depends on very complex logistics, involving farmers, harvesters, trailers, transporters, and hired personnel," the note adds.
To this problem, UPA adds the real difficulty of complying with certain preventive measures set by the Ministry. "The obligation to have more workers or to incorporate additional machinery during harvesting operations is completely unassumable for a large number of family farms, which lack the economic capacity to face these extraordinary costs."
As a direct effect of all this, the organization indicates that numerous plots are being left unharvested. "Every day that passes, the shelling of the grain and production losses increase, while wild fauna consumes a harvest that represents the effort, investment, and work of an entire year."
One more blow for an already strained sector
UPA recalls that grain is experiencing one of the most complicated conjunctures of recent campaigns, marked by very high production costs, dwindling profitability, and growing uncertainty about the future of farms.
In this scenario, the organization considers that the current restrictions represent a new obstacle that seriously endangers the continuity of many family cereal farms.
The general secretary of UPA in Guadalajara, María José Ramiro, regrets that a point of no return has been reached for many farmers. "Farmers are truly making the utmost effort to collaborate with the Ministry of Sustainable Development, largely accepting the restrictions imposed during harvesting."
Ramiro emphasizes that "we have reached a point where the generalized feeling in the sector is one of total abandonment and indifference on the part of this public administration. One cannot demand more and more from those who have spent years demonstrating their commitment to fire prevention without listening to the reality we live in the countryside."
The provincial representative insists that farmers are the first to be interested in minimizing any fire risk, as their assets, their farms, and, in many cases, their own economic livelihood depend directly on it.
"All we ask is that decisions be made with technical, proportionate criteria that are compatible with the reality of agricultural holdings. Prevention cannot become the paralysis of agricultural activity," she adds.
UPA demands urgent changes to harvesting restrictions
For this reason, UPA Castilla-La Mancha calls on the Ministry of Sustainable Development for an immediate review of the current system for applying harvesting restrictions, so that the IPP maps are published with stability, sufficient advance notice, and without continuous changes that prevent the organization of work in the field.
Likewise, it demands that the preventive measures be proportionate, technically supported, and adapted to the real capacity of agricultural holdings to comply with them.
The organization warns that, if this situation is not urgently corrected, many holdings will continue to accumulate losses that will compromise their viability. In its opinion, farmers in Castilla-La Mancha cannot continue to bear decisions that, in practice, are forcing them to leave a significant part of the harvest uncollected.
The sector, UPA insists, demands dialogue, common sense, and measures that allow for the compatibility of the essential protection of the natural environment with the survival of professional agriculture.
For all these reasons, UPA Castilla-La Mancha requests the urgent convening of a meeting with the Ministry of Sustainable Development to analyze the situation and agree on immediate solutions that will make it possible for cereal farmers to finish the harvesting campaign with the minimum necessary guarantees.
The organization considers it essential to review the way restrictions are applied and adapt the measures to the reality of agricultural holdings, so that farmers who have not yet been able to conclude the harvest can do so without continuing to incur irreversible economic losses.
UPA reiterates its willingness to collaborate in fire prevention, but demands that this collaboration be accompanied by dialogue, planning, and decisions compatible with the continuity of agricultural activity.