The PSOE candidates for the Congress and the Senate for the province of Teruel, Herminio Sancho and María José Villalba, along with the general secretary of the socialists of Teruel, Rafael Guía, and other public officials, have argued that a future socialist government will intensify inspection and control mechanisms to ensure the real application of the Food Chain Law, whose aim is to secure “fair” prices for producers and to bar the sale at a loss.
Along these lines, they have explained that it is intended to transform the current Food Information and Control Agency (AICA) into a state body with more tools and more agile and effective procedures to enforce the regulations.
From the Fair of Aguaviva, in Teruel, they have underscored the importance of reinforcing the protection of the most vulnerable link in the food chain, the farmer and the rancher, eradicating abusive practices and balancing bargaining power, through the effective application of a Law which, they recalled, was rejected by the PP and Vox deputies.
Herminio Sancho, head of the list for the Congress, has denounced that any initiative by the Government of Pedro Sánchez to curb the escalation of prices and costs in the primary sector “has been continuously sabotaged” by right-wing and far-right formations.
“They voted—” he said— “in favor of the large food chains that treat agri-food as a speculation of enrichment, serving the role that it should have,” Sancho stated, emphasizing that the Law seeks for the producing sector to “cover the expenses.”
From the PSOE they maintain that the rule promoted by the Government of progress of Pedro Sánchez “has helped to correct those abusive practices in the negotiation of farmers and ranchers with distributors and traders.”
Fines, controls, and a ban on sales at a loss
The socialists have indicated that, since the entry into force of the Law, 400 penalties have already been processed, with a total amount of more than 3.3 million euros. “It already explicitly prohibits selling at a loss, with fines ranging from 3,001 to 100,000 euros. Now what is needed is for it to be complied with, and that depends on inspecting, on increasing controls. And PP and Vox also make that harder,” Sancho stressed.
The top of the list has reminded that the Government of Spain has strengthened the supervisory work of the AICA, which in 2024 reviewed more than 8,000 commercial relationships, more than three times as many as in the previous year. In addition, he has pointed out that in 2025 its conversion into a state inspection agency was proposed, with greater powers to oversee and protect the sector; a proposal that was again rejected by PP and Vox.
Sancho has warned that "there is no future for farming and fishing without professionals who can live off their work and young people who want to continue that work. And that is not what they are defending, nor PP and Vox, despite presenting themselves as the guarantors of the rural world. In reality, wherever they govern, including in Aragón, they refuse to establish controls while saying that the Food Chain Law does not work. What they want is to sell the rural environment to the highest bidder to large companies and vulture funds".
The execution of the Food Chain Law is integrated into the package of 43 measures agreed with farming organizations to strengthen the sector, which also includes the simplification of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), trade, agricultural insurance, taxation and financing, animal health, and generational replacement.
"They have already been implemented to 90% and are contributing decisively to improving the profitability of Spanish farms," they said from the PSOE.
Agri-food potential of Teruel and new regulations
The candidate for the Senate, María José Villalba, has highlighted that the province of Teruel has an agri-food sector "strong in many of its variants" and has argued that the policies of the Executive of Pedro Sánchez "are a boost so that the weakest link in the chain would not suffer at any point in the whole process".
She has also reminded that this Law adds to other initiatives with which the Government has strengthened the regulatory and strategic framework, such as the National Food Strategy, aimed at consolidating Spain as an agri-food power, or the Law on the Prevention of Food Loss and Waste.
"The assessment is that of a Government that has protected the incomes of farmers and ranchers, has responded to every crisis, and has invested in modernization," the PSOE candidates for the Congress and the Senate concluded.