News from the Fields: The Truth Uncovered

The Valencian regional government is preparing an order requiring an official document, the DATA, for every batch leaving the farm, with 24 hours to prove its origin before the goods can be destroyed. A farmer who has had fruit stolen several times explains how he fills in this paperwork today and why he doubts it will help stop theft.

ASAJA Alicante puts the citrus size delay at 15-20 days after more than 60 straight days of heat, though it expects a bigger harvest and good quality compared with last year. A farmer from another area describes exactly the opposite: hardly any delay, much bigger fruit and a smaller harvest than in 2025.

Up to July, Spain exported 1% fewer kilos of fruit and vegetables but earned 6% more, 12,039 million euros, according to customs data processed by FEPEX. Oranges fell 12%, lemons 8.6% and onions 13.5%. Last season one farmer was paid 29 cents a kilo for Navelina, 19% less than the year before.

LA UNIÓ found substances not authorised in the EU, including Movento, in 10 out of 12 batches of supermarket citrus, 9 of them from South Africa. A citrus grower who used the product before it was withdrawn explains why it disappeared, what replacing it costs him and why nobody has bought Spanish navelina yet this year.

While the Supreme Court upholds ecological flows in the Tagus and the Tagus-Segura transfer loses 105 cubic hectometres in 2027 for Alicante, Murcia and Almería, a farmer who irrigates straight from the Júcar, without relying on that transfer, details how much his water has already gone up: from twelve to twenty cents per cubic metre in three seasons.

Minister Luis Planas announced on 22 September that the aid for the extra cost of farm diesel will be extended until 31 December. The five farmers' organisations came away "let down" and are keeping their protests planned for before the end of October. A farmer explains why the extension doesn't change his numbers.

The Government is keeping the 20-cent-per-litre discount on farm diesel and will extend it until 31 December. A farmer we spoke to explains that the price rise ate up that aid in four or five days, that the refund paperwork goes to the accountant, and which measure, in his view, would actually make a difference: cutting VAT.

The Valencia region will pick around 240.000 tonnes of persimmons, 34% less than last season and the worst harvest in a decade. A grower from the Ribera Alta explains what the forecasts don't show: today a persimmon needs between eight and eleven treatments to reach the packhouse, when seven or eight years ago it needed none.

The Valencian Community is heading for its second-smallest citrus harvest in two decades, and yet prices aren't rising. A citrus grower explains it from the inside: South African fruit stockpiled until November, royalty varieties he can't afford, and selling “a resultas”, “a trap for the farmer.”

Valencia's Citrus Price Board opened the season with Navelina at 0.27 euros per kilo, five cents below the break-even point calculated by AVA-ASAJA. In the Ribera Alta, a citrus grower says he still hasn't received a single offer and that the harvest will be half the usual size.

Farm diesel costs 1.649 euros per litre, 48% more than a year ago, and the state discount expires on 30 September. Farming organisations have called protests. One farmer explains why he can't cut his consumption: every active ingredient that gets withdrawn forces him to do more passes.

Minister Planas wants to keep CAP payments for retired farmers to prevent land abandonment. In Valencia’s Ribera Alta, a young farmer says the aid changes nothing: land gets abandoned anyway, and the real problems are pests and prices.