Farm diesel closed at 1.649 euros per litre on 7 September, 48% more than a year ago. ASAJA, COAG and UPA have called protests across Spain, and the state fuel discount expires on 30 September with no replacement announced. The farmers we spoke to say they have no room to spend less.
The three farming organisations announced immediate protests on 18 September. Minister Luis Planas called them to a meeting the following Tuesday. ASAJA estimates that working the 22 million hectares of autumn sowing will cost the sector at least 200 million euros more than last year.
Costs up 50% in a single season
A farmer we spoke to confirms the rise on his own farm. “This autumn, from now until the harvest starts, I'll use at least 300 to 400 litres of diesel. Our costs are up almost 50% on what they were last year.”
More treatments, more diesel
His explanation adds a factor missing from the public debate: consumption hasn't gone up just because of the price, but because you have to go over the fields more often. “Since the treatments they allow us are more and more limited and force you to do more treatments than in the past, diesel consumption is higher.”
The result, he says, is a decline that's already leading people to quit: “If you add the outrageous, sky-high price on top of that, the farmer's purchasing power is hitting unbearable lows. That's why so many people are choosing to give up.”
“Either you do it all or you do nothing”
Asked about the three options usually taken for granted — switching crops, doing fewer passes or farming less land — he rules them out one by one.
“For now, all I can do is keep going. I can't switch crops because that would mean a huge investment.”
On treatments: “You can't do fewer passes because you run the risk, now in the final stage of production, of pests ruining the fruit after you've invested in it all year. So, no matter what, you have to give it the same passes you've always had to.”
And on farming less land: “Fewer hectares isn't an option either, because you can't do some fields and not others. Either you do it all or you do nothing.”
The refund: just over a hundred euros
The measure the government presents as compensation — the professional diesel refund — barely shows up in the accounts. “It's a laughable amount, very little. Last year they gave me a hundred-odd euros. Given how much the price has shot up, it's no relief at all.”
The meeting between the Ministry and the farming organisations takes place this Tuesday, five days before the fuel discount expires.
Sources: ASAJA — Immediate protests against the fuel price rise · Infobae — The Government will meet with farmers · Agroinformación — The autumn bill: 200 million more on diesel
