Farmers paralyze the center of Barcelona with a tractor protest to demand aid for the sector: "It is time to say enough"

Barcelona/BrusselsA thousand farmers paralyzed the heart of Barcelona this Wednesday with their tractors as well as buses and private vehicles in a demonstration to demand immediate solutions to the "structural crisis" situation the sector is experiencing. The demonstration, called by Unió de Pagesos, mobilized around 200 tractors—according to the organizers' data—coming from various points of the Catalan territory that gathered in front of the headquarters of the State government delegation, the Department of Agriculture, and the Palau de la Generalitat. The march blocked a large part of Passeig de Gràcia and Via Laietana for more than four hours—with impacts on different bus lines—and also caused slow-moving traffic in both directions of the Ronda Litoral when the farmers were returning home.

"We are prepared not to let up, it is time to say enough," pointed out the national coordinator of the agricultural union, Raquel Serrat, in statements to the media in front of the Spanish government delegation in Catalonia, the point where the farmers had gathered this Wednesday at twelve noon to begin the tractor protest through the streets of Barcelona. For the territorial representative of the Girona regions as well, the increase in costs over the last year, the drop in the remuneration received by farmers, and the latest episodes of "historic" droughts have put the sector "against the ropes".

In this sense, from Unió de Pagesos they maintain that the country's agriculture and livestock farming "cannot accept more patchwork policies" or constantly resort to one-off aid. "Basic food sovereignty must be guaranteed," summarized Serrat.

Main demands

During the demonstration, the union delivered to the national and regional administrations the demands and proposals to alleviate the "chain of crises" aggravated this 2026 by what they consider an "unstoppable" rise in costs as a result of wars, unfair competition, production disruptions due to climate change, livestock diseases, and continuous damage from wildlife.

In statements issued in recent days, Unió de Pagesos (Farmers' Union) demanded measures from the Government such as the granting of direct aid of up to 17,000 euros for professional agricultural holdings to cope with the effects derived from the crisis in the Middle East, requests that were repeated today. In the same vein, the union has asked the Spanish executive for professional agricultural diesel with the minimum permitted taxation, reduced VAT for agricultural production, specific electricity tariffs for irrigation, exemption from periodic vehicle inspection (ITV) for agricultural machinery, or "correct" labeling so that citizens know the origin of the products they consume, among others.

All this, amidst a context also marked by "abuses and breaches" of the food chain legislation and imports from outside the European Union that do not meet the conditions required of local producers. The latest examples of these recent problems are the investigation of 50 contracts by the Generalitat in the wine sector for the purchase of grapes below cost price and the prohibition by the European Union of imports into community territory of meat or animal products from Brazil.

Response from the administrations

Although no meeting has taken place between the representatives of the agricultural sector and the public administrations, as Unió de Pagesos had foreseen, the union has detailed that the Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food of the Generalitat has offered to receive them. However, the organization has stressed that the farmers' demands "have already been conveyed" to the corresponding spaces—in meetings of the Agrarian Table—and they remark that it is now necessary to reach "firm commitments".

Faced with the new day of mobilizations, the minister of the department, Òscar Ordeig, has opted to "listen, dialogue" and establish both emergency and structural measures for the sector. Regarding the protests, the socialist leader recalled that work is being done within the framework of the Agrarian Table to define "with precision" crops, percentages of impact, and areas of the territory to decide on "compensation scales".

The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, also echoed the farmers' demands this Wednesday from Brussels. In the European capital, Illa met with the vice-president of the Agriculture Committee of the European Parliament, Eric Sargiacomo, the MEPs of the Agriculture Committee, and the vice-president of the European Commission, Teresa Ribera, to whom he conveyed the need to activate aid funds for the sector.

In this regard, he has asked the EU to mobilize resources to provide extraordinary aid for farmers and livestock breeders who are suffering from falling prices, rising costs, and the loss of farm profitability. He also addressed the fertilizer crisis and called for European solutions in this area. "There is an increase in costs caused by wars initiated by authoritarian governments led by far-right politicians," he lamented, and he criticized how this particularly affects the agricultural sector.

Regarding the farmers' demand to receive up to 17,000 euros per farm, Illa limited himself to saying that the government is "working on this aid package." To obtain them, he asserts, "European competency funds" are very important.

In addition to having to face a context of "structural crisis," thesector has the next EU budget in its sights, as cuts are expected that could affect the European aid received by eight out of every ten Catalan farmers and livestock breeders. Regarding this issue, Illa has demanded that there be no cuts to the Common Agricultural Policy and expressed his rejection of the dilution of the role of the regions under the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) model, which proposes a single state fund. "There cannot be a recentralization of powers in the states, and it is also necessary to promote a role for the regions," he stressed.

Ordeig highlighted the value of Illa's institutional trip to the Belgian capital, because its objective is to "directly defend the agri-food sector," whether through maintaining a constant presence in European institutions to protect the Mediterranean agricultural model or by building alliances with other similar regions and realities.

Despite the words of the political representatives, the Farmers' Union (Unió de Pagesos) has already warned that it will be present at the demonstration scheduled for next October 28 in Madrid, a mobilization under the slogan 'We produce your food, we deserve to live from our work' which will end in front of the Ministry of Agriculture headquarters.

Mobilizations from early in the morning

Aside from Unió de Pagesos as the convening organization, this Wednesday's tractor protest also had the support of the Agrarian Association - Young Farmers (Asaja) of Catalonia, the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Catalonia (FCAC), and the Girona and Tarragona delegations of Revolta Pagesa. The vehicles, coming from nine departure points spread across the country, met at twelve noon at the intersection of Mallorca and Roger de Llúria streets, from where the journey began with the final destination at Plaça Sant Jaume.

The earliest risers were the farmers from the Terres de l'Ebre, who began their march at 5 a.m. from Amposta (Montsià) and Camarles (Baix Ebre). Later, farmers and ranchers from the Camp de Tarragona began their journey towards the Catalan capital, leaving from Falset (Priorat) starting at 5:45 a.m. and, subsequently, from Reus (Baix Camp).

They also got up early in Oliana (Alt Urgell), in Santa Llogaia d'Àlguema (Alt Empordà) and in Lleida (Segrià), with tractor protests that began their journey from around six in the morning. Later, they were joined by tractors from the Girona regions —from Medinyà (Gironès) and Franciac (la Selva)—, other points in Tarragona —Montblanc (Conca de Barberà), Vila-Rodona (Alt Camp) and la Bisbal del Penedès (Baix Penedès)—, from the Lleida plain —Fondarella (Pla d'Urgell) and Cervera (Segarra)—, from Central Catalonia —Jorba (Anoia)— and from the Barcelona metropolitan area —Vilafranca del Penedès (Alt Penedès), Mollet del Vallès (Vallès Oriental) and Sant Vicenç dels Horts (Baix Llobregat)—.