Alicante's Cereal Struggles: First 'Decent' Harvest in Three Years Yet Unprofitable

After three years marked by drought and nearly barren harvests, Alicante's cereal sector is seeing a glimmer of hope with an expected yield of 8,000 tonnes in the province. This figure would be positive for the sector if not for the lack of profitability of the harvest.

This is the concern raised by the Young Farmers Association (Asaja) of Alicante, which states that this campaign "will not be enough for the sector to recover." The association explains that although the early 2025 rains have provided some relief to the crops, cereal farmers face issues such as "uncontrolled wildlife, unaffordable production costs, and ridiculously low selling prices that fail to cover production costs."

Ricardo Ferri, the representative of the cereal sector in Alicante, has highlighted that "cultivating a hectare under good conditions in this province costs around 670 euros, while the profits do not exceed 550 euros." This situation leads to two scenarios: either the farmer cuts costs, affecting their potential, or they simply abandon their farm.

The crisis has been exacerbated since 2022 by the war in Ukraine and the sevenfold increase in soft wheat imports in Europe, as detailed by Asaja, which also reports that fertilisers, mostly purchased from Russia, have quadrupled in price due to tariffs.

"We have no decision-making power over the prices, neither of the products we buy nor those we sell," insists the Alicante agricultural association. Asaja Alicante calls for urgent solutions to end this profitability crisis.

Among the measures, they highlight "direct aid to farmers linked to fertiliser purchase invoices; removing tariffs on fertiliser imports, controlling cereal imports from third countries while giving preference to national cereals, and reducing taxation."

Spanish cereal has long been in the red. With this complaint as their main banner, Asaja, in collaboration with COAG and UPA, gathered today in front of the Ministry of Agriculture in Madrid. "If the countryside disappears, the shopping basket will depend on third countries and what speculators want." Asaja reminds that farmers are not asking for handouts: "they ask to be able to live from their work."