Farmers and ranchers from Álava face a host of difficulties that suffocate the sector, such as the lack of generational relief, among others

It is an essential sector that is part of Alava’s own DNA but is going through one of its most critical moments in history. The agriculture and livestock sector has fallen in real terms to levels of the 1990s, a complicated situation for the professionals in this sector, primarily, but also for the rest of the people of Álava, as secondary damage Inflation and the constant rise in prices such as energy (+50%), feed (+35%) or phytosanitary products (+20%), for example, together with the current context of climate change, hinders the profitability of farmers and ranchers.

But even with this dark side of the scale, professionals look to the future with optimism, seeking to attract new talent to the sector that guarantees generational change, and they look at new challenges with determination. In order to talk, debate and get to know this real x-ray that the Álava agriculture is going through, and with different professionals, DIARIO DE NOTICIAS DE ÁLAVA has held a meeting that can be seen on a delayed basis and that recounts the current situation of this sector, in its most negative aspect. like the positive.

The meeting was moderated by the director of the newspaper Diario de Noticias, Víctor Goñi, and included six professionals with extensive: Andrés García (general director of Garlan); Goio Manrique (HAZI director of organization and digital transformation); Maite Corres Manero (technical coordinator of the sector of Konfekoop agri-food cooperatives); Olatz Unamunzaga (innovation and technology manager at Neiker), Jesús Manuel Moreno (commercial and marketing director of Udapa Sociedad Cooperativa) and Luis García Hernández (head of the agriculture department of Caja Rural de Navarra).

The agriculture and livestock sector is looking for new talents to guarantee generational change
Also, held at the Álava Technology Park, it is sponsored by Rural Kutxa, Esconsu, Garlan, HAZI, Konfekoop, Neiker and Udapa. These next lines will collect the most outstanding information from this meeting and the conclusions that are clear: the agriculture and livestock sector is essential for the territory of Álava and more support is needed from the consumer: supporting and betting on organic and kilometer zero food, a diet from Álava that, in addition to benefiting the health of each citizen, also boosts the economy of the territory and supports the work of the hundreds of ranchers and farmers who work in the fields every day despite the complicated situations they face.

Maite Corres Manero
Konfekoop is the Euskadi Confederation of Cooperatives that has a total of 1,400 associated cooperatives, of which up to 70 are agri-food cooperatives. On the occasion of Konfekoop’s participation in the Agro meeting, “they want to disseminate the results of AGROSMARTglobal, a European project that has managed to bring good practices to agri-food cooperatives to internationalize and market their products with digital tools.

You can access a battery of training content generated at this link (https://www.agrosmartglobal.eu/en/mooc/). Likewise, the cooperatives have participated in pilot experiences testing the main e-commerce platforms and sharing knowledge and better experiences with cooperatives from other regions of southwestern Europe, with the main objective of promoting their products and being more competitive”, says Maite Corres, technical coordinator. .

Nowadays, being a farm owner is being a Mr. and Mrs. Businesswoman.
Maite corres Manero – Konfekoop

“In Álava, the agricultural cooperative has 360 people working. Of this number, the vast majority are employed by others; this is an important level of jobs”, says Corres. And it also encourages citizens to bet on food from Álava, without buying food “that is less difficult for us to prepare”.

Photo and text: DNA.

Date of the event: 16/02/2023.

English translation: Google Translate.