Freshuelva, in collaboration with the Caja Rural del Sur Foundation, has organized a meeting in which the Spanish MEPs Clara Aguilera and Juan Ignacio Zoido have informed representatives of the 28 organizations of fruit and vegetable producers (OPFH) in the berry sector in Huelva on the status of proposals and discussions in which red berries are at stake for a "very important" future.

In this context, the presidents of Freshuelva and the Caja Rural del Sur Foundation, Alberto Garrocho and José Luis García-Palacios, have informed the producer organizations first hand of the situation of the issues being debated in Europe and «that they will mark the immediate future of the sector ”.

For his part, the MEP and vice-spokesperson for the PP in the Agriculture Commission, Juan Ignacio Zoido, has referred to the "joint fight that PP and PSOE are making for the Agriculture Commissioner to present a greater offer of aid for the fruit and vegetable sector and agree to make the operational aid programs more flexible ».

Operational programs

At this point, he highlighted the decision of the Andalusian Government to agree to the request from the sector to make the conditions of operational programs more flexible that in 2019 they left in the province, the second in this sense in Andalusia, 118 million grants, which involved the investment of 234 million for 95 Huelva-based OPFH.

Zoido has also referred to the important debate on the reform and financing of the CAP, as well as the Negotiations of the new European financial framework for the 2021 and 2027 horizon.

In this regard, he assured that, while a regulatory framework for the CAP has been approved that "intends to give stability until the new CAP enters into force, which seems to be in 2023", in the debate on financing, "the battle because we are playing the model that has allowed us to modernize our agriculture ", arguments with which he asked the Government"to prioritize the CAP and negotiation to maintain current funds ».

Trade agreements

Finally, Zoido has addressed the strategy announced by the European Commission 'From the Farm to the Table', which he assured that the PP "has tried to slow it down because now is not the time to put new limitations until we have a real evaluation of the consequences of the pandemic ”, defending that,“ if we want more sustainable agriculture and consumption, it must be designed with incentives and without imposing more obligations ”; and betting on the "lowering of taxes on fruits and vegetables so that they reach more people with a reasonable price."

The MEP of the PP has guaranteed, on the other hand, and in response to a question asked by Alberto Garrocho, that, as a member of the negotiation of trade agreements corresponding to Brexit, he will not leave the table until he "ensures that there are no changes or tariffs in new red fruit trade relations with the United Kingdom."

CAP and new EU strategies

For her part, the PSOE MEP Clara Aguilera has begun her presentation remembering that, after more than two years debating the reform of the CAP, “a transitional regulation has been approved for the two years in which there will be CAP, since it won't take effect until 2023, but it has been possible to guarantee that the programs are maintained, including OPFH operational programs ».

He then encouraged the sector to participate by making contributions and "improvements that include the reality of the red fruit sector because we are playing agricultural policy "on the two strategies launched by the European Commission in response to the commitment to more sustainable agriculture, such as the Biodiversity Strategy and the" Farm to Table "strategy.

Aguilera has alluded to the limitation of pesticides and fertilizers as one of the main controversial issues in the new strategyAlthough he has argued that this "can serve to guarantee that there is no agreement with a third country that does not have environmental regulations as demanding as those that exist with the European countries themselves."

Organic farming and sustainability

In the same way, he stressed that the commitment to organic farming is an "important market niche for the red fruit sector because Europe imports 40% of this type of product », also pointing out that in Andalusia“ it is going in a very good way, since it is at 18%, when the strategy 'From the Farm to the Mesa 'sets 25%.

Equalization of conditions in European internal markets, wherever you live; the increase in the co-financing limit of the aid programs of the operational programs from 50 to 70% and that the environmental sustainability of these programs rises from 10 to 15%, These have been other issues that the socialist MEP has communicated.

Aid packages

After acknowledging the difficulty of accepting some measures claimed by Freshuelva within the flexibility of operational programs, such as those related to the sit-ins, since it was not a majority request within the EU, he did want to highlight that "it has been possible to Europe allows communities to activate aid within the second pillar of the CAP, which represent the EAFRD funds, which can be up to 7.000 euros per farmer ».

In this sense, Clara Aguilera is pleased that the Andalusian Government has endowed this aid package with 38 million euros, which "will be very important because it will reach that small farmer who has had a very difficult time this season."

At this point, the manager of Freshuelva, Rafael Domínguez, has specified that the association “has already sent a letter to the Ministry of Agriculture asking the inclusion of the berry sector in the province of Huelva in these grants », trusting that, this time, "the aid train will not pass by again and that we will be recognized in this way that we have maintained the activity with enormous effort despite the serious situation we have experienced."