The worth of the pork disaster: “We are below production costs” | News from Catalonia | EUROtoday

On November 27, Spain notified its lack of its standing as a rustic freed from African swine fever (ASF), a virus that had not been detected since 1994. At the second, 13 contaminated wild boars have been confirmed, all of them within the Collserola park, proper within the space of ​​affect of the Animal Health Research Center (IRTA-CReSA). The laboratory of the Autonomous University of Barcelona is on the heart of suspicions of being the purpose from which the virus emerged. Seprona and the Mossos d’Esquadra are actually investigating whether or not the virus got here from IRTA CReSa or from an contaminated sandwich deserted by a truck driver on the AP7. Be that as it might, the presence of the virus – for the second infecting solely wild fauna – has brought on the worth of Spanish pork to fall and has uncovered the intense danger of Spanish livestock monoculture, which is dealing with considered one of its best crises.

Spain is the principle pig producing nation within the European Union and the third on the earth. In 2024, the sector had a turnover of 25,000 million euros in Spain and generated greater than 415,000 jobs, producing nearly 5 million tons of meat, sausages and hams. Today, all through the territory (particularly within the so-called emptied Spain) there are greater than 67,500 pig farms and greater than 56 million pigs are slaughtered every year. The sector is concentrated, above all, in unpopulated areas of Lleida, Huesca, Zaragoza, the Barcelona area of Osona, Segovia, Salamanca or Cuenca.

Oriol Rovira is the proprietor of a household farm in Oristà (Barcelona) that produces 300 sows and eight,000 piglets per yr. Their farm is positioned 50 kilometers from the outbreak and has been affected by provincial regionalization that stops the export of meat from their animals to sure nations outdoors the European Union, reminiscent of China. “This crisis is generating a lot of uncertainty. The drop in prices has caused us to be below production costs,” he laments. Rovira reveals that the proliferation of pig farms in Spain is because of the truth that “it is a profitable business in which there is a lot of demand”, not less than till the ASF disaster broke out. “The risk we have is that all farmers are raising pigs, we depend on exports and, with the current plague, we are now very weak,” he concludes.

Pere Castell, professor of Economics on the University of Barcelona, ​​focuses on these hyperlinks with overseas. “The livestock sector in Spain depends exclusively on pork exports because the rest of the meat is almost not exported.” Castell maintains that Spain, till now, is aggressive in pork manufacturing as a result of quantity generated in areas reminiscent of Catalonia and Aragon. “It is an intensive and industrialized monoculture that makes us very competitive. Even so, the concentration of the activity generates problems such as slurry management,” says the professor. Castell admits that the ASF disaster will have an effect on the sector, however he’s assured that it will likely be overcome and Spain will proceed to be among the many prime pig producers.

Gustavo Duch, graduate in veterinary drugs and coordinator of the journal Food sovereignty, biodiversity and culturesit’s forceful. “From a capitalist perspective, playing all the cards in an activity makes you vulnerable and is risky.” Consider that pig monoculture just isn’t solely harmful attributable to a disaster just like the plague. He denounces that to feed thousands and thousands of pigs we’ve got to rely on feed that’s manufactured with corn and soy from third nations. “There are four or five large companies that monopolize the profits in the pork sector. Workers have been fired at the first opportunity in this crisis. Workers are also very poorly paid, while the economic benefits of monoculture fall into the hands of a few businessmen,” he laments.

Duch denounces that the importation of soybeans to feed pigs on macro farms is “collapsing” the Amazon ecosystem and displacing its native farmers. And he criticizes that macro farms in Spain contaminate aquifers with slurry. “If the virus ends up entering a farm, as the animals are overcrowded, contamination will be automatic. It is mandatory to diversify the species, leave livestock farming in the hands of small producers and achieve a more distributive economy,” he concludes.

Spain is the third world exporter of pork. The nation invoices about 8.7 billion yearly promoting this meat overseas. The majority of commerce exchanges are carried out with the European Union, and China is the principle non-EU buying nation. “It is necessary to change the chip and produce food for ourselves, not for China. Spain does not produce enough vegetables or gardens and we have to buy abroad. This crisis ends up warning us that globalization is crazy,” concludes Duch.

Ricard Parés is a professor within the Department of Animal and Food Science on the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and director of the Catalan Association of Pork Producers (Porcat). “Within Spanish livestock farming, the pig sector is the most important. We are in a free market and the current system is due to a natural evolution of the activity of Spanish farmers,” defends Parés. The director of Porcat maintains that the success of pork in Spain is a consequence of the system carried out, the strict rules and that “other markets are incapable of self-sufficiency and have to resort to the Spanish market.” Parés defends the macro-farm system, alleging that there was no well being drawback inside them. “What this crisis will do is accelerate concentration processes. There will be increasingly larger ranchers, because if the plague continues, they are the only ones who will have enough muscle to endure.”

The common secretary of the Business Federation of Meat and Meat Industries (FECIC), Ignasi Pons, defends the professionalization of the pork sector in Spain and assures that monoculture is because of three elements: “There is a livestock tradition that is passed from parents to children, there is a free market and it is a very profitable livestock farm.” Pons doesn’t need to be pessimistic, and assures that we’re removed from the plague spreading, so he believes that the ASF episode will find yourself being overcome.

Rossend Saltiveri is the proprietor of a pig farm in Ivars d’Urgell (Lleida), greater than 110 kilometers from the ASF outbreak. He can be answerable for the pork sector of the Unió de Pagesos agricultural union. “We all have pigs because beef or sheep are more expensive. Maintaining dairy cows is more expensive. Even raising a calf is much more expensive. On the other hand, pigs are easier and their consumption is widespread throughout the world,” he argues. Saltiveri assures that with all of the business, infrastructure and demand that has been generated in Spain round pork, it’s unattainable, even when there’s a lasting disaster attributable to swine fever, for a livestock farm that has turn into a monoculture to be diversified.