Farmers of Galicia crying over their ‘spilt milk’

Press, 10 January 1986, Page 14

Farmers of Galicia crying over their ‘spilt milk’

From

KARREN BEANLAND,

based in

Paris but on assignment in Spain.

In the soft, grey morning light of lush Galicia, an old man strolls towards the road with a single can of milk loaded on a wheelbarrow. Nearby, one of his neighbours wanders along the roadside with her two cows, in much the same way a city-dweller might take a dog for a walk. It is a scene typical of this northern region of Spain, known as “green” Spain because of its high rainfall, where more than half the 2.8 million population depends on the sale of milk to subsist. The countryside bears a remarkable similarity to New Zealand, but the similarity only serves to underline the differences in farming practices and lifestyle. With Spain’s entry into the European Economic Community this year, its milk producers will face an immediate cut in income. In Galicia, that income is already half the minimum living wage in Spain, which is not high by any standard. In the long term, their problem will be one of survival. Spain’s entry into the E.E.C. is being greeted by its people with a yawn and a shrug of the shoulders. Like most Europeans, they do not particularly like the Common Market, but they have long realised that joining was only a matter of time. With a shaky economy — evidenced by 18 per cent unemployment and disturbing numbers of beggars, including small children — access to the markets of Europe can only be good news for most industries. It is also a symbolic step for Spain. Ten years after the death of General Franco, it is tangible proof that the country has become a modern, European democracy. Such niceties do not impress the small dairy farmers of the north, however, who feel that the Government sold out their interests in order to gain access to an E.E.C. market already swamped with dairy produce. The cow milk industry will be the most vulnerable agricultural sector after Spain’s entry into the E.E.C. It suffers from deep structural problems, with a proliferation of small family farms using antiquated farming methods to produce lower quality and higher priced milk than other E.E.C. countries. The average number of cows on Spanish farms is about six, half the number of most E.E.C. countries. They produce an average 2500 litres of milk a year, compared with more than 4000 for their new coijßetitors. S Milk is the only product in’Spain

which costs more than in the E.E.C.

Galicia, which produces 25 per cent of Spanish milk and has the potential to produce half, will be the region hardest hit. The average farm size is little more than two hectares, and 91,000 farms, 74 per cent of the total number, have fewer than five cows. They are too small to compete in a bigger market, but they do not generate enough income to finance the cost of expansion and modernisation. The regional Government has devised various schemes to help modernise between 40,000 and 50,000 small family farms. Of those to “modernise,” only 10,000 to 12,000 have milking equipment and even fewer have refrigeration facilities for milk storage. In some parts of this hilly region, which has poor roads and communications, milk collections are made only every two days. Muth of the milk is transported lonf’dis-

tances, increasing the chances of bacterial contamination. Thorough testing for milk quality and hygiene are only now being introduced on a wide scale. In spite of the fact that Galicia has an overall power surplus, the electrical current is so erratic in some areas that farmers cannot use the refrigerators which have been installed.

The situation for milk producers in neighbouring Asturias and Cantabria is now quite as bad as for those in Galicia, but the outlook is still grim. In those regions, betwen a quarter and a third of the active working population is employed on farms, half of which have fewer than five cows. Most of the small diaries are run by elderly people or families who supplement their income from milk with earnings from a few vegetables, chickens, a pig, the old age pension, or money sent home by children. They are conservative, so

resist change in farming methods, diversification and the formation of co-operatives which cut the costs of modernisation. It is a heart-breaking picture for those who work with the small dairy farmers. The farmers themselves have no faith in politics and have not formed any effective political lobby groups. In so far as their interests are represented at all, it is by small farming organisations or Socialist or Communist trade unions, which spend more time arguing over their own political differences. Arguments from the Right-wing regional Governments of Cantabria and Galicia have cut little ice with the central, Socialist Government. Everyone agrees that the fiveyear transition period negotiated as part of Spain’s E.E.C. entry deal should be used for a complete restructuring of its dairy industry. So far, nothing has been done; and many say it is already too late. In theory, Spanish dairy farmers should be able to survive the E.E.C., as production is roughly equivalent to national consumption. Unfortunately, the three “green” regions are separated from their main markets in the south by a wall of mountains. With lower transport costs and E.E.C. subsidies, farmers from the south of France could undercut them. Such milk imports began late last year, in spite of the E.E.C. protections. Ironically, Spain will contribute 150 billion pesetas (?2 billion) a year to the E.E.C. Common Agricultural Policy fund. Some of that money will subsidise the surplus production of French farmers, who will then be able to unload their excess in Spain. What angers farmers most is the milk-production quota Spain accepted in E.E.C. talks. It has been set at the 1983 level, which fanners say has already been exceeded. It puts them in a Catch-22 situation: they must expand, modernise, and improve productivity to become competitive, but they cannot increase output. One Galician family, living on the income of 21 cows, says it has recently increased production by 30 per cent They plan to carry on f ‘just the same,” quota or no quota. It remains to be seen whether they ■j will be able to sell the extra milk, ' , ' , 'and at what price.

Neither farmers nor milk processing co-operatives have yet been told how the quote will be enforced. Some say it will be nearimpossible to police production levels. Keeping accurate records is not a Spanish strong-point, and some processing plants do not even keep producers’ names and address.

Asked what will happen now that Spain is in the E.E.C., people in the industry just shrug their shoulders. “I don’t know. We will wait to see,” many reply. One agricultural official in Galicia, who describes living standards there as “Third World,” says some farmers, especially the elderly, will continue to eke out an ever-poorer living. Other respond in one word: “Disaster!”