According to thousands of farmers from the Balearics to across Spain, the new left-wing government has hung them out to dry and their fear for their livelihoods.
Demonstrations by small armies of farmers across Spain in recent days are testimony to their fears about a growing list of complaints, including dwindling prices and the impact of Brexit and U.S. tariffs.
The Spanish protests have left Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez scrambling to contain the unrest as his new Socialist-led government settles into office.
And, these are not isolated incidents, farmers have taken to the streets in countries such as France, Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland in recent months for similar reasons. Hundreds of their peers in the U.K. will gather in London on March 25 to urge the government to safeguard British farming standards in post-Brexit trade deals.
Spain is the largest producer of fruit and fresh vegetables in the EU, accounting for around one-quarter of production value, according to the bloc’s statistics agency.
That means the outcome of the talks between farmers and the government could ultimately impact the cost of those products and that will have an impact on consumers, not to mention the future of agriculture in Spain which, to some regions, is a life line.