Rebellion on Malaga farms: new animal welfare regulations threaten their viability

Pedro Brenes has a goat farm in Puerto de la Torre. He has been a livestock farmer for as long as he can remember, a profession he considers "hard" and "sacrificial". Until now, he has been able to make a living from the yield of his 700 Malaga breed goats. Apart from the difficulties of rising costs in fixed items such as fuel and electricity, he is now facing the consequences of the new animal welfare rules. These demands from Brussels could change the reality and the way of working on farms in the province, to the point of threatening the viability of many of them.

In Malaga, according to data from the regional ministry of agriculture, there are around a thousand. The trend towards closure, however, is as real in recent years as the increase in bureaucracy and the anger with everything that comes from Europe. A tour of some farms in the province reveals a division between farmers and the civil servants who draw up the laws that then jeopardise the common agricultural policy (CAP). If these laws are not complied with, funding cuts are the consequence.

The agrarian association of farmers (Asaja) has been denouncing for some time the rift that has been generated between the livestock farmers of Malaga and the technocrats in Brussels. Miguel Ángel Higuera, who is part of the animal welfare working group of Copa Cogeca, one of the umbrella associations representing farmers in Brussels, complains that the European Union's green pact does not take into account the different regional idiosyncrasies, something that affects peripheral countries such as Spain. "The regulations are not proportional to the needs of our farmers," he says.

The main drawbacks lie in in the transport and handling of the animals. One aspect of the regulation states that animals cannot be transported when the temperatures exceed 30 degrees Celsius. "This is a clear example of regulating without knowing the field. I understand that in some northern countries the animals are used to lower temperatures, but in Andalucía... Here we spend many months above 30 degrees, the animals are perfectly used to it," Brenes explains.

Manuel Salcedo's farm is located in Ardales. He is 57 years old and a second generation cattle farmer. He has 900 head of cattle in intensive farming and the implementation of animal welfare regulations threatens the economic viability of a business that he has built up and modernised over decades. The new space regulations would force him to reduce the number of cattle he now has.

That means that to produce the same amount, he would have to build a new cowshed. The cost would skyrocket and make it unviable. "Even if you wanted to, building a cowshed now is linked to thousands of permits and a very big investment. Until you start to make a profit, you've already ruined yourself along the way," he says. Salcedo says that animal welfare standards would not only reduce his income, but also call into question his work as a farmer. "As in all trades, there are people who don't do it well. But who better than me, who has been doing this all my life, to know how to look after my animals?

He points out that farmers in general are being subjected to "tremendous pressure" from the EU. Salcedo speaks of a "bureaucratisation" that translates into many hours of office work. "And we already work eleven or twelve hours a day," he explains. As an example, he says that a farm has to keep a record of everything that is done on it. "You have to keep up to date the book of medicines, feed, disinfection, milk, farm and visits," he says, adding, "You can be inspected at any time."