Spain: Spanish potato producers cannot find a market for their product in the domestic market

Spanish farmers are once again raising their voices against a situation that many consider unsustainable. Paco, a potato farmer with decades of experience, complains that his produce can’t find a market in Spain while large supermarket chains opt to import potatoes from Israel. The result is entire harvests ending up in the trash and farmgate prices that don’t even cover production costs.

According to him, the problem isn’t quality. On the contrary. Potatoes grown in Spanish fields meet very high standards, both sanitary and environmental. However, large distributors prioritize price, even if it means transporting the product from thousands of kilometers away. Paco states that Spanish farmers are paid a mere 0.17 euros per unit, a figure he considers utterly ruinous.

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Cheap imports that ruin local farmers

The farmer complains that competing against third-party countries is practically impossible. Potatoes imported from Israel come with much lower labor, tax, and environmental costs, allowing them to offer prices that Spanish producers simply can’t match. The impact goes far beyond the farmer’s wallet. When a minimum profitable price isn’t reached, it’s not even worth harvesting the crop. In many cases, as Paco explains, the only option is to throw away tons of perfectly edible potatoes. It’s heartbreaking to see a year’s work end up in the ground.

Furthermore, the farmer points out that this situation is not isolated, but rather structural. Each season the same pattern repeats itself: high production costs, rock-bottom farmgate prices, and a distribution system focused on exports while domestic produce is left without a market.

This makes it impossible for the countryside to survive.

Paco insists that the problem is not only economic, but also social. If we continue like this, the countryside will disappear, he warns. The lack of profitability is causing many farmers to abandon the activity, which jeopardizes generational renewal and food sovereignty. The farmer also criticizes the lack of effective measures from the authorities. He demands stricter import controls, clauses that require compliance with the same standards as in Spain, and, above all, fair prices at the source that allow farmers to make a living from their work in the fields.