Reading Time: 2 minutes China has signed two agricultural trade protocols with Spain covering pork and cherries as the world's second largest economy acts to bolster ties with the European Union amid an escalating trade war between Beijing and the U.S.
China expands access for Spanish pork as trade tensions with US mount
Raising a stink: Spaniards sue state over pig farm pollution
Reading Time: 2 minutes Environmental groups and residents are suing the Spanish state and the region of Galicia in a landmark case over alleged decades-long mismanagement of pollution caused by intensive pig farming, activist charity ClientEarth said on Wednesday.
Farmers protest across Europe, press ministers to act
Protests continued in Brussels, Madrid, border between Poland and Germany
Reading Time: 3 minutes Farmers on Monday blocked a border crossing between Poland and Germany, threw bottles at police in Brussels and gathered in Madrid to demand action on cheap supermarket prices and what they say is unfair competition from abroad.
Tractors choke Spanish city streets as farmers protest EU policy
Spain's government, EU distribute additional subsidies, scrap plan to halve pesticide use
Reading Time: 2 minutes Spanish farmers drove tractors through city streets, disrupting traffic on Thursday as they stepped up their protests against soaring costs, bureaucracy and cheap competition from outside the European Union.
Belgian farmers block roads to Zeebrugge port as French protests spill over
Spanish farmers plan February protests as anger spreads across Europe
Reading Time: 3 minutes Belgian farmers angry about rising costs, EU environmental policies and cheap food imports blocked access roads to the Zeebrugge container port on Tuesday.
French farmers block road linking France and Spain
Spain's federation of transport said farmers destroyed goods, including 20,000 litres of wine
Reading Time: 2 minutes French farmers blocked a main road linking France and Spain with a demonstration at the border on Friday as part of nationwide protests over low food prices and excessive bureaucracy.
Greece delivers feed to cattle ship at sea for months
Reading Time: 2 minutes Athens | Reuters — Greece will deliver 50 tons of animal feed to the Togo-flagged Elbeik, which has been stuck at sea for nearly three months in the Mediterranean carrying hundreds of cattle rejected by their buyers amid fears of disease, government sources said Tuesday. The vessel is expected to sail for Spain once the […] Read more
Spanish report calls for cull of over 850 cattle on pariah ship
Cattle were bound for Turkey but turned away over bluetongue fears
Reading Time: 2 minutes Cartagena | Reuters — More than 850 cows that spent months aboard a ship wandering across the Mediterranean are not fit for transport anymore and should be killed, according to a confidential report by Spanish government veterinarians seen by Reuters. The cows were kept in what an animal rights activist called “hellish” conditions on the […] Read more
Uruguayan shearers flown in to relieve sweltering Spanish sheep
Expert shearers authorized to enter country amid COVID-19 pandemic
Reading Time: 2 minutes Villafale, Spain | Reuters — Brought to Spain on a special flight amid the coronavirus lockdown, some 250 Uruguayan sheep shearers race against time to shear millions of Spanish sheep as sweltering summer temperatures hit. The Uruguayan shearers come to Spain every year, where farmers value them for their skills, their speed and particular care […] Read more
World wine output falls to 60-year low
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — Global wine output fell to its lowest level in 60 years in 2017 due to poor weather conditions in the European Union that slashed production in the bloc, international wine organization OIV said. Wine production totalled 250 million hectolitres last year, down 8.6 per cent from 2016, data from the Paris-based […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
