A law designed for owners, not for those who work the land

PalmUnió de Pagesos, the union representing Menorcan livestock farmers, has been the first to speak out against the new agricultural law currently being processed by the Balearic Parliament. They believe it opens the door to tourism and further flooding of the countryside with solar panels, without any direct benefit to those who actually work the land.

The government defends the bill because "it takes a step forward to increase the profitability of the countryside." According to Minister Joan Simonet, he believes it will allow "synergies to be established between quality tourism and agriculture to generate added value, a strategic function that the islands cannot renounce." But farmers, according to union sources, do not have that much to gain.

"The figure of the agroestadas is superfluous. Rural hotels and agrotourisms are enough," complains Marga Llambías, general secretary of Unió de Pagesos in Menorca. "If ten people spend the night there, the farmer won't directly benefit; on the contrary," Llambías emphasizes. "With the current tourist accommodations in the countryside, the farmer is already struggling. He has people sleeping next door, he can't let his livestock loose or spread manure because the tenants pay and have the right to do so, and he also has to put up with parties at night."

"I don't know anyone in the sector who receives supplements to allow tourism activities," says Llambías. In fact, the possibility of farmers being able to buy a site and manage it alone is increasingly rare. "Prices in the real estate market have skyrocketed so much that it's no longer possible," he laments.

Fewer active farms

The 2014 law—and the subsequent 2019 reform, which will replace the one currently being processed—was conceived with the goal of "managing the land and the environment in a more balanced and intelligent way, as opposed to the restrictive and prohibitive policies that had traditionally been applied. To protect is not to prohibit," but to protect. Ten years ago, the GOB opposed that first agrarian law, suspecting that it "would encourage speculation and harm agriculture." Environmentalists warned that the mix of uses it encouraged would turn suitable land into a favorable focus for business and real estate investment.

A decade later, the new law aims to consolidate the complementary uses that have been growing alongside agricultural and livestock activity and have already had an initial impact. New legislation and the crisis of the traditional farming model have led to the loss of around 100 dairy farms in Menorca alone, a greater diversification of production, and, above all, a shift in ownership. New foreign landowners have arrived, concentrating ownership of a significant number of sites, increasingly geared toward tourism.

The "friendship" system, traditional in the Menorcan countryside and allowing farmers and landowners to share the profits from the farm, has been sidelined. Therefore, expanding activities now will benefit the site owner above all. This is at least what the Unió de Pagesos fears, which, in its initial assessment of the new law, clearly takes a stand against agroestadas.

The confusion of uses in the countryside, which some have compared to the introduction of tourist rentals in traditional towns and almost killed off residential rentals, will worsen with the new Territorial Plan for Menorca. After a failed first attempt, the island government of the People's Party (PP) intends to approve it in the coming months to also extend tourist rentals to rural land. But President Adolfo Vilafranca reverses his rhetoric and claims that, for the first time, limits will be set, as the current PTI allows for a tenfold increase in the 1,252 places currently available for tourist accommodation in the fifty or so establishments open in the Menorcan countryside.

Without reducing agricultural land.

Some of the 228 articles of the new law focus on promoting tourism linked to agricultural activity, but also on the development of measures that encourage the production and use of renewable energy, especially biomass and photovoltaics, with the aim of generating new income for farms. Like other complementary activities, these will have to comply with urban planning regulations, but they will no longer need to obtain the mandatory declaration of general interest, as was the case until now.

The renewable energy projects already built or currently underway on the island already far exceed the capacity that Menorca's electrical system can handle, but the goal of 85% of the energy being clean by 2030 is pushing for more panels in the countryside, as well as on the roofs of parking lots.

In fact, the new law allows for the combination of agricultural activity with the production and marketing of photovoltaic energy. However, the only restriction is that the solar panels and other installations do not cause the loss of usable agricultural land and that crops can still be cultivated under these structures.

The installation of solar panels on top of greenhouses and crop protection structures is also permitted. However, as a general rule, they may not occupy more than one hectare or the equivalent of 10% of the total surface area of the property. In principle, solar panels and panels may not rise more than six meters from the ground, unless the Island Council exempts the project from meeting this requirement.

Menorcan trade unionist Marga Llambías believes that installing solar panels will not benefit farmers either, but will also benefit landowners. Even so, he agrees with facilitating renewable energy in the countryside, "but as long as panels are not installed on land suitable for farming or livestock, and that must later be restored, there is no guarantee that it will continue to be profitable." Llambías sees "little hope" that the opinion of the union and its members will be taken into account by the Administration, but is clear that "reality is quite different from what is sold in the law."

Most of the entities consulted by ARABalears, from the GOB to the FAGME association, postpone any assessment until they have exhaustively reviewed the more than 200 pages of the new regulatory text.