Simonet now admits that the new agrarian law will increase tourist accommodations in the countryside.

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment, Joan Simonet, acknowledged this Wednesday that, as the ARA Baleares announced this weekend, with the approval of the new agrarian law Tourist places will be increased from 6 to 10 on farms with preferential or priority status—those professionally engaged in agriculture.

This Tuesday, in Parliament, the minister assured that the new regulations "neither new tourist places nor any new tourist figures were created" and asserted that "everything was created in 2019." This Tuesday, the minister emphasized that the new regulations maintain the need to use up the tourist places in the pool.

Furthermore, Simonet pointed out that "we must take into account that the entire sector is asking for an increase" in tourist places in the countryside. "Some agricultural entities were asking for up to 14 places, others wanted 12, and still others, 10," he explained. Along the same lines, he emphasized that "the regulations will incorporate 80 percent of the proposals made by agricultural organizations." Similarly, the minister noted that the law will require agricultural farms to offer direct sales and tastings of local produce. "And previously, this was optional." The minister noted that the deadline for submitting objections to the regulations ends this Friday and assured that "all will be analyzed in the same spirit of collaboration and consensus."

For his part, the president of the Agrarian Association of Young Farmers of Mallorca (Asaja), Joan Company, has positively assessed the regulations, but made it clear that the organization will present objections because they believe that "a number of points need to be clarified and simplified." In his statement, he considered that the law is adapted to the year 2025. He also positively valued the increase in tourist accommodations in the countryside. "We farmers must live off food production, but we can have a series of alternative sources of income from complementary activities," he opined.

Company insisted that the procedures "must be very clear so that city councils interpret them one way; island councils another; and the regional government another." He also noted that the law "does not address the issue of mobility." Regarding the issue of digitalization, he said that farmers will be required to have good coverage in order to be able to carry out administrative tasks online. "If we have to digitize, we need to find a 5G signal within the farms," she stressed.

The manager of UPA-AIA, Joana Mascaró, opined that "it is a law that encompasses many issues that were not included in the other law," but explained that the agricultural organization is considering making allegations about "small nuances, because there are things that are not clear or." However, she considered that the regulation "is an improvement to the safety and viability of agricultural and livestock farms on the Islands."