28-year-old farmer: 'My parents were able to get by with a fourth of the hectares I work now'

28-year-old Jordi Vidal, from the small town of Aitona near the western Catalan city of Lleida, comes from a long line of farmers – 6^th generations, to be exact.

And while Vidal says most young people have left for opportunities elsewhere – in fact, only 15% of farmers in the area are under 30 – he has decided to keep the family tradition alive and persevere despite the difficulties he and many agricultural sector workers face.

"My parents were able to get by with a fourth of the hectares I work now," the young farmer explains. "A few years ago, a family could live off 4 or 5 hectares, and now we breakeven with 30."

This situation led him and many others to take to the streets of Lleida on Friday, where some 500 tractors and 1,500 people brought the city center to a standstill to demand action be taken to combat the "crisis" of prices, which have not risen in five years, and call for market penalties against those who do not respect a fair price for their products.

Also present on Friday were representatives of local towns calling for action to avoid further depopulation in rural areas. To this effect, Vidal believes that small farming towns will become depopulated if there are no effective policies implemented to halt the phenomenon.

Diversifying crops to get by

Vidal and his family used to only grow peaches and nectarines, but as of four years ago he has also begun growing figs, cherries, and pears: "Diversification is the only way to get by if anything goes wrong with the crops."

He explains that others have begun selling more nuts, which require less manpower to produce than fresh fruit, but that not everybody can get rid of the trees they already have to begin doing so because some simply do not have access to the proper machinery. 

A dying trade?

Living off the land "is very difficult," says the farmer, who works 16 to 18 hours a day in a region that has experienced a significant flight of young agricultural workers over the past few years.

"The problem is that many young people see that incomes are unstable and indecent, so you either have to be very brave or just really want to stay in the country," Vidal laments.