MADRID – A heated debate has been open for days in Spain regarding statements with which the Minister of Consumption, Alberto Garzón, criticized what he called “maxi-farms”.
“We have to distinguish between industrial and extensive farms,” the minister told the British newspaper The Guardian on 26 December. “The latter type is ecologically sustainable and has a lot of weight in certain regions of Spain, such as Asturias, Castile and León and also Andalusia and Extremadura”; he added, before declaring: “What is absolutely not sustainable are the so-called maxi-farms (…). They take a place in depopulated Spain, and put 4,000, 5,000 or 10,000 head of cattle into it, polluting the land and the water and then normally exported… It is a worse quality meat, it is the mistreatment of animals and it has a huge ecological impact “.
The controversy over the words of Garzón, who represents the Unidas Podemos (left) formation in the government, started after some opposition figures stopped there a few days later. Harsh criticism of the minister rained down not only from the right and from a part of the powerful Spanish meat production sector, accusing Garzón of “attacking the farmers”, but also from socialist government partners, including Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
“This controversy makes me very sorry,” he declared on Cadena Ser radio. “We are talking about a sector that produces meat of the highest quality in Spain,” he added. In the last few hours, Garzón reiterated the concepts expressed to The Guardian, recalling that both in Spain and on a European scale measures are being taken to limit maxi-farms. Already in the summer, Garzón had urged citizens to “eat less meat” to make its consumption more sustainable.
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Source From: Ansa
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