A symbolic gesture of protest is spreading these days through dozens of Catalan villages: farmers have decided to turn their entrance signs upside down, as part of the mass mobilizations driven by the sector in what they consider a structural crisis that threatens the viability of the agricultural sector.
The upside-down entrance signs are a visible way of expressing the reversal of priorities felt by farmers. With this action, they seek to draw the attention of the autonomous and national government to the seriousness of their situation.
This action is inspired by a similar movement carried out by French farmers under the slogan On marche sur la tête.
The main reasons behind this action include the recent agreement with Mercosur, which will allow food imports from countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay with lower environmental requirements and at low prices, or the fall in prices of key products, such as oil, and the high production costs that have made many farms unviable.
Also, prolonged drought and extreme events such as the dana have significantly reduced the production of key crops such as hazelnuts in Tarragona.
Catalan farmers, who blocked Barcelona with tractors a year ago, criticize that the Catalan government’s promises after last year’s protests have not been kept.
For this reason, the Revolta Pagesa movement and other agrarian guilds among which the majority organizations of the sector, Unió de Pagesos (UP) and Joves Agricultors i Ramaders de Catalunya (JARC), are not included, have organized roadblocks at strategic points in Catalonia for this February 10, 2025.
Even so, UP has announced that in the coming days in its congress will set the main lines “of struggle” to address the challenges and problems facing the sector, and among which is to set with the administration a fair plan to not displace the pagesia of the Catalan countryside.