Several hundred tractors are heading to the center of Madrid on Wednesday, on the occasion of a new day of protests by Spanish farmers who condemn, in particular, unfair competition from some countries outside the European Union, AFP reports.

Spanish farmers drive tractors into central Madrid for the 16th day of protestsPhoto: Rafael Bastante / Zuma Press / Profimedia

Gathered at the call of the Union de Uniones trade union, the demonstrators regrouped at dawn in various municipalities of the Madrid region behind posters that specifically demanded “fair prices” for farmers, Agerpres notes.

Huddled in five convoys of tractors, the farmers make their way to central Madrid, where a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Agriculture is planned for the afternoon, three weeks after the start of the farmers’ protest movement in Spain.

According to images released by Reuters, people on the side of the road applaud the farmers.

Farmers would like to be able to “transfer production costs to the final price of their products so that they no longer sell at a loss” and are demanding “better control of imports” in Spain, Luis Cortes, national coordinator of the Union de Uniones, explained to public broadcaster RTVE.

These imported products must “respect the same restrictions as those imposed on Spanish farmers”, added Luis Cortes, assessing that the measures announced in recent days by the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez are insufficient.

In addition to the protest in Madrid, other demonstrations are planned for Wednesday in Spain, especially in Murcia (southeast) and Malaga (south), this time at the call of three representative organizations of the agricultural sector (Asaja, COAG and UPA).

Spanish farmers have been protesting since February 1. They were received several times by the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, who promised to support in Brussels the simplification of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and to improve Spanish legislation on food chains to prevent a situation where farmers sell their products at a loss.

For its part, the European Commission has made several concessions in recent weeks to farmers protesting in several European countries ahead of European Parliament elections in June.