Some 300 people and around twenty tractors left the Lleida districts for Barcelona on Wednesday to join the Unió de Pagesos protest, which brought together more than a thousand people and about 200 tractors from all over Catalonia in the Catalan capital, according to the union, as reported by SEGRE. The columns set off from Oliana, Lleida, Fondarella and Cervera. La Mañana, using figures from the same union, puts the total at about 1,500 people.

The farmers are asking the Catalan government for direct aid of between 8,500 and 17,000 euros per farm in the face of a crisis they blame on the heat, rising production costs, especially fuel, and the low prices they receive, according to SEGRE. The same newspaper notes that this situation has led to a 45% fall in farm workers registered with social security since 2000.

The tractors’ route

Columns of tractors, private cars and coaches took over the Diagonal and the Meridiana to gather in front of the Spanish government’s delegation, then at the headquarters of the agriculture department, where they burned several bales of straw, and finally in front of the Palau de la Generalitat, in Plaça Sant Jaume, according to SEGRE.

The tractors began arriving at about 12.00 at the government delegation, which was protected by fences, according to La Mañana. From there, a slow march behind the banner «Sense pagesia ni país ni futur» (No farming, no country, no future) went along Passeig de Gràcia, stopping at the agriculture department headquarters on Gran Via, where the farmers read out a manifesto.

Asaja Catalunya, with around a hundred farmers from Lleida, Tarragona and Barcelona, and Revolta Pagesa joined the protest, according to SEGRE. It was the second mobilisation in a few days: the previous Friday, the one called by JARC brought around a hundred tractors to Lleida, according to La Mañana.

«Time to say enough»

«Estamos dispuestos a no aflojar, es el momento de decir basta» (we are ready not to let up; it is time to say enough), said the national coordinator of Unió de Pagesos, Raquel Serrat, according to SEGRE. Serrat called for defending basic food sovereignty and strengthening checks along the food chain.

According to La Mañana, Serrat called for structural measures so that farming can be an essential and strategic sector, and recalled that geopolitical tensions and climate adversities, which she described as extreme and frequent, leave farming and society as a whole vulnerable. The union wants the food chain law properly enforced, with firm checks on products entering at customs and more inspections by the Catalan Consumer Agency, in cooperation with the agriculture department so that it has the staff it needs.

What the manifesto demands

The Unió de Pagesos manifesto calls for emergency financial aid for farmers affected by the climate, rising costs or low prices, of between 8,500 and 17,000 euros depending on the type of farm, according to La Mañana. The union is also calling for professional diesel, fair prices and less red tape, and wants to end an agricultural policy that, according to its representatives, is made up of patches.

Unió de Pagesos also wants to prevent unfair competition from products from outside the European Union and to control land sale prices to prevent speculation, according to the same newspaper.

The president of Asaja, Pere Roqué, warned of the threat to the region’s productive capacity and demanded additional aid for fuel, according to SEGRE. Asaja denounced the lack of response from the Spanish and Catalan governments to the difficulties of farmers and stockbreeders, and Roqué warned that the situation could put food supply at risk, according to La Mañana. Revolta Pagesa called for unity and proposed a meeting of all farming organisations on Friday 23 October.

Lower profits every season

Ramon Comes, a farmer from Corbins and representative of Unió de Pagesos’ stone fruit sector, blamed the problems on rising production costs, excessive red tape and wildlife, according to La Mañana. Comes warned that profitability keeps falling, that their profits shrink every year and that the situation puts the viability of many farms at risk.

He explained that prices for fuel, plant protection products and fertilisers keep rising while what producers receive varies from one season to the next, according to the same newspaper.

Lleida, with the highest inflation since 2023

The protest came on the day the INE published September’s CPI. In the province of Lleida, prices rose 5.1% year on year, nine tenths more than in August, according to La Mañana. It is the highest rate since February 2023, when it reached 6.7%, and is six tenths above Catalonia’s 4.5% and two tenths above the national 4.9%.

Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels rose 11.7% year on year in the province, and within that group electricity, gas and other fuels rose 19.3%, according to the same newspaper. Transport rose 9.5%, and food and non-alcoholic drinks 2.9%. Within that group, food rose 3.3%, while non-alcoholic drinks fell 1%.

Month on month, prices rose four tenths in September in the Lleida districts, less than the 0.9% in August, according to La Mañana. Clothing and footwear rose 5.3% in the month, although they are still 2.9% cheaper than a year ago, and leisure and culture fell 2.9%. In Catalonia, core inflation, which excludes the most volatile items, rose two tenths to 3%, and nationally to 3.1%, according to the same newspaper.

Diesel up 34%

According to the INE, diesel has risen 34% year on year and petrol 27.5%, while electricity has risen 11.4%, as reported by La Mañana. Given these figures, the government will maintain from 1 November the 20-cent-per-litre discounts on diesel and petrol. The package of measures must be approved this week by the Standing Committee of Congress.

However, the VAT cut on electricity and natural gas from 21% to 10%, which kicked in with a year-on-year rise above 15%, will not apply, according to the same newspaper. The economy minister, Carlos Cuerpo, said on RNE that by his estimates the measures as a whole have cushioned roughly half of the effect on prices of the war in Iran.

First aid for beehives and rabbits

The agriculture department has opened an extraordinary aid line of 2.3 million euros for the beekeeping and rabbit-farming sectors because of lost productivity, according to SEGRE. It is the «primera vez» (first time) this kind of aid has been offered, according to the director general of agriculture, Rosa Altisent. In the province of Lleida, 127 farms are eligible: 90 beekeeping and 37 rabbit farms.

Beekeepers with at least 50 hives can receive 16 euros per hive if they practise transhumance and 10 euros otherwise, and rabbit farmers up to 8 euros per animal, according to the same newspaper. Applications can be submitted until 26 October.

Since 2022, the number of beekeeping farms in Catalonia has fallen 8.3%, 6.55% in Lleida, and the number of hives 10%, according to Altisent. The sector loses on average 5.51 euros per kilo of honey, according to data from 2018 to 2024. In rabbit farming, the number of farms has fallen 66% since 2014 and the number of rabbits 35%; each farm loses 0.55 euros per rabbit per year.

The president of the Lleida Beekeepers’ Association, Jesús Domènech, blamed this year’s poor honey harvest on drought, heatwaves and rising costs. He said the injection of cash is positive but he is not sure it will be enough to hold out for more years, according to SEGRE. Lleida livestock farmer Josep Guasch asked for the aid to continue and warned that farms will not be viable unless prices at the market rise.

What is not on record

None of the sources cited gives the agriculture department’s response to the request for aid of 8,500 to 17,000 euros per farm or its total cost.

Sources and verification

Information based on SEGRE, 15 October 2026; La Mañana, 15 October 2026; La Mañana, 14 October 2026, with INE data; La Mañana, 14 October 2026; and SEGRE, 15 October 2026. Attendance figures come from the organising union and differ between outlets: more than a thousand people according to SEGRE and about 1,500 according to La Mañana.