The agrarian organization UPA-UCE Extremadura claims that the recovery that the wine sector is experiencing in this period “translates into fair prices” for grape producers in this campaign and that they can thus “mitigate the serious crisis” that the wine farms.
This was highlighted by the person in charge of UPA-UCE wine, Catalina García, at a press conference this Thursday in Mérida, in which she highlighted that the vineyard sector is starting from a “dire” situation due to the pandemic , which has emerged from a “deep crisis without any kind of help” and in which the winegrowers “have borne the brunt, with ruinous prices campaign after campaign and with a significant drop in production in Extremadura”.
In that sense, he stressed that they expected a “spectacular harvest” for this year, but “the intense drought and high temperatures have meant that we have a very different reality , so we doubt that last year’s figures will be exceeded due to lack of yield of the grapes”, said García.
Thus, UPA-UCE has pointed out that this harvest campaign has begun with contracts between wineries and producers with prices somewhat higher than the previous campaign, but “clearly insufficient “, for which reason this organization has insisted on the need for the The Law of the Chain is complied with and that grape producers do not sell their product below cost.
As Catalina García recalled, UPA-UCE met in May with the regional administration to publish a study of production costs in the grape sector, but she regretted that “the only response obtained” was that it was not their obligation to prepare said study.
“Now we see that the result is that we are facing one more campaign in which the same story repeats itself”, lamented García, who pointed out that given the variation in costs per campaign, UPA-UCE encourages growers to use the Gesvid application , a tool created by the Interprofesional del Vino, which allows farmers to calculate the expenses of their farm and have a tool with which to defend their work.
Lastly, Catalina García highlighted that UPA-UCE will continue to bet on the restructuring and reconversion of the vineyard for the coming years with a budget reinforcement, with the aim of improving the quality of the wines and increasing the competitiveness of the sector, according to reports from the organization in press release.
“Faced with the increasingly pressing problem of wood diseases in vines, especially esca, we need aid to replace the damaged vines and further research to be able to have effective active ingredients for their treatment”, he concluded.
