The Consell de Formentera's rural environment office reports that the Farmers' Co-op (Cooperativa del Camp) will give local livestock farmers 28 tonnes of sheep and goat feed and three thousand kilos of barley flour for pigs. The Cooperativa will also distribute packs of fodder.

Primary sector councillor Josep Marí described the help as a way to ease the effects of this year's drought, and made assurances that island livestock farmers could expect to see similar assistance any time that crops used as animal feed are affected by drought.

All those interested in applying for the aid should visit the Cooperativa's industrial space with their “livestock card” (cartilla ramadera) Monday to Friday from 8.00am to 2.00pm; Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 4.30pm to 7.30pm; and Saturdays from 9.00am to 1.00pm. Help packages will be calculated based on how many head of livestock farmer have; one bag of grain (oat/barley), one bag of feed or two sacks of forage per breeding animal. A total of 948 head of sheep, goat and pig are registered on the island of Formentera.

25 September 2019
Department of Communication
Consell de Formentera

The Consell de Formentera president and councillor of the primary sector, Alejandra Ferrer and Josep Marí, met today with the chairman and acting manager of the island's agricultural co-operative, Jaume Escandell and Carlos Marí, to unveil the new agrarian equipment on loan to the group from the local government. The presentation, at the industrial space of the Cooperativa del Camp (“Farmers' Co-operative”), began at 9.45am.

President Ferrer sat down with Mr Escandell  earlier, at 9.00am, to sign into effect an agreement giving the Co-op permission to use the machinery at no charge for the next four years. Included among the machinery are a tractor (valued at €53,361), tilling equipment (€23,818.85), a hay-bale stacker (€4,232.58) and a mobile refrigeration unit (€24,195.75).

According to President Ferrer, the €105,606 investment—which is in addition to the €115,000 that the Co-op already receives from the Consell de Formentera—makes plain “how seriously our local government takes the recovery of the countryside and the promotion of agriculture”. But she held up another priority as well: “Maintaining Formentera's traditional landscape”.

For his part, Councillor Marí tied the “substantial investment in equipment” to the growing needs of the thriving programme to steward unused rural land. The Fons de Terres de Cultiu, or “Farmland Reserve”, now counts 230 hectares among its supply of land. The councillor said the government was currently waiting on siloes which, together with the refrigeration system, would make it possible to keep grains in optimal conditions—chilled. The siloes are valued at roughly €90,000.

Chairman Escandell heralded the Consell's loan and said it would “enable us to keep working Formentera's rural land and seeing ever more expansive production”.

23 September 2019
Department of Communication
Consell de Formentera

Members of the monitoring commission for the Balearic Islands “PDR”—the Progama de Desenvolupment Rural, or “Rural Development Programme”—for 2014-2020 gathered today in the plenary hall of the Formentera Council. The event was attended by Bartomeu Escandell, the Council president's office chief and rural affairs councillor; Mateu Ginard, the agriculture and livestock minister of the Govern balear; spokespeople from the European Commission; the Ministry of Agriculture, Fishing and Food and Govern de les Illes Balears; and industry representatives.

On the day's agenda was a proposed increase of the PDR budget with €155 million from the Sustainable Tourism Levy (Impost de Turisme Sostenible), though Ginard indicated that the figure could reach €167 million by 2020. Attendees took a look back at some of the programme's successes as of December 2018, including assistance payouts of more than €47 million to rural families that practice traditional agriculture. That figure is expected to hit €72 million by year end.

Councillor Escandell said he welcomed the opportunity to host the island's first PDR gathering, and indicated that key projects for the island's primary sector would benefit from the plan. “In recent years Formentera has been leading with primary sector revitalisation efforts”, he intoned, “and the role of PDR funding in those has been essential”.

Money for young agricultural workers, for the Cooperativa del Camp, to rebuild drystone walls, to activate the irrigation pond, plus door-to-door organic composting pick-up, has come thanks to the support of the EU's Leader fund.

The decision to decentralise the annual encounters, historically celebrated on Mallorca, was made at the start of the legislative session in an effort to show the ministry and the European Commission some of the effects of “insularity” (a process whose real impact is often doubled or even tripled) on the Balearic primary sector. In the last two years, PDR meetings have been held on Mallorca, Menorca and Eivissa.

Compensation for the knock-on effects of insularity happen to be at the heart of the islands' biggest appeal in talks over the 2021-2027 Common Agrarian Policy (CAP). Acting minister of agriculture Luis Planas said on a May 7 stop in Palma—his last official visit to the islands—that he shared the viewpoint of the Balearic administrations on this point. 

May 15, 2019
Àrea de Comunicació
Formentera Council

CiF president Jaume Ferrer and Alfonso Ferrer, chairman of the island's “Stockbreeders' Association” (Associació de Ramaders) signed a collaborative agreement to support local farmers around issues of animal health and improving systems of production in 2019.

The Formentera Council will provide €37,000 to finance activities that the association programmes to enhance livestock production and encourage animal health. In turn, in addition to supporting the Council on the two above-mentioned issues, the group pledges assistance on any other matters concerning animal welfare and identification of animals on Agrupació de Defensa Sanitària member farms, plus carry out health-related work agreed upon as part of the yearly “Common Health Programme” (Programa Sanitari comú). The association will also continue educating its member farmers on essential measures at individual farms. The partnership comes up for review once a year.

April 8, 2019
Àrea de Comunicació
Formentera Council