The agricultural organization Asaja has asked the Ministries of Agriculture and the Environment to publish an ordinance, as in other communities of Castilla y León, which allows the controlled burning of woody and forest crops, establishing for each crop the various pests and illnesses which warrant this benefit .
The agricultural organization claims in a press release that with the Law on waste and contaminated soil for a circular economy, the ban on burning vegetable waste produced in agricultural or forestry environments has been established in general, permitted only exceptionally, for reasons plant protection products and subject to individual authorisation.
However, in this pest management, on many occasions, alternative treatments to combustion are not sufficient and, although there is the possibility of chopping plant residues and remains, in many areas of Castilla y León it is not feasible, both because of its cost and why the companies that do are working in the regions affected by the fires this year.
For this Asaja has engaged in the controlled combustion of plant remains as an exceptional measure, “a traditional practice which, properly carried out, becomes a very effective phytosanitary measure and also beneficial for the environment thanks to the reduction of the use of phytosanitary products”.
HELP PAY FOR FERTILIZERS
The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development of the Junta de Castilla y León, Gerardo Dueñas, wants the European Commission to help farmers with the cost they currently face in buying fertilizers.
Dueñas participated yesterday in the advisory council and sectoral conference chaired by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, where the need to develop measures to secure the supply of fertilizers in the Union was addressed, one of the issues that ministers will discuss in the agriculture of the European Union next week.
Dueñas asked Planas to be able to return to Spain having obtained a commitment of economic support from the Commission “to support the productive sector so that it has lower costs in fertilizers”. He also defended the need to “go ahead” with a system that integrates the use of mineral and organic fertilization because, he said, fewer fertilizers are being used due to the crisis.
