Direct sales, the key to the survival of organic farming

Direct sales to the public is the “key” to organic farming’s survival in a sector whose situation is already complicated. This was confirmed yesterday by members of the Association of Farmers and Ranchers Tacoronte Ecológico during the celebration of their III Conference in Plaza de La Estación.

The gathering, which brings together more than a dozen farmers from Los Realejos to La Laguna, offers their products every Tuesday from 3:30 pm to 7:00 pm at the market facilities of the city of La Estación.

By having this sales space, provided by the city council, there is a significant increase in income.

This was said at the meeting organized by this group that has been marketing its own production since 2017, in which experts from the sector, from the University of La Laguna (ULL) and the Cabildo of Tenerife participated there and ended with a round table. In this framework, they explained that the main problems they are currently facing are the lack of water and the lack of generational replacement.

The session began with the intervention of Carmen Calzadilla, coordinator of agricultural extension of the Cabildo, who spoke about agroecological support for potato cultivation, and Ricardo Díaz, professor of marketing at the ULL, gave a speech entitled The short channel, opportunity for local produce.

The third intervention was given by Eduardo Fránquiz, environmental consultant, with the presentation Renewable agriculture and nutrition for health. Finally, Iván Guimerá, local Agroecology revival technician at the Center for Rural and International Agricultural Studies (CERAI) in Valencia, spoke about sustainable and quality healthy food.