Aragonese cooperatives invoiced more than 1,000 million in 2023

The federation of agri-food cooperatives of Aragon held its ordinary general assembly this Thursday at the Gran Hotel in Zaragoza. The entity brings together 160 cooperatives in the community and nearly 50,000 members, who have analyzed the moment the sector is going through. On the one hand, they have highlighted the good results obtained in 2023 with a turnover of 1,004 million despite the weather conditions with the serious drought situation and the increase in prices , but on the other hand they continue to demand direct aid and  see the need for greater flexibility of the CAP to ensure the future of the sector.

The cooperative members have pointed out that since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, prices have been passed on and have reduced the narrow commercial margin of farmers and ranchers and, along with this, meteorological incidents have affected large crop areas. However, the turnover obtained, despite being somewhat lower than the 2022 figure (1,070 million), is still the second best figure obtained.

“We face the future with optimism for a productive model, such as cooperativism, which is deeply rooted in Aragon and which generates employment and value,” said José Víctor Nogués, president of cooperatives in the Community. However, he has clarified that for this year the problem with the drought on the right bank of the Ebro persists , where “it is going to be complicated” but, even so, he has guaranteed that the cooperatives “continue to have the muscle to maintain employment . ” In total, there are 2,000 people working directly.

NEED FOR DIRECT INJECTION

In relation to direct aid, Nogués has demanded this injection from both the European Union and the Government of Spain , also mentioning Aragón. Precisely, the cooperatives are participating in the Drought Table together with the Aragonese agricultural organizations, where the distribution model for the additional 6 million aid announced by the sector’s counselor, Ángel Samper, is being negotiated.

An extra injection that the regional president, Jorge Azcón, who was in charge of closing the event, referred to. He has assured that, for the moment, “all options are being considered” , since it has not yet been made known whether they will be direct or with soft loans. What he has detailed is that next week the talks will resume , “once the European elections have passed, which could hinder if an agreement is announced.”

“There is a will on the part of the Government of Aragon to reach agreements with agricultural organizations, but what there is already is a determined will on the part of this Executive to help, compared to what happened in the past,” the regional president reiterated before to indicate that, to these 6 million euros, are added “the more than 8 million euros that we have already promoted so that the Ico-Saeca credits can bring more than 300 million euros to Aragon.”