"The Climate Crisis Is Not a Hypothetical Future. It is Our Present", Testimony from Spain

Testimony: Coordinator of Farmers and Ranchers Organizations (COAG), Spain.
Agricultural Impact of DANA Disaster on 29 October 2024

What happened on 29 October in Valencia was not an isolated weather accident, but another expression of the climate emergency we are living. The DANA (Isolated Depression at High Levels) that hit our region unleashed an enormous amount of water in a few hours, accompanied by hail, hurricane force winds, and violence that overwhelmed any forecast.

On our farm, the water swept away almost everything: the terraces were flooded, trees were lost, the irrigation system was completely destroyed, and the accesses were blocked for days. It was a hard blow, not only for our crops but also for our spirits.

The direct impact on the field were devastating. In this case, we lost more than 70% of the seasonal production: almond trees, pomegranates, vegetables; many of the plants were rendered unusable, and damage to basic agricultural infrastructure like fences, tool sheds and water tanks was complete. Beyond losing what had already been planted, there was also a loss of time, the ability to react effectively, and, in many cases, hope for a quick recovery.

In general terms, institutional aid was late and ineffective.

It took months to carry out minimally serious assessments, and the compensation criteria left out many small farms like ours. In many cases, bureaucracy and lack of knowledge of the local agricultural reality turned aid into useless paper. There was a sense of abandonment by institutions precisely when assistance was most needed. But we were not alone. Thanks to agricultural associations and mutual support networks, we managed to get back on our feet.

Institutions like Centro de Estudios Rurales y de Agricultura Internacional (CERAI) and Coordinador de Organizaciones de Agricultores y Ganaderos (COAG) played an essential role from the very beginning: they offered advice, helped us quantify the damage, advocated for us with administrative bodies, and built networks of solidarity among producers.

Through these alliances, we received logistical support, shared tools, and, above all, the moral boost of knowing that we were not alone in this. That network was what truly sustained the countryside.

The most worrying thing is that this situation will not be an exception.

The climate crisis is not a hypothetical future: it is our present. Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, and if structural measures are not taken, we will experience many more DANAs, each increasingly violent.

For this reason, within our project, we have decided to completely rethink our way of working. We are reconsidering the design of the plots, improving drainage systems, incorporating more resistant species and reinforcing infrastructures to make them more adaptable. We want our agricultural model to be more resilient, more collective and linked to the territory.

We cannot continue as if nothing happened. Organic and local agriculture cannot be sustained without an environment that protects and values it. We need brave public policies, designed from the bottom up, that include the voices of those of us who are in the countryside.

But we also need to continue strengthening our networks, supporting each other and acting with the awareness that climate change is already here and that we can only face it together, with organization and preparation.

This testimony is extracted from La Via Campesina’s publication “Climate Justice: Insights from Peasant and Popular Feminism”