Spain: Citrus union criticises non-use of standard purchase agreement

The Growers Union criticises, two days before the official start of the 2012-2013 campaign, for which deals are already being made, that the standard purchase agreement contract is still not being used for these transactions.

The Union would like to stress the fact that the standard purchase agreement contract contributes to profitability for growers and transparency in commercial relationships, granting citrus growers with a legal instrument against bankruptcy proceedings, which leave many growers in the lurch, unpaid for a whole year's work. The agricultural organization suspects that the document is not used due to commercial pressures, suggesting that if the grower asks for this document, the fruit will not be purchased.

For years the Union has been asking the government (and especially the Council of Agriculture) to make the use of the standard purchase agreement contract a necessary condition for citrus traders to be able to receive public funding. This was one of the main topics discussed at the workshops organised by Martina Hernández earlier this year, but it is something to which the private trading firms have always opposed.

Ramón Mampel, general secretary of the Union, points out that "already in 2010, the Council of Agriculture conducted an outreach campaign to spread the use of the contract, but in reality it is hardly ever used, leaving growers entirely in the hands of any unscrupulous entrepreneur and without any legal instruments to defend their economic interests."

Along this line, Mampel criticises that "all that ever comes from the Council of Agriculture are declarations of good intentions, codes for good business practices and some promotional campaigns, but never do they tackle the issue directly, forcing trading companies to use that document if they wish to receive any funding whatsoever."

Source: LA UNIÓ