64- Greetings 2016

GREETINGS 2016

Morning dew in a young peach orchard. Seville, december 2015.

I wish a 2016 that sees agriculture become again what it should never have ceased to be, a fundamental activity of producing food and raw materials, a basic element of any human society, a referent by its inextricable link with nature. Instead, it became a bone of contention, a political issue.

I wish a 2016 that sees chemistry and biotechnologies become again what they really are and that they should always have been in the minds of people, technologies and industries of progress in the service of human society and service of the environment.

I wish a 2016 that sees ecology become again what it should never have ceased to be, a science. It has become an issue, a political movement, an ideology and worse, a dogma. Instead of being able to be a guideline, it has become a disruptive element, a brake on progress if it clashes with dogma, even if it goes in the right direction.

I wish a 2016 that sees farmers cease to be regarded primarily as polluters and poisoners. Nobody has more interest that farmers to respect the environment and consumers. Throughout history, agriculture has followed step by step, the technical and technological evolution. When states reduce their investment in the essential agricultural research, it slows or falls into the hands of private interests. It is when the quality of agricultural production weakens, and its effects on the environment worsen.

I wish a 2016 that sees "advanced" societies return to the values ​​they gradually push aside, dialogue and reasoning. This is increasingly the more communicating law. The emotion and fear prevail over thinking and science. Lies and misinformation, through social networks in the form of non-verifiable information for the layman, are cleverly used by organizations a priori the most respectable.

I wish a 2016 that sees the politicians become again what they should always have been, people serving people and society, and not, as it is more and more the case, calculator, influenceable or corruptible people, serving primarily power, a party, a dogma, or simply their personal interests, and disconnected from real life, that of ordinary people.

I wish a 2016 years that path of reason and science overcome ideologies. They must be constructed as bulwarks against all forms of extremism, ideological, religious, environmentalist and political. Those who question the science, have hidden interests to defend.

I wish a 2016 that sees production regain the protagonism that it should never have lost. Trade and marketing, although they are inseparable from production, now take up such a space, that production has become an accessory. If production can't follow the requirements of trade, it disappears, supplanted by other origins of similar products. Trade creates or follow trends, but production can't always adapt as fast as the market wants, especially in agriculture.

I wish a 2016 that sees prices paid to growers, in relation to their real costs, not related to the dictatorship of the market. The consumer prices are generally multiplied by 5-10, sometimes more. The market competition is devastating and the grower is often paid with crumbs while he assumes almost all the risks.

I wish a great year 2016 to the whole agricultural world, under the sign of quality and respect for growers, as well as consumers.

A 2016 that emphasizes the efforts at all levels of the sector to ensure food production of high quality and safety.

I WISH YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016