Alberto Tomás, a farmer from Quel in La Rioja, has become a prominent voice in Spain’s agricultural debate, raising concerns about what he describes as unfair competition from Moroccan imports. In a recent interview on the Germán Agrolife podcast, Tomás criticized Spanish companies that move cultivation to Morocco and then re-import produce into Spain at prices local farmers struggle to match. His concerns reflect a wider dispute over production costs, seasonal competition and the conditions governing access to the European market.
“Many companies from Spain go to Morocco to grow crops and then bring them back here because, over there in Morocco, forgive the expression, they give a sandwich to the boy who is harvesting,” Tomás said, pointing to what he sees as a sharp gap in labor costs and conditions between the two countries.
Mounting Pressures on Spanish Farmers
Tomás says Spanish farmers must comply with strict regulations, pay higher wages and absorb rising costs for insurance and fertilizers, as well as agricultural diesel. Morocco is a major supplier to Spain: customs data processed by the Spanish Federation of Associations of Producers and Exporters of Fruits, Vegetables, Flowers and Live Plants (FEPEX) show that Spain imported 373,958 tonnes of Moroccan fresh fruit and vegetables worth €982 million in the first seven months of 2026. Morocco ranked first among non-EU suppliers by import value, although the volume was 8% lower than a year earlier.
From January to July, Spain imported 2.87 million tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables worth €3.471 billion. Suppliers outside the EU accounted for 1.58 million tonnes and €2.49 billion, equal to 55% of total import volume and 72% of value. These figures show the scale of Morocco’s presence in the market. Trade competition also depends on production calendars, water availability, labor and land costs, quality requirements and market-access rules.
“I want my crops to be paid for, and I don’t want unfair competition,” Tomás said, arguing that the issue extends beyond subsidies to ensuring that agricultural products earn prices that allow farmers to make a living. Spanish agricultural organizations have called for tariff quotas and other trade conditions to be enforced. Moroccan agricultural imports enter the EU under a preferential trade structure and remain subject to customs and market rules, as well as phytosanitary and food-safety requirements. Differences in lawful production costs are distinct from breaches of those rules.
Struggling for Profitability
With more than a decade of experience managing his family’s 45 hectares, Tomás cultivates vineyards and almonds, along with olives, plums, broccoli and cherries, his personal favorite. He has also revived the traditional four-lobed “pimiento del cristal” pepper, selling it fresh and preserved under his own brand.
Despite that range of crops, Tomás says maintaining profitability remains a constant challenge. Rising fertilizer and diesel costs have squeezed margins, forcing many farmers to cut expenses wherever possible to keep their operations afloat. Price comparisons also vary by product and season: during the August 2025 to July 2026 campaign, Spain imported 89,189 tonnes of tomatoes from Morocco at a reported average of €1.72 per kilogram, compared with 172,519 tonnes from Portugal at €0.67 per kilogram. The figures show that competition cannot be reduced to a blanket claim that Moroccan produce always enters Spain at a lower unit price.
Destructive Solutions Reflect Deeper Problems
One sign of the sector’s difficulties, Tomás says, is “green harvesting,” the destruction of part of a grape crop to reduce supply when prices are too low. He acknowledges having resorted to the measure himself, finding it more economically viable than selling grapes at an unprofitable price. Still, he describes the need to destroy food for financial reasons as “aberrant.”
Through his social media presence as AgriBerto, Tomás documents rural life, promotes local products and encourages young people to consider farming as a career. His candid approach has resonated with followers interested in the pressures facing Spain’s agricultural communities.
Trade also flows the other way: between January 2022 and July 2026, Spain exported 2,567 tonnes of peaches and nectarines to Morocco, with most of that volume shipped in July and August. At EU level, Moroccan agricultural imports were valued at €3.7 billion in 2025. For fresh tomatoes, Morocco supplied 527,000 of the 773,000 tonnes imported by the EU from non-EU countries in the reported period, or about 68.2% of that third-country supply. That figure describes Morocco’s share of extra-EU tomato imports, not its share of all tomatoes consumed in Europe.
Tomás’s account adds to calls for policies that allow Spanish farmers to compete on fair terms. The debate covers import volumes and prices, alongside seasonal overlap, labor costs, water availability and enforcement of market rules. Morocco remained Spain’s leading non-EU supplier of fresh fruit and vegetables by value in the first seven months of 2026, even as the year-on-year import volume declined.
