Company Law: Balearics farming legislation

Of ministers in the regional government, there is one who has been spent the period of this administration going about his business in a generally quiet and effective manner. Gabriel Company, minister for the environment, agriculture and land, has not courted attention, yet he has been responsible for laws with far-reaching consequences which are, for the most part, sound in their drafting and to be welcomed. These are the laws for land, fishing and farming.

It hasn't all been plain sailing for Company. He became embroiled in the controversy of the supposedly private trip to Cabrera with former education minister Rafael Bosch which benefited from public money and during which lobster and champagne were consumed; an extravagance which gave opponents a target at which to aim and one that they fired at with relish. He was criticised over the maintenance of forests following the Andratx fire last year, and more recently he failed to convince a sceptical public and opposition that the regional government was unaware of test soundings for oil in Balearic waters. A minister's life is never smooth, but on balance he has been doing a good job, so much so that he has been dubbed "untouchable"; the one minister who Bauzá could ill afford to lose or be prepared to move on.

This untouchability was put to the test over those oil tests. It appeared to many that Company was being hung out to dry by a president eager to distance himself from any hint of regional complicity in oil prospecting. The relationship between the two was already strained, but Bauzá would have appreciated that Company, with his remit for reform on several fronts, had to be held onto. These reforms, while they may have lacked the headlining qualities of those to do with education or tourism, have been central to the government's deregulatory philosophy (where it has suited the government to de-regulate).

The farming law has now finally received full parliamentary approval. It isn't without its controversies, but it is a law which, unusually for Balearics legislation, has been greeted with satisfaction by elements that typically might be expected to oppose Partido Popular legislation regardless of what it contains. The farmers' union has backed it, as has a former agriculture minister, Mateu Morro, who is a member of the PSM socialists, a party with a close association with the green and environmentalist lobby.

The main thrust of the law is to make agricultural land more productive through diversification. Over 60% of Mallorca's land is categorised as being for farming purposes, yet agriculture is a sector which contributes a mere 1.1% of Gross Value Added to the economy and employs a similarly meagre percentage of the workforce, 2.4%. And this workforce is one characterised by its age: there are far too few younger workers in the industry. The diversification, aimed at increasing productivity and at providing new opportunities for business and employment, envisages new activities, such as the opening of hostels for tourists, of shops and of sports facilities with an essentially rural flavour; the sports would, therefore, be related to equestrianism as well as to cycling and hiking. There is even provision for short-term camping. This only allows farms to host a maximum of ten people for two nights, but it is a measure which represents something of a breakthrough for an activity - camping - which has been repressed for too long.

There is a good deal of joined-up governmental thinking. The law will expand rural tourism, though this hasn't met with the full approval of hoteliers as it is farm proprietors who will benefit from this additional tourism. In order to remove any potential objections from the hotel sector, the tourism decree has recognised the changes in use of farming land and brought these within the scope of the tourism ministry's granting of permissions for rural tourism. 

There may yet be a challenge to an aspect of the law to do with tree felling. The Balearics association of environment agents, i.e. professionals who work in forestry and the broader environment and is a self-styled environmental police, believes that permissiveness with regard to felling and logging will endanger certain species and increase risks of fires (because of the residue from felling). It is considering a challenge to the law, arguing that it conflicts with state law on natural spaces and the protection of species.

Objections from environmentalist groups are to be expected and are understandable, but this isn't a law that has been greeted with the full force of environmentalist ire. And a reason why may well lie with Company's credibility. He enjoys the confidence of the farming community and of opposition politicians because he comes from the agriculture industry. He was brought into the regional government as an independent precisely because he understood the industry. Other ministerial appointments might benefit from a similar profile.