Thousands of Spanish farmers once again demonstrated with hundreds of tractors in the capital Madrid on Sunday, demanding better prices for their produce and denouncing European Union agricultural policies.
Beginning early on Sunday morning, farmers from different communities have been travelling towards Madrid, causing traffic problems.
However, the mood was largely peaceful, as reporters from the state TV station RTVE reported.
The farmers' association Unión de Uniones said in a statement that farmers are also concerned with improving relations between the urban and rural populations.
The demonstrators first drove in a caravan with their heavy tractors to the Ministry of the Environment and from there to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Luis Cortés from Unión de Uniones warned on television that the farmers would intensify their protests again if the government didn't offer solutions to the many problems facing the country's agricultural sector.
Spanish farmers, like many farmers across the European Union, have been protesting over difficult economic conditions and strict regulations that farmers say make it difficult to remain viable.
Tractors and other vehicles have repeatedly blocked highways, roads and access roads to ports and wholesale markets in Spain, which is sometimes referred to as the fruit and vegetable garden of Europe.
Spain's government has already made some concessions in an effort to placate the farmers, but agricultural groups have called those measures insufficient.
In addition to better prices, Spanish farmers are also calling for a stronger position for farmers in deals with wholesalers, stricter controls on imports from non-EU countries and fewer environmental regulations and bureaucracy.
RTVE quoted José Luis Miguel de Diego from the farmers' association COAG as saying that many feel that bureaucratic environmental requirements control them too much and want more government trust in farmers.
He argued that farmers themselves have an interest in preserving the environment and their livelihoods for themselves and their children.
