“Wizard of the North” is an adjective that is usually used in a derogatory manner and too lightly by those who are unaware of the hard work that is carried out in the countryside and in this area of the Island. The Royal Academy of Language defines the word wizard as “peasant who lives in the countryside and is dedicated to cultivating the land”, to also add: “uneducated peasant.”
The respect I have for the innate wisdom of these self-made people, with cracked hands and cracked faces from hard days in the sun, makes me prefer a second meaning that also appears in the dictionary and has to do with person “singularly qualified for success in a given activity.”
Last August we suffered the worst fire in memory in this area of the Island with almost 15,000 hectares burned. Many people, and also many animals, had to be evacuated. That tragedy experienced so close took us for a few days and almost out of obligation to look at the countryside. The media traveled to the northern midlands while the fire devastated our mountains. The gatherings were filled with experts who referred to the need to return to the field in order to contribute to keeping the environment in the best possible conditions. A month later the topic is barely talked about. Now we only remember the countryside to discuss the high price of avocados or the problems experienced by the shortage of potatoes in supermarkets, priced almost as a delicacy.
Felix Gonzalez He is a rancher from La Orotava who suffered firsthand the effects of that devastating fire. On his farm in Benijos he barely maintains a farm with 200 goats. At 39 years old, he dedicates himself to doing the same thing his father did all his life, but he encourages his son to opt for a permanent contract with decent hours. For Félix “it is too hard to work seven days a week to obtain a salary that barely reaches 400 euros per month.”
The remaining farmers and ranchers dedicate themselves to this work mainly due to family tradition, but the generational succession is increasingly uncertain. The profit margin is very small and does not seem to improve. Félix tells us that “producing a liter of milk costs 1.50 euros and what they pay me is not even one euro.” Something similar happens with meat and he gives the example of goat, which can be found in the supermarket for 14 or 15 euros, while the farmer is paid just five euros per piece. Added to this is the cost of maintaining the animals that, for those who are not familiar with the subject, have the habit of eating every day, including weekends and holidays. This cereal has to be bought outside because there is no longer local production and it is not allowed to take goats to the mountains as was done in the past. “We goatherds have always kept the mountains clean and now we only ask that certain areas be left for us to graze as is done on other islands such as La Palma or Gran Canaria.” Félix remembers how the fire did not affect his farm because it was completely clean, something that did not happen on other lands in the area. All these conditions have led about 70 ranchers to leave the sector and the numbers will continue to increase if a decent price cannot be offered.
My conversation with Félix concludes with his particular reflection: «If the primary sector dies, the one who will really go hungry is the one who lives on the floor. “We will always have the garden and the goat, but let’s see who milks the refrigerator.”
Óliver Reyes, who is dedicated to the cultivation of black egg yolk potatoes, certified in San Juan de la Rambla, has found a feasible solution to avoid this gap between the benefit of the farmer and the intermediary. Twelve years ago he registered the name Papas de Tenerife for online marketing and, since then, together with his brother and with the help of his wife, they have sold directly through their website patatasdetenerife.com and social networks. «This way I have contact straight with the client and I sell all the production at home, but the road is not easy. I have had to reduce the plantation to a third of what I had before with a staggered planting of a single variety that is highly in demand, such as the black egg yolk potato. Among the drawbacks of this direct sales system, the fact of not being able to access public subsidies that are granted per kilo delivered through cooperatives stands out, although the same does not happen with the aid that is offered directly by agricultural extension agencies.
The slogan that appears on their FB page is “from the garden to your home without going through an intermediary”, while stocks last. In the reviews, all positive, images appear that invite consumption. «I ask clients for photos and publish them on my networks. At the end of the collection, I give a mesh of Black potatoes to whoever gets the most likes. The need to explore new marketing alternatives is what has led Óliver and her family to learn how to use social networks, which have become their main tool to reach customers. “My father sold to gangocheros and then we moved to cooperatives and large stores until we found this system that allows us to live off the countryside, without further ado.” For Óliver, the main conditions are the increasingly scarce water and the problems derived from pests and diseases with fewer products on the market to address these damages.
Óliver represents the third generation of his family dedicated to the countryside. Despite studying Administration, he preferred this sector, but sees the future “blacker than a car exhaust.” Like Félix, he also does not want his children to dedicate themselves to this as their main source of income: “I prefer that they be businessmen and come to the countryside in their free time and as a hobby.”
Regarding the role of women in the field, it does not have to be in the background and their effort is comparable and even superior to that of men. This is demonstrated by Yolanda Luis, who in addition to cultivating 77,000 meters of land in the area of San Juan de la Rambla and Los Realejos, is the owner of the Manjares del Norte fruit store, located in San Juan beach. There he sells part of his production of potatoes and vegetables. He has been in the sector for fifteen years and recognizes that this job allows him to have a decent salary, but without luxuries. She spends every morning in the fruit shop and in the afternoons she dedicates herself to the harvest, in addition to taking care of her two daughters who she does not know if they will want to dedicate themselves to this profession because she recognizes that she is very self-sacrificing. Her husband, an agricultural foreman, accompanies her on this path, which is not easy due to the enormous expenses it entails and the added problem of pests. “This year I collected 15,000 kilos of bichadas potatoes and other years it has been worse,” she tells us. For Yolanda, who usually produces about 50,000 kilos of potatoes a year, there is no future without aid to the sector. Yolanda also studied Administration, but “sitting in an office is not my thing.”
Having training as an agricultural engineer also does not encourage Cristian Rodríguez to be more optimistic about the future of the field. His father had a rabbit farm and his grandmother also worked in the same sector, contributing to founding the Tacoronte Farmer’s Market. He recognizes that studies are important to know the behavior, techniques and particularities of the different plantations, but demands more field practices because “the soil is not given the importance it deserves.” “I have encountered situations especially with the topic of pests that I studied in my degree and that I never thought I could see in the field.” Currently, Cristian is experimenting with the production of black potatoes in small spaces, trying to go organic, although it is not being completely easy for him. For Cristian, “young people do not want to take the job, they prefer the office and if the economic conditions for farmers do not change, the farms will be sold to large companies that will be in charge of production.” As an alternative, he does not rule out its complementary use with tourism and gives as an example the wine tourism that is being well received, showing the visitor our particular braided cord system for cultivating the vineyard.
All the protagonists of this report have in common a childhood linked to agriculture: they have grown up knowing the countryside closely with all the positive and negative that this hard work entails. Without a doubt, and even though they say that the future is dark and that they do not want their children to go through the same thing, they love what they do. If future generations do not approach the sector, if this approach is not encouraged from their own families or from schools, it will be difficult for them to value and love what they really do not know. Without going any further, a while ago the daughter of a farmer from Los Realejos told me an anecdote about what happened to her father when a family from the capital came to her farm to buy a sack of potatoes. The parents, excited to see her children for the first time in a garden, asked her if she would let the little ones run around the area for a while. The farmer agreed since the potatoes were freshly picked and the land was still unplanted. The children took off running and suddenly began to shout: “Smoke, smoke!” The farmer, scared, came to see what was happening. What was his astonishment when he realized that that “smoke” was simply the cloud of dust that was causing the children to run on the ground.
This true story should alert us to how we are moving further and further away from agriculture, so we will have to tell those children that the magic of the simple act of opening our refrigerator and finding those kilometer 0 products, of cooking a good stew or of savoring the Gofio kneaded with an exquisite honey from Tenerife comes from that work of the magician of the north. Therefore, let us think twice about what we are going to say before talking about such a respectable character.
On the left, a farmer collects beautiful potatoes in Icod el Alto. Above, Óliver, Vicente and José Vicente Reyes. Above these lines, the northern farmer Yolanda Luis.
