Experts warn at FEAGA: "If we don't support the primary sector, we'll end up eating plastic"

FEAGA has become, these days, the grand showcase of the Canary Islands’ primary sector, a meeting point for professionals and families. The Cartaya family is a case in point. Father and son are attending the fair, proudly demonstrating that, for them, generational succession—one of the sector’s biggest concerns—is secured.

Cristóbal José Cartaya Delgado is a 19‑year‑old from Tenerife who is studying a livestock management course in Gran Tarajal. He embodies the continuity that many livestock farmers demand but do not always find within their own families.

“I love spending time with animals,” Cristóbal told La Voz de Fuerteventura on Radio Insular. He added that livestock farming is not something you can do solely for profit; you have to feel the farming, raise the animals, understand them. His words sum up a view of the profession that goes far beyond profitability. “I feel that my blood carries this, it carries animals,” he declared emphatically.

His situation, however, is not typical. The young man admitted that he believes he is “the only one” in his class who wants to pursue a professional career in livestock farming. This reality highlights the difficulty of attracting new generations to a sector marked by hard work, economic uncertainty, and heavy bureaucracy.

Beside him, his father, David Cartaya, a livestock farmer from Tenerife, does not hide his pride in seeing his son committed to continuing the family path.

“It’s a source of pride,” he said, while acknowledging that the road ahead will not be easy. “It’s not just that things aren’t easy; they’re very difficult,” he noted regarding the current conditions of the primary sector.

The Tenerife farmer pointed to bureaucracy as one of the main obstacles for those who want to keep producing in the Canary Islands.

“One of the most serious problems we have is bureaucracy, especially in the Canary Islands,” he warned, insisting that regulations arrive in the islands “multiplied” and with far less flexibility than elsewhere.

In addition to lamenting excessive bureaucracy, Cartaya directly called on citizens to support the sector, warning that if farmers and ranchers disappear, “we will end up eating plastic.”

Despite the challenges, Cristóbal says he sees his future “clear,” primarily in Tenerife and linked to family livestock farming. A young man who steps forward confidently, offering hope for the continuity of the primary sector.