The Valencian Association of Farmers (AVA-ASAJA) says it plans to join a protest Nov. 29 , in front of the Ministry for Ecological Transition against the surge in energy costs. 

Because of the increase in the price of electricity, which comes in addition to the 'gas cap' imposed by the government, many irrigation entities are assuming monthly bills fivefold year-on-year. 

According to AVA-ASAJA, this unprecedented escalation is excessive for the vast majority of irrigators. 

The  protest was called by the extraordinary general assembly of the Association of Irrigation Wells and Groundwater Users of the Valencian Community, which brings together nearly a thousand irrigation entities and individuals. 

"The agrarian is not like other economic sectors that can stop and resume production when costs allow it. If irrigation entities close, the trees would die from water deficit, which would cause a collapse of food self-sufficiency, economic destruction along the agri-food chain, accelerate rural depopulation, a deteriorating landscape and increased risk of fires," said the president of AVA-ASAJA, Cristóbal Aguado. 

This will be the second protest in Madrid in just a week. Last Wednesday the association protested at the gates of the Office of the European Commission in Spain against the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).