The future of a Spanish national park has pitted German consumers against strawberry growers. Germany is one of the biggest consumers of Spanish strawberries.
Ednews informs via DW that a call by a German activist group to boycott strawberries grown near an environmentally fragile wetland in Spain drew criticism on Wednesday from berry growers in the southern province of Andalusia.
The activist group Campact said that strawberry farms close to the Donana national park had been illegally diverting water in order to irrigate their crops all year round, and called on German supermarkets to stop selling these "drought strawberries."
The petition comes as Spain's right-wing opposition party made gains in regional elections at the weekend, including in Andalusia.
The Popular Party (PP) is now planning to legalize the thus far illegal irrigation around the national park, despite warnings from scientists that the area is already drying out and in critical condition.