At the foot of the Gormaz castle, in which it was the greatest fortress in Europe in the High Middle Ages, built to protect the Caliphate from Córdoba and disputed for centuries by Muslims and Christians, it has been waging in recent months a ‘battle’
More mundane with epic and ecological resonances that have reached the owners of The Times in London: “The Medieval Fortress of the CID has a new enemy: the pigs” …

Indeed, the proposal to build a swine farm for 4,200 heads has placed with the swords up to the Sorians of Gorizaz and recalls, has provoked the protests of the ecological groups and has the stand of war to neighbors and farmers.

A campaign in Change.org – preserve aquifers of the Douro River, Macrogranja Stop – has achieved the support of 2,421 signatures against the project of “pork of bait and recreasing reproduces”, published in the official bulletin of Castilla y León and pending yet
of the allegations of environmental impact.

Beyond the historical and cultural value of the imposing castle of Gorizaz, the campaign emphasizes that it is an area protected by the Natura Network, of ecological and tourist interest, and also settled on alluvial aquifers of the Duero that supply nearby towns and that
They could be contaminated by the purines and nitrates.

The promoters of the farm, the brothers Rubén and Angel, in front of Agro Peñaranda Esteban, argue that the matter “has come out of mother and has swollen incorrectly in the press.”
“To begin with, our project is not a ‘macrogranja’ because to enter that rating would have to reach 50,000 pigs,” they claim.
“And although it is true that it would be seen from Gormaz Castle, it is worth remembering that the surroundings there are already three other pig farms and that this has always been an agricultural landscape.”

“All this fuck is mounted when people have come this summer and has left back,” recall the brothers.
“We are from the area (Quintanas de Gormaz) and our family roots are in recall. We have stayed in the town and we need to expand the exploitation to be able to live. We have not done anything illegal and have farmers are on our side.
And people have to understand that the hams and the torrers do not fall from the sky. ”

Said which, and in view of the international recurrence, those responsible for Agro Peñaranda Esteban are open to changing the location of the farm: just over a kilometer from recalls up to five kilometers of the small urban area (just 70 neighbors censored).

The Mayor of Remember, Consuelo neighborhood, is one of the main detractors of the project.
“If we contaminate the waters, the air and the landscape, no one will want to come,” he emphasizes, and refers to a report where he consists that the two Aquifers Affected supply the wells of irrigation in the area and the own source of the square
from town.

The aforementioned report claims “a perimeter of hydrogeological protection” that is not included in the porcine farm project, and even refers even to the local refranement to remember the people’s deficiencies: “Remember the LLANA, who does not take a rope, do not drink water”
.

“The location of the farm is the worst possible by the risk of contamination of the two aquifers, one of the Mesozoic and another of the Quaternary-Tertiary,” says Alfonso Muñoz Martín, professor Geological Science at the Complutense University of Madrid.

The geologist also emphasizes the risks of purifier recreation on the nearby land to the farm: “Each pork generates some 2,800 liters of purines per year, if we multiply by 4,200, we can get an idea of the impact it can come to have …
And that for not speaking the smells that would come to town, just over a kilometer, with the West wind blowing 90% of the time. ”

Rodolfo Cabanas Viana, Mayor of Gormaz (20 inhabitants), stands out for himself how the exploitation “would be located in an area of landscape management (AOP) of special protection that affects both the Califier Fort of Gormaz and the Hermitage of San Miguel
, two monuments of cultural interest “.
The EDIL of the small municipality, the closest to the fortress, insists on the other hand that the project is “an attack against the environment” that would affect several locations of the Middle Brand of Soria.

The mayors rebel against the argument that this type of projects are necessary to repopulate Empty Spain.
“In my opinion, these farms do not generate employment because it is all machined,” he warns the mayor of Remember, Consuelo neighborhood.
“Employment can be generated in many ways, but without harming people living in the area. The first thing we need is good Internet coverage and good roads, finished highways, because in these towns we pay the same taxes.”

The promoters of the farm recognize that it would be enough for one or two people to manage the swine farm.
To the question about how the project could end up with the “outbreaks” of green tourism that have emerged in the last year in the area, they respond contoundly: “We have a rural tourism house, but that gives you only to live two months”
.

“There are hundreds of farms, more than 4,000 pigs each, which are being put in many Spanish provinces and that produce two serious environmental impacts,” says Luis Giménez, of the Soriana Defense Association of Nature (Asden)
/ Ecologists in action.
“These facilities need a lot of water that extract from the aquifers, sometimes overexploited, and on the other hand they contaminate them with the purines of pigs.”

“The province of Soria has extensive areas already contaminated by intensive agriculture nitrates and livestock,” says Luis Giménez.
“In the concrete case of the farm that they intend to put in recall, at the foot of Gormaz Castle, it is also the scenic impact. The surroundings of the castle is very well preserved, since what is seen from it are dry labor lands
, surely very similar to those who would be seen when it was built. ”

“With the installation of the projected farm, this landscape would be broken, since we are facing an industrial installation in full rule of more than 4,000 square meters and the other for the Ratsa rafts,” concludes Asden’s spokesman.
“There are also other problems, such as the smells that can produce the people of the people, which is in the direction of the dominant winds.”