The Spanish Congress of Deputies became the epicentre of the debate on the future of the agricultural and livestock sector. McDonald’s Spain, in collaboration with AFAMMER (the Association of Families and Women of the Rural Environment), organised the first Parliamentary Conference “The countryside on the agenda: communicating its value, forging alliances”, a meeting that brought together political representatives, experts and leaders from the primary sector to boost the visibility and development of Spanish agriculture.
The event was opened by Carmen Navarro, Fourth Secretary of the Congress Bureau, and Begoña García Bernal, Secretary of State for Agriculture and Food. Navarro highlighted the need for concrete agreements such as a national water pact and further digitalisation, stressing political consensus and commitment as essential. García Bernal underscored that “the countryside has a future” and identified three main challenges: promoting female leadership in the sector, ensuring generational renewal, and fostering the development of rural areas and villages.
Roundtables
Two roundtables structured the discussion and the main takeaways of the day. The first, “The new vision for agriculture: towards a more visible primary sector”, was moderated by Pilar Ayuso, Member of the European Parliament between 1999 and 2019, and featured contributions from MPs Pedro Gallardo and Patricia Otero, MEP Carmen Crespo, and Clara Aguilera, also a former member of the European Parliament (2014–2024).
The panel addressed various perspectives for the development and improvement of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and highlighted the importance of preserving its autonomy and maintaining its community-based and consensus-driven approach. Speakers also pointed to a pivotal moment for the modernisation and strengthening of the primary sector, emphasising the need to focus resources and policies on digitalisation, innovation, rural development—including population challenges—and attracting younger generations to agriculture.
The second roundtable, “Voices from the countryside: success stories in promoting the primary sector”, was moderated by Adriana Bonezzi, Managing Director of Marcas de Restauración. Participants included Paloma Cabral, Corporate Impact Director at McDonald’s Spain; Carmen Quintanilla, National President of AFAMMER; MP Javier Folch; and young entrepreneur Rocío Torres Caro, head of Torres Filoso Viña y Bodega.
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This discussion centred on the idea of building bridges and forging alliances to strengthen the development and visibility of Spanish agriculture. Speakers stressed the need to bring cities closer to the countryside and to promote public-private partnerships, citing the Big Good Awards as a successful example. They called for replacing the concept of “empty Spain” with “Spain of opportunities” and highlighted the importance of positive role models—particularly female leadership.
“Our commitment to the Spanish countryside is strong: we believe in its strategic potential and want to generate real, sustainable impact. More than 70% of our purchasing basket comes from national suppliers because quality and local origin are essential to offering unique experiences to our customers. Talent, digitalisation, innovation and sustainability are pillars for driving the sector forward, along with public-private partnerships that already show extraordinary results, such as the Big Good Awards,” said Paloma Cabral, Corporate Impact Director at McDonald’s Spain.
For her part, Carmen Quintanilla stressed the need to boost the sector with political will, citing female unemployment in rural areas. The national president of AFAMMER highlighted the value of associationism and a rural-focused feminism as key tools for action.
A meeting point for the sector and policymakers
The first Parliamentary Conference “The countryside on the agenda: communicating its value, forging alliances”, which also featured César Marcos, Communications Manager at ALAS (Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture), as master of ceremonies, proved a success in both participation and conclusions.
McDonald’s Spain and AFAMMER continue to work on various projects and initiatives in support of Spanish agriculture and reaffirm their intention to consolidate this event as a reference forum for analysis, debate and alliance-building to promote the development of the primary sector, with the support of various parliamentary groups and representatives of civil society and the business community.
