THOUSANDS of farmers in Spain staged a second day of tractor demonstrations across the country today to demand changes in European Union farming policies and measures to combat production cost hikes and severe drought.

Protesters blocked motorways and cut off access to the eastern port of Castellon and the south-eastern Jerez airport.

Spanish media reported that a thousand tractors were heading slowly towards Barcelona’s city centre, causing major traffic jams on roads into the north-eastern port capital of Spain’s Catalonia region.