Agricultural and Livestock Transformations: Production and Challenges

Posted on Dec 16, 2024 in Geography

The Agricultural Business

Traditional agriculture relied on polyculture and extensive farming, which were labor-intensive and resulted in low yields for self-consumption. Modern agriculture has undergone significant transformations, increasing yields and production for market sale.

a) Changes in Agricultural Structure:

  • Specialization: Agriculture tends to specialize.
  • Modern Techniques: Incorporation of increased mechanization (tractors, harvesters). Pesticide and fertilizer consumption has increased.
  • Improved Inputs: Use of selected seeds and crops.
  • New Techniques: Use of padding, sanding, greenhouses, and hydroponics. Padding covers the soil with plastic. Sanding prepares the terrain with manure and sand, which filters moisture and acts as a fertilizer. Greenhouses create warm, humid microclimates, accelerating maturity and allowing multiple harvests. Hydroponics uses gravel, sand, or ashes to hold plant roots, fed with inorganic salt solutions, primarily for flowers.
  • Intensive Farming: Intensive farming is gaining importance due to irrigation expansion and reduced fallow periods.

· Extensive Irrigation Agriculture (1 crop per year)

Irrigation can be intensive (outdoors or in greenhouses) for two or three crops per year, or extensive, providing a single crop annually with higher yields than dry farming. Irrigation is unevenly distributed, with extensive irrigation scarce in the north and more prevalent in the Mediterranean.

Intensive irrigation has economic benefits: increased income, demand, population growth, and immigration. However, it also creates problems like inadequate systems, overexploitation of water, and environmental changes. Solutions include the National Irrigation Plan, aiming to irrigate 228,000 hectares and improve systems like drip or spray irrigation. Reusing treated water is also proposed.

· Extensive Fallow Agriculture

Fallow land, a period to break the soil surface for moisture, has declined due to irrigation. Spring cultivation and fertilizers have been introduced. The EU subsidizes fallow in surplus areas to slow production. Fallow is scarce in the north and high on the Plateau.

b) Agricultural Production

Agricultural production accounts for 61.4% of final agricultural production in 2003, with changes in its components.

  • Cereals: Occupy 34.8% of agricultural production. Cereals for human consumption (rice and wheat) are losing ground to animal feed (barley, oats, rye, and corn) due to increased meat consumption. Most cereals are grown in the dry interior, except corn and rice, which need more water.
  • Legumes: (beans) are consumed green or dry (beans, kidney beans, chickpeas, and lentils). Grown in Andalusia, Extremadura, and Castile, they provide a break crop. Production, except for lentils, has declined, leading to EU grants.
  • Vine: Grown in drylands for fresh grapes and wine. The main producing areas are Castilla la Mancha and Rioja. Production has low yields. The EU has a wine surplus, so it is promoting superior strains.
  • Olive Tree: Highly resistant to drought, used for table olives and oil. The main producing area is Jaén and Córdoba. Production is variable. Olive oil faces competition from cheaper oils.
  • Horticultural Products: Consumed fresh or canned. Located in irrigated areas like the Mediterranean. Vegetables, outdoors or in greenhouses, and fruit trees (citrus, stone fruit, and bananas) have increased due to rising living standards.
  • Floriculture: Increasingly important in the Canary Islands and Catalonia.
  • Industrial Crops: Require processing (tobacco, cotton, sugar beet, and sunflower). The main production area is Castilla-La Mancha, Andalusia, and Extremadura. The EU does not limit cotton and tobacco production.
  • Forage Crops: Used for animal feed (alfalfa). Concentrated in the northern half of the Peninsula due to higher humidity.

The Livestock Activity

Livestock production has transformed from small farms with local breeds and extensive systems to specialized production with increased yields.

a) Changes in Livestock Structure

  • Specialization: Livestock tends to specialize in meat or milk, replacing national breeds with selected foreign ones. Native species are being recovered with EU grants.
  • Mechanization: Increased mechanization and farm size have led to higher yields.
  • Intensive Livestock: Intensive livestock production has gained weight compared to extensive systems. Intensive livestock is unrelated to the physical environment and is fed with feed.

Despite development, livestock faces problems:

  1. Shortage of animal feed due to low rainfall, leading to dependence on imported feed.
  2. Inadequate farm size, despite increasing concentration.
  3. Strong competition from other countries and surpluses, leading to quotas for some products.

b) Livestock Production

Livestock production has increased due to mechanization, soil conservation, and the need to improve human nutrition.

  • Cattle: Used for milk and meat. Milk production is located in the north, while meat production is in mountain areas. The EU has cut production quotas due to surpluses.
  • Sheep: Used for meat and milk, especially for Manchego cheese. Located in the east and south. Operating systems include transhumance (declined), complementary to agriculture, and stables for fattening lambs. The EU gives subsidies to keep extensive farms.
  • Pig Farming: Consumed fresh and cooked. Intensive systems are in Catalonia, while extensive systems are in Extremadura and Salamanca. Prices fluctuate due to surpluses and imports.
  • Poultry Farming: Produces meat and eggs. Located in Catalonia, Castile and Leon, and Aragon. Chicken meat is sensitive to falling demand. Ostrich meat consumption has increased.

The Forestry

Forest land in Spain is approximately 17 million hectares, with 14 million forested. Hardwoods (beech, oak, and eucalyptus) and softwoods (mainly pine) are used for sawmills, veneer, pulp, cork, and resin. The main producing areas are north of the peninsula and Huelva. Production has increased with fast-growing species but is still inadequate, requiring 25% of wood to be imported.

Deforestation, logging, fires, acid rain, and forest diseases are problems. Solutions include forest protection, afforestation, and increasing recreational uses.