Agricultural Landscapes of Spain: Regional Diversity and Challenges

Posted on Dec 4, 2024 in Geography

Humid Spain

1. Location: North and Northwest Spain.
2. Physical Factors: Rugged terrain, oceanic climate with year-round rainfall.
3. Agrarian Structure:
   1. Migrant and aging population.
   2. Dispersed settlement with some concentrated areas.
   3. Ownership: Smallholdings, fenced or scattered plots, predominantly family-operated farms.
4. Agriculture:
   1. Cultivated areas in valley bottoms and mountains.
   2. Predominantly rainfed agriculture.
   3. Crops:
      1. Formerly: Polyculture for family self-sufficiency (vegetables, corn, potatoes, fruit trees, vines), with limited market presence.
      2. Today: Increasing specialization in agricultural products and fodder.
   4. Livestock:
      1. Beef cattle (milk and meat) are the most important economic activity.
      2. Predominance of small, competitive farms, especially in Galicia.
   5. Bleak Future Prospects:
      1. Low competitiveness due to small farm sizes.
      2. Heavy reliance on the dairy industry.
      3. Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) consequences: Increased competition from other EU countries and production quotas, hindering farm modernization.
5. Forestry: Important for furniture and paper pulp.

Peninsular Agricultural Landscape

1. Geographical Features:
   1. Location: Both plateaus, Ebro basin, and inland Andalusia.
   2. Physical Factors: Flat terrain with high average altitude on the plateaus, continental Mediterranean climate (dry summers and winter frosts).
2. Agrarian Structure:
   1. Migrant population, depopulation, and abandonment.
   2. Concentrated settlement: smaller nuclei in the north, larger nuclei in the south.
   3. Ownership:
      1. Smallholdings in the irrigated Duero and Ebro valleys, mitigated by migration and land consolidation.
      2. Large estates in some central provinces (Salamanca, Burgos), dry Aragon, Castile, Extremadura, and Andalusia.
   4. Mixed land use.
3. Agriculture:
   1. Occupies nearly half of the cultivated land.
   2. Two Distinct Areas:
      1. Highlands (Moors and Countryside): Rainfed crops, primarily the Mediterranean trilogy (cereals in Castile-León, vines and olive trees in Castile-La Mancha, Extremadura, and La Rioja).
         1. Formerly: Cereals harvested in open fields with fallow or legumes, sheep grazing on stubble.
         2. Today: Decrease in wheat, increase in barley and sunflowers, reduction of fallow (rotation irrigation and sunflower), although the CAP has slowed the decline.
      2. River Valleys: More intensive irrigated crops.
         1. Past: Scarce, mainly vegetables for consumption.
         2. Today: Increased irrigation and diversification: industrial plants, fodder, fruits, vegetables (important for canning).
4. Livestock:
   1. Important in some areas: cattle for meat in mountainous regions; feedlot cattle for milk and pigs near urban centers; extensive sheep farming in the dry lands of Castile and the Ebro basin; pigs and cattle (and to a lesser extent, sheep) in pastures of Extremadura, Salamanca, and Zamora.
5. Forestry: Important in some mountain regions (Soria).

Mediterranean Agricultural Landscape

1. Geographical Features:
   1. Location: Coastal and littoral Mediterranean, Guadalquivir valley, and Balearic Islands.
   2. Physical Factors: Flat terrain (except in coastal plains and the Guadalquivir valley), coastal Mediterranean climate with low rainfall, high temperatures, and summer dryness.
2. Agrarian Structure:
   1. Large population.
   2. Interspersed dispersed and concentrated settlements, with a tendency for growth.
   3. Ownership:
      1. Small irrigated areas.
      2. Dryland areas: small and medium-sized farms in Valencia and Murcia, medium-sized in Catalonia, and large in other parts of Spain.
   4. Different land uses.
3. Agriculture:
   1. Dryland cereals, vines, and olive trees in the Guadalquivir valley; almonds in pre-coastal and hilly areas.
   2. Irrigation: Intensive farming with multiple crops per year: rice, flowers, vegetables, citrus, and other fruits.
      1. Vegetables and fruits face competition from other Mediterranean countries.
      2. Subtropical crops in the basins of Malaga, Granada, and Almeria.
4. Livestock:
   1. Intensive cattle and swine farming in Catalonia; sheep and goat ranching in drylands; fighting bulls in the lower Guadalquivir.

Mountain Agricultural Landscape

1. Physical Factors: High altitude, steep slopes, cold winters, heavy rainfall (including snow).
2. Agrarian Structure:
   1. Very low population densities, trend towards depopulation.
   2. Sparse population, concentrated in valley bottoms.
   3. Ownership: Small, enclosed, scattered plots; mountains and prairies with municipal and communal ownership.
   4. Land Use: Varied, complementary, and staggered by altitude: agriculture in valleys, forests on slopes, livestock in mountains (bush and grass).
3. Agriculture:
   1. In northern mountains: garden crops in valley bottoms.
   2. In eastern and southern mountains: some crops (olives and almonds) on terraced slopes.
4. Livestock:
   1. Extensive grazing: cattle and sheep in the north; transhumant sheep between valleys and summits in the Mediterranean (due to lack of supraforestal grassland).
5. Forestry: Utilization of fuelwood and timber (eucalyptus, chestnut, and pine).