Agricultural Landscapes of Spain: Regional Variations
North Peninsular Wet Agrarian Landscape
This includes the north and northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. The sample is rugged, with few flat surfaces and a rainy maritime climate all year round.
A) The agrarian structure is characterized by:
- The population, traditionally very large, is now scarce and old, since it was forced to emigrate because of the inability of the field to sustain it. The population is predominantly dispersed, with settlements ranging from villages to parishes.
- The farms are smallholdings. Farmers have small plots enclosed by hedges, distant from each other, reducing their profitability and making mechanization difficult. Efforts to consolidate plots have been made but without significant results.
- Land use is mainly agricultural.
B) Agriculture occupies a small area. On the coast, fields are at the bottom of the valleys; in the interior, agricultural use is very limited. Rainfed agriculture is practiced due to the regularity of rainfall.
C) Livestock farming is more important. It is favored by the climate, the urban demand for milk and meat, and the rural poor, as it requires less labor. In Galicia, small and medium-sized family farms predominate. On the Cantabrian facade, farms have been upgraded in size and equipment.
Interior Peninsular Agricultural Landscape
This includes both uplands and the Ebro depression. It presents a flat relief, high average altitude in the plateau, and a continental Mediterranean climate, with low rainfall and significant temperature contrasts.
A) The agrarian structure:
- The population is very poor and old, due to heavy emigration. The population is concentrated in villages, small and near the valleys of the Duero and Ebro, and large and far between in the southern half of the peninsula.
- Farms are of different sizes. Smallholdings dominate the valleys of the Duero and the Ebro. Large properties are characteristic of many dry lands of Castile, Aragon, and Extremadura.
- Land use includes agriculture, livestock, and forestry.
B) Agriculture shows clear differences between rainfed and irrigated areas.
- Dry farming dominates the countryside and non-irrigated areas of the Ebro valley. It is practiced extensively in open fields, featuring the so-called Mediterranean trilogy (cereals, vines, and olives).
- Irrigation allows for more intensive agriculture.
C) Livestock is important in the dry lands and rangelands.
- The dry lands of Castile and the Ebro basin have a huge sheep population, which graze the stubble. In Castile and Leon, sheep for milk and fodder for pigs have also grown.
- The western pastures of Extremadura, Salamanca, Zamora, and Andalusia are used for farming and agricultural holdings, which in mountain areas also benefit from oak wood and cork oak.
D) Logging is typical of some areas, such as the Pinariega Soriana land.
Mediterranean Agricultural Landscape
This comprises the Mediterranean coast, the Guadalquivir valley, and the Balearic Islands. The physical environment has a hilly terrain on the coast, plains near the coast, mountains in the littoral, and a mild countryside relief in the Guadalquivir valley. The Mediterranean climate has a maritime influence with very little rainfall in summer.
A) The agrarian structure is characterized by:
- The population, traditionally large, is now reduced by the rural exodus. The population tends to be concentrated, except in coastal gardens.
- Farms vary in size. In irrigated areas, there are small farms. Rainfed farms are small and medium-sized in Valencia and Murcia, medium-sized in Catalonia, and large in western Andalusia.
- Land use is primarily agricultural.
B) Agriculture shows differences between rainfed and irrigated areas.
- Rainfed crops are spread over the plains of the Guadalquivir valley, the mountainous or hilly areas, the pre-littoral interior, and Mallorca. They are occupied by cereals, grapes, olives, and almonds.
- Irrigated crops are favored by mild temperatures, high insolation, the protection of the relief, the existence of suitable soils, and international demand. They include early outdoor gardening, early horticulture under plastic, Mediterranean fruit, and tropical fruit in pots in Malaga and Granada.
C) Cattle and swine are dominant in Catalonia, spurred by urban demand. Sheep are found in dry lands, and wild animals are common on the banks of the Guadalquivir.
D) Logging has little significance, except in Huelva, where there are large tracts of eucalyptus.
Mountain Agricultural Landscape
This landscape has extreme conditions, terrain, high altitude, steep slopes, and a cool climate with abundant rainfall that falls as snow in winter.
A) The agrarian structure:
- The population density is very low and tends to emigration. The population was traditionally dispersed but now tends to be concentrated in larger towns.
- Farms are tested; small private farms coexist with exclusive use for the neighbors.
- Land use is diverse and complementary, graded according to climatic variations: agriculture in the valley bottoms, logging in forests, and cattle sheds, bushes, and grasses on the summits.
B) Agriculture: In the mountains of northern Spain, it takes place in the valley bottoms and focuses on market gardens. In contrast, in thermal lift mountains and southern areas, crops such as almonds and olives rise in terraces and balconies.
C) Extensive livestock farming is practiced. In the mountains of the northern peninsula, sheep or cattle graze in forest clearings, thickets, and meadows. In the Mediterranean mountains, sheep dominate, practicing local seasonal migration between the valley and the summit.
D) Logging is greatest in the northern mountains, focusing on the use of firewood and timber species such as eucalyptus, chestnut, or pine.