Primary Sector Activities: Grazing, Farming, and Fishing

Posted on Feb 24, 2025 in Geography

Primary Sector Activities

Extensive Grazing

Extensive grazing is practiced in both developed and underdeveloped countries and has these features:

  • It occurs on large farms.
  • Requires little investment in manpower, but productivity is low.
  • Characteristically involves cattle and sheep.
  • Developed in central and western United States, Argentina, Brazil, southern Russia, and Australia.

Factory Farming

Factory farming takes place in developed countries and has these features:

  • Requires large investment in plant.
  • Animal husbandry is a feedlot.
  • Characteristically involves cattle, pigs, and poultry.
  • Located in the eastern United States and Canada, and Western Europe.

Fishing

Fishing is the catch at sea, rivers, or lakes for fish and other aquatic animals.

Coastal Fishing

Coastal fishing is done near the coast in small boats and by artisanal methods.

Inshore Fishing

Inshore fishing is done near the coast in mid-sized boats.

Deep Sea Fishing

Deep sea fishing is made in the high seas, with large-tonnage ships equipped with modern technical tools to detect and understand the size of fish stocks.

  • At sea, species are concentrated in the fishing grounds on the continental shelves up to 200 meters deep.
  • Since 1950, catches are causing the depletion of some fish stocks and species decline.
  • Currently, over 30% of world fish production is obtained from aquaculture.

Logging

The economic use of forests and the products we get from them are employed mostly in construction, the furniture industry, and papermaking.

The Primary Sector in the EU, Spain, and Andalusia

The Primary Sector in the EU

At present, the importance of agriculture in the EU means it employs only 5% of the population and accounts for 2% of GDP. It is a modern, technically advanced, and highly productive sector. The primary sector in the EU is subject to common policies, including the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) and the CFP (Common Fisheries Policy).

The CAP sets production quotas for most products to avoid surpluses and provides a subsidy system to make certain products profitable. The CFP establishes fishing quotas in fisheries themselves to avoid over-fishing.

The Primary Sector in Spain

The primary sector in Spain generally accounts for less than 5% of GDP. Agriculture and livestock development in Spain is determined by the CAP, which has hurt milk and meat production but has benefited fruits and vegetables that have expanded their markets by providing quality products. Since 1960, Spanish agriculture and livestock have become competitive through:

  • The introduction of machinery.
  • The expansion of irrigation.
  • Livestock tending to exploitation in modern and specialized farms.

The Primary Sector in Andalusia

The primary sector now contributes less than 6% to both GDP and employment. The main characteristic of Andalusian agriculture is its variety and competitiveness, noting, in addition to the Mediterranean trilogy, the development of vegetables and citrus thanks to new Andalusian technologies. The primary sector faces a triple challenge:

  1. Achieving quality products.
  2. Utilizing rational and efficient use of natural resources.
  3. Ending informal jobs and the exploitation of migrant workers.

With regard to pig farming, it focuses on:

  • Seville: cattle, goats, and poultry.
  • Granada: sheep, rabbits.
  • Malaga: equines.

Pork and fish, although resulting in only 0.5% of Andalusian production, are very important for some areas and are facing a regression situation because:

  • Maladjustment of the Fleet.
  • The traditional fishing grounds are overexploited.
  • The remote fishing grounds depend on international agreements.