Rural Settlements in Spain: Evolution and Agricultural Policies
1.3.1. Rural Settlement and Recent Changes
1 – Rural Settlement
A set of existing human settlements in rural areas. In Spain, rural municipalities are classified as under 10,000 inhabitants, with those below 2,000 considered rural and semi-rural from 2,000 to 10,000. Rural settlement is related to physical factors (relief and water availability), economic factors (resource availability), and historical factors (Reconquista). Growth or decline has been conditioned by the circumstances of each period.
The type of rural settlement addresses two models: dispersed and concentrated.
Dispersed Settlement
Houses are separate from others and surrounded by land, formed by crop fields, forests, or grasslands. This dominates in the Balearic and Canary Islands.
- Dispersed total: Houses are isolated from each other.
- Dispersed interlayer: Scattered houses maintain relations with core areas sharing parishes and municipalities. This is the dominant type in the northern peninsula, the Mediterranean coast, the Andalusian plains, and areas of La Mancha.
- Scattered loose: Small clusters of houses or scattered villages, characteristic of the Cantabrian coast.
Concentrated Settlement
Cottages are grouped, forming towns and villages spread throughout the Spanish territory, predominantly in the peninsular area. They are separated from each other, reaching their highest expression in the Andalusian agro-cities.
According to their plan, concentrated settlements have two modes:
- Linear: Houses arranged along a street or road.
- Crowded: Houses grouped around a core, irregularly or with more or fewer rules.
2 – Changes
- Inland: Settlement size has reduced due to rural exodus, particularly in inaccessible and poorly resourced areas.
- Coast: Mediterranean tourism has led to the development of hotels and facilities, causing a loss of traditional character.
- Peri-urban areas: Population growth and urban economic activities incorporate rural communities. The most remote and ecologically valuable nuclei are used for residential and recreational purposes.
1.4.1. Agricultural Policy from the Mid-Nineteenth Century to the CAP
From the nineteenth century until the adoption of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), agricultural policy focused on the land ownership system, inadequate property sizes, trade protectionism, and increasing yields.
1 – The System of Property
The confiscations of the nineteenth century did not alter the concentration of ownership in the hands of a few. Land reform failed in its attempt to expropriate large estates and settle small farmers. Colonization and irrigation policies were limited to private areas of extensive irrigation in exchange for settling a small number of settlers in the area.
2 – The Wrong Size of Property
Addressed through land consolidation policy and legislation on large farms. Land consolidation aims to reduce the dispersion of smallholdings and parcels, giving each owner a single parcel or a few, and providing road access to parcels. Each municipality sets a minimum parcel size that cannot be divided. As a result, plots have become larger and more regular, with a decrease in the number of borders and the creation of a new road network. This has affected most areas of dryland monoculture. The Large Estates Law seeks to avoid the existence of large estates by requiring owners to submit an improvement plan, failure of which could result in the leasing of land for 12 years.
3 – Trade Protectionism
Tariffs were established on agricultural products from abroad to avoid domestic competition.
4 – Increasing Yields
Addressed through technical improvements and the extension of irrigation.
1.4.2. The Common Agricultural Policy and its Implications
Implications:
- Spain’s integration into the European Common Market involved free trade, both internally and externally.
- In the domestic market: Maximum and minimum prices are set for each product.
- In the international market: Imports are charged a fee to give preference to community products. Exports of certain products in Europe receive refunds or assistance when sold on the world market below the set price.
- The European free trade has allowed Spanish producers access to a market with high purchasing power, forcing them to increase competitiveness by upgrading and increasing farm yields and quality.
- EAGGF (European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund): Was in charge until October of covering expenditure incurred by the first pillar of the CAP, the EU market policy, and subsidies to farmers.
- EAGF (European Agricultural Guarantee Fund): Financed interventions in agricultural market regulation, export refunds, direct aid to farmers and ranchers, promotion of European agricultural products at home and abroad, and aid for the restructuring and diversification of production.