Spain’s Agricultural Landscape: Population, Land Use, and Farm Structure
Agricultural and Rural Population Trends
The farming population is decreasing due to the mechanization of agricultural work. Since the last decades of the 20th century, many cities are losing population to rural municipalities because of an urban exodus that increases the population living in the countryside. This creates a distinction between the rural population, those living in a rural area while working in the manufacturing or service industries, and the agricultural population, those who work in the primary sector.
Almost in parallel, and contrary to recent trends, statistics show an increase in the active agricultural population among young people, between 16 and 40, including a significant percentage of immigrants employed as permanent or temporary employees. This change of trend, with the field retaining young farmers through the modernization of farms and improved communications, is still dominated by an agricultural population of more than 40 years. There are rural areas where people engaged in agriculture tend to be older, and young people migrate to the city for work in construction, services, or contributing to urban unemployment rates. This process affects even the most isolated rural areas, known as ‘deep rural’ areas.
Agricultural Work in Spain
Small and medium farm owners are those who work the land with the help of family (family farm) or fixed-wage employees. The work of rural women, who are responsible for housework, family care, tending the garden, caring for barnyard animals, selling garden products in local and regional markets, or driving tractors, is often not included. These tasks, which represent a full-time commitment, are often counted as part-time family support.
It is becoming more common for small landowners to work part-time in the field and obtain a second salary in industry, construction, or services. In large farms, direct management of sharecropping and leasing of estates increases and decreases as heavy machinery requires large spaces. Mechanization has decreased the number of permanent employees and increased the demand for temporary workers, who are recruited in their home countries with seasonal employment contracts, an arrangement supported by the EU.
Evolution of Agricultural Land Use
Spain has an agricultural area (UAA) of about 24.5 million hectares. The UAA is comprised of farmland, meadows, and pastures. Most of the cultivated land is rainfed (78%), while 21.1% is irrigated. In recent years, farmland has decreased, while forest land, meadows, and pastures have increased. This is due to the abandonment of less productive land, encouraged by EU policy, for the construction of residential areas or infrastructure.
Land and Farm Structure
In Spain, farms below 5 hectares represent 51.8% of the total but occupy only 4.74% of agricultural land. Farms over 100 hectares represent 4.63% of the total but occupy 55.49% of agricultural land.
Large Farms (Latifundios)
Latifundios are large farms (more than 100 hectares) where extensive agriculture is practiced. They dominate in Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, and Andalusia. Today, the old estates are in a favorable economic situation, with large tracts of land that can be mechanized and provide important crops whose marketing produces high profits. This creates a new type of specialized work on tractors, combines, cultivators, etc.
Small Farms (Minifundios)
Minifundios are small farms (less than 10 hectares). They dominate the northern half of the Peninsula and in the two archipelagos. The plot size hinders mechanization, and the low volume of production does not allow for good marketing. Today, the small farm is profitable if intensive agriculture is practiced or very scientific cultivation of ornamental plants or crops irrigated orchard in early or under plastic in AlmerÃa.
Medium-Sized Farms
In Spain, medium-sized farms (around 30 hectares) have increased. The relevant EU agencies have favored mid-size family farms and have promoted the practice of intensive agriculture in order to obtain quality products for an increasingly demanding market. This has encouraged the reunification of fragmented farm plots and increased their size through loans.