Spanish Agricultural Landscapes: Characteristics and Factors
Agrarian Landscapes in Europe
European agricultural landscapes are specialized in various productions, depending on the physical environment and market demand.
- Oceanic: The agricultural landscape of Western Europe specializes in pasture, forage crops, and cereals for intensive dairy cattle breeding or meat production.
- Mediterranean: The agricultural landscape is diverse. The drylands are dedicated to the Mediterranean trilogy (wheat, olives, and grapes). Irrigation practices support intensive agriculture, specializing in fruit, vegetables, and industrial crops.
- Continental: The agricultural landscape of Central and Eastern Europe varies depending on latitude. In the coldest northern regions, logging of coniferous forests and extensive beef cattle farming prevail. The central area is dedicated to the beef industry and the cultivation of cereals, industrial plants like beets and sunflowers, and fodder. In southern steppe areas, rainfed cereal monoculture and industrial crops dominate in irrigated areas.
- Polar Tundra: Nomadic reindeer husbandry survives, employing a small population and experiencing continued emigration.
- Mountain Areas: Major activities include cattle ranching, cattle and sheep farming, and logging.
In Spain, as in other developed countries, primary economic activities have been declining in importance compared to other sectors. In 2005, these activities accounted for 5.27% of the workforce and contributed 3% of the national wealth.
However, 43% of the Spanish surface is occupied by a rich diversity of agricultural landscapes. These are the result of a combination of physical and human factors and elements.
Factors Influencing Spanish Agricultural Landscapes
Physical factors are generally not favorable for agriculture in Spain. The relief features high altitudes and steep slopes. The climate is characterized by low and erratic rainfall in large areas and extreme temperatures, including freezing conditions and heat waves. The soils are often of poor quality.
Human factors influencing the Spanish agricultural landscapes are:
- A low (5.27% in 2005) and aging active population, resulting from rural exodus.
- Modernized agricultural technology with the use of machinery, fertilizers, selected seeds, and livestock breeds.
- A strong contrast in land ownership size between large and small properties, with virtually no medium-sized holdings. Over 75% of farms are worked by the owner.
- Specialized agricultural production focused on a few high-performance crops in each region, likely to intensify through the use of improved techniques and geared towards selling products on the market.
Elements of Spanish Agricultural Landscapes
The elements of Spanish agricultural landscapes are the plots, land use, the bending and the rural habitat.
- Plots: Plots are grouped into farms, which tend to decrease in number and increase in area. In 2005, their average size was 23.02 acres, although there were sharp contrasts in size between regions.
- Land Uses: Land uses are agricultural, livestock, and forestry.
- Agriculture: Focused on cereals and legumes, grapes, olives, fruit and vegetables, industrial crops, and forages.
- Livestock: Provides meat and milk from cattle; meat and milk for cheese making from sheep; pork, beef, and sausages; and meat and eggs from poultry.
The bending mode of rural and population distribution in space, is scattered at the periphery of the peninsula, Balearic and Canary Islands, and concentrated in the interior of the peninsula, in towns small and large in the north to the south.
- Rural Habitat: Includes various models of homes in terms of their materials (stone, clay, or wooden timber-frame) and their plane (block house built by various agencies under one roof, or home made, consisting of several buildings around a yard).