Spanish Agriculture and Land Use: Production, Landscapes, and Challenges
Spanish Agriculture and Land Use
Cultivation of cereal and the vine
b) Changes in agricultural production: accounts for 57.1% of final agricultural production and has experienced changes in its various components:
a. Cereals occupy 37% of cultivated land. That destined for human consumption (wheat and rice) are losing ground to use as feed for livestock or compound feed manufacture (barley, corn, oats, and rye). The area is dryland cropping of the peninsular.
B. Legumes: Intended for use in green or dry and for livestock feed. Its production area is the same as that of cereals.
C. The vine is a plant producing dry bush grapes for fresh consumption and for winemaking. The area is producing along with Castilla La Mancha, La Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Carignan, Jerez… and the area of Catalan cava.
d. The olive tree: a tree crop highly resistant to summer drought. Its producing area is concentrated in the south of the peninsula, the countryside of Andalusia and Extremadura (Jaén and Córdoba). The production of olive oil is the largest in the world but faces problems due to the low level of mechanization that makes it difficult to compete on price.
E. Horticultural products: Consumed fresh or canned in the vegetable industry. Producing areas are located in irrigated peninsular and island regions, except in the case of almonds, which are dry.
1. Vegetables: grown on irrigated land along the Mediterranean coast and those located near urban consumption centers.
2. Fruit trees: focus on the Mediterranean coastal irrigation and irrigated valleys of the interior.
The production, traditionally for subsistence, has experienced tremendous growth and now focuses largely on exports.
f. The Floriculture: has become increasingly important in the Canary Islands and Catalonia.
g. Industrial crops: require industrial processing prior to consumption. This is the case of sunflower, sugar beet, cotton, or snuff.
H. Forage crops: are used for animal feed (alfalfa, silage maize, …). Its area of cultivation is concentrated in the northern half, by their physical environment more humid, and irrigation.
2.2) The Livestock Business
The traditional farming was based on the coexistence of various livestock species in the same area, consisting of indigenous breeds with a high degree of hardiness, small holdings, who used backward techniques and extensive systems, which consume much space, require labor-intensive and produced low profitability.
The current farming has undergone major transformations in the structure and production, which have allowed higher yields:
a) The changes in the density structure can be summarized as:
- 1. Livestock tends to specialize in the production of meat or milk. This has been a substitution of other selected foreign breeds and the almost total disappearance of dual-purpose breeds (meat and milk).
- 2. Progressively increasing mechanization and farm size, with rising yields.
- 3. Factory farming is gaining weight over the extended.
Despite this significant development, the Spanish livestock still has some problems that detract from competitiveness:
- The size of many farms is still inadequate, despite the increasing concentration and increase in the average number of heads per farm.
- In the EU, animal husbandry is facing strong competition from other countries.
b) The changes in livestock production: the production has increased its share in agricultural output to stand at 42.2% due to:
- The mechanization of the field.
- Soil conservation through the cultivation of fodder.
- The need to improve food proteins.
Production has experienced transformations in their different components:
a) Cattle: is intended to produce milk and meat.
1. The dairy fitness is located in extensive or mixed in the north of the peninsula, and intensive regimen around the cities of beef breed.
2. Is located in mountain areas and in the mountains of Sierra Morena in extensive.
His biggest problems are the strong surpluses in the EU who have been setting a quota system.
b) Sheep: is intended to produce meat and milk, great demand for the manufacture of Manchego cheese. It is located in the dry lands of the interior of the peninsula, reducing their density to the east and south. It operates in three regimes:
- Transhumant livestock.
- Cattle rack, a subsidiary of agriculture.
- Cattle feedlot.
c) Pig farming: is intended in part for fresh consumption and in part for sausage meat (sausage making). Their location varies:
- Industrial intensive regime prevails in Catalonia where he adopts the system of integration, i.e., the conjunction of a company that provides the raw material and feed, and a farmer who provides the stable and work.
- In extensive and based on quality native breeds (Iberian pigs) is located in Extremadura and Salamanca.
d) Poultry farming: is intended to produce meat and eggs, which is high. Located in Catalonia, Castilla y Leon, and Aragon, which is predominantly industrial and intensive.
2.3) Forestry
The forest land in Spain occupies 16.4 million ha. Of these, 13.9 million are forested area, consisting of hardwoods (beech, oak, chestnut, poplar, and eucalyptus) and softwood (mainly pine).
The fate of production targets:
- Primarily to sawmills, and veneer, milling, and pasta.
- Secondly, to resin and cork.
The main producing areas are the provinces north of the peninsula and Huelva.
Timber production has increased by the expansion of fast-growing species, and yet it is clearly inadequate, which required every year to import almost 25% of wood consumed.
The biggest problem is facing deforestation from logging and fires, acid rain, and forest diseases.
The forest policy aims at the protection of the forest, increases its size, and increases landscaping and recreational uses.
2.4) New Uses
The rural area is diversifying its activities with the implementation of land use other than traditional ones, in relation to the new demands of the post-industrial society:
a) Residential use as second homes.
b) Industrial.
c) Uses towns or tourist sites attractive.
d) Recreational uses such as hunting.
The consequences are:
- Positive: they contribute to the recovery of rural economies.
- Negative: the degradation of natural areas.
3. Agricultural Landscapes of Spain
We define agricultural landscapes as the morphology that presents the countryside as natural or modified by man. We can differentiate in Spain four major agricultural regions: the Atlantic, the Mediterranean interior, Mediterranean coast, and the Canary Islands, although these regions are not uniform, since they are located within major variants.
3.1) Agricultural Landscape of Wet Spain
Located in northern Spain, in an area of ocean climate and mountainous forest occupied by a high proportion. This is a very smallholder agriculture aimed at consumption, which is why raw polyculture. The settlement is dispersed.
a) The agrarian structure is characterized by:
- Large population and dispersed settlement highlighting the interlayer.
- Predominantly smallholding farmers.
- Predominantly land use.
b) Agriculture is an area just wide. In the past, it was practiced polyculture farmers living very isolated and needing to support themselves. Today polyculture agriculture is disappearing and will specialize in garden crops and fodder for livestock, consistent with the development of cattle breeding semi-estabulada.
c) The livestock is the most important economic activity, helped by the weather, urban demand for milk and meat, and the rural exodus. The prospects are not good, because many farms are still small and outdated and there is heavy reliance on dairies.
d) Logging is another important activity. It is destined for the furniture industry or pulp production.