Agriculture in Spain is important to the national economy. The primary sector activities accounting for agriculture, husbandry, fishing and silviculture represented a 2.7% of the Spanish GDP in 2017, with an additional 2.5% represented by the agrofood industry.
Geography and climate of Spain
Viewed in terms of land mass, Spain is one of the largest countries in Western Europe, and it ranks second in terms of its elevation, after Switzerland. Most of the territory experiences a dry summer climate (mediterranean or semiarid) with scarce rainfall in the summer and high potential evaporation, as well as a total annual rainfall ranging from 400 to 600 mm. Longer droughts also occur. Although average minimum winter temperatures are often above 0 °C in a large part of the agricultural land, frosts are not uncommon in the interior of the country during the Winter.
20.6 million of Spain's 50.5 million hectares of land, or about 40 percent, is suitable for cultivation. The soil is generally of poor quality, and about 10 percent of the land can be considered excellent. The roughness of the terrain has been an obstacle to agricultural mechanization and to other technological improvements. Furthermore, years of neglect have created a serious land erosion problem, most notably in the dry plains of Castilla-La Mancha.
Overview Among the European Union countries, Spain has the second largest proportion of land devoted to agricultural purposes, only behind France. In the 1980s, about 5 million hectares were devoted to permanent crops: orchards, olive groves, and vineyards. Another 5 million lay fallow each year because of inadequate rainfall. Permanent meadows and pastureland occupied 13.9 million hectares. Forests and scrub woodland accounted for 11.9 million hectares, and the balance was wasteland or was taken up by populated and industrial areas.
The primary forms of property holding in Spain have been large estates (latifundios) and tiny land plots (minifundios). In large measure, this was still true in the 1980s. The agrarian census of 1982 found that 50.9 percent of the country's farmland was held in properties of 200 or more hectares, although farms of this size made up only 1.1 percent of the country's 2.3 million farms. At the other end of the scale, the census showed that 61.8 percent of Spain's farms had fewer than 5 hectares of land. These farms accounted for 5.2 percent of the country's farmland.
Just under 25 percent of all farms consisted of less than 1 hectare of land, and they accounted for 0.5 percent of all farmland. Minifundios were particularly numerous in the north and the northwest. Latifundios were mainly concentrated in the south, in Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, Valencia, and Andalusia.
Crop areas were farmed in two main manners. Areas relying on non-irrigated cultivation (secano), which made up 85 percent of the entire crop area, depended solely on rainfall as a source of water. They included the humid regions of the north and the northwest, as well as vast arid zones that had not been irrigated. The much more productive regions devoted to irrigated cultivation (regadio) accounted for 3 million hectares in 1986, and the government hoped that this area would eventually double, as it already had doubled since 1950. Particularly noteworthy was the development in Almeria—one of the most arid and desolate provinces of Spain—of winter crops of various fruits and vegetables for export to Europe.
Though only about 17 percent of Spain's cultivated land was irrigated, it was estimated to be the source of between 40 and 45 percent of the gross value of crop production and of 50 percent of the value of agricultural exports. More than half of the irrigated area was planted in corn, fruit trees, and vegetables. Other agricultural products that benefited from irrigation included grapes, cotton, sugar beets, potatoes, legumes, olive trees, strawberries, tomatoes, and fodder grasses. Depending on the nature of the crop, it was possible to harvest two successive crops in the same year on about 10 percent of the country's irrigated land.
Citrus fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, olive oil, and wine—Spain's traditional agricultural products—continued to be important in the 1980s. In 1983 they represented 12 percent, 12 percent, 8 percent, 6 percent, and 4 percent, respectively, of the country's agricultural production. Because of the changed diet of an increasingly affluent population, there was a notable increase in the consumption of livestock, poultry, and dairy products. Meat production for domestic consumption became the single most important agricultural activity, accounting for 30 percent of all farm-related production in 1983.
Increased attention to livestock was the reason that Spain became a net importer of grains. Ideal growing conditions, combined with proximity to important north European markets, made citrus fruits Spain's leading export. Fresh vegetables and fruits produced through intensive irrigation farming also became important export commodities, as did sunflower seed oil that was produced to compete with the more expensive olive oils in oversupply throughout the Mediterranean countries of the EC.
Regional variation
Because the interior of Spain is dominated by semiarid plateaus and mountains subject to temperature extremes, the most productive agricultural areas in the late 1980s tend to be the coastal regions. Thus the north and the northwest, where there is a relatively mild, humid climate were the principal corn-producing and cattle-raising areas. Apples and pears were the main orchard crops in this area, and potatoes were another of its leading products.
Galicia, which consists of Spain's four westernmost provinces directly north of Portugal, had a concentrated farm population living on intensely fragmented plots. Accordingly, per capita farm income was low, compared with that of the northern provinces lying to the east, where there were fewer people and higher per capita income levels because of a more diversified economy that included industry, mining, and tourism.
Valencian Community, on the eastern coast, has a climate that permits very diversified agriculture. The biggest fruit production in Valencia, by far, are the citrus species, predominantly oranges. tangerines and lemons, and to a lesser extent grapefruits and bitter oranges. The Valencian Community produces more than 3 million tons of citrus per year, representing 60% of the Spanish citrus production. The subtropical climate found on the coast and low altitude areas, along with the fertile terrain, have filled the Valencian Community with citrus plantations all the way from northern Castellón to southern Alicante. There are lots of different varieties grown in this region. The earliest ones are tangerines that start to be collected in early September and the latest are the late Valencia orange navel class that ends in late June and are mostly used to make juices. Valencia has also very big expanses of rice fields producing rice, concentrated mostly around the low-lying areas of the central part of the province of Valencia, taking advantage of the Albufera sweet water wetlands. Avocado is also becoming a very important fruit, as it meets the climate and requirements to grow on a large scale. Avocado orchards are being planted quickly and avocado is slowly replacing citrus cultivars as avocado is much more economically viable. In the inland areas, cultivations of cherries. almonds and olives are also very prevalent, mostly in the inland areas of the provinces of Valencia and Alicante. Sugarcane used to be very important in the past, although it has been replaced by oranges over the past centuries.
Catalonia, on the northeast coast, also has a climate that permits diversified agriculture. At the end of the 1980s, livestock, particularly the expanding poultry industry, was important in the area. Modern farming methods, including the use of tractors, were more advanced here than they were in the rest of the country. South of Catalonia, along the narrow Mediterranean coast, or Levante, was Spain's principal area of intensive, irrigated horticulture. Oranges, orchard fruits, rice, and vegetables were produced in this region, and farther to the south, fig trees and nut trees were grown.
Andalusia, which includes all of tillable southern Spain, was another major agricultural area in the late 1980s. It was also the target of several agricultural planning programs. Although olive trees grow throughout the Mediterranean coastal region, as well as in parts of the Meseta Central (Central Plateau), they constituted the most important crop in Andalusia, particularly in the province of Jaén. Other warm-weather crops, such as cotton, tobacco, and sugarcane, were also produced in Andalusia, as were wine and table grapes.
The vast dry plateau region of central Spain contrasted sharply with the country's relatively productive areas. The production of agricultural commodities was particularly difficult in central Spain because of a lack of rainfall, a scarcity of trees and other vegetation, extremes of temperature, and harsh, rocky soil. Nevertheless, the farmers of the region grew wheat and other grains, raised sheep and goats, maintained vineyards, and carried on other agricultural activities.
An important irrigation system lies just northwest of the northern Meseta and south of the Pyrenees in the Ebro Basin, where Spain's best known vineyard district is located in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Because of its irrigation, corn, sugar beets, and orchard fruits were grown in this area, and the Ebro Delta was one of Spain's principal rice-growing regions.
In the Balearic Islands (Spanish: Islas Baleares), the uncertain, sparse rainfall and the lack of permanent fresh water streams were somewhat compensated for by good supplies of underground water. Irrigation permitted the production of a wide range of temperate and semitropical tree crops for export, as well as enough cereals, legumes, wines, and vegetables for local consumption. Sheep, goats, pigs, and poultry were also raised on the islands.
Agriculture in the Canary Islands (Spanish: Islas Canarias) was limited by water shortages and mountainous terrain. Nevertheless, a variety of vegetable and fruit crops were produced for local consumption, and there was a significant and exportable surplus of tomatoes and bananas.
Climate change
History of agricultural development Prior to the Spanish Civil War, Spain's agricultural output was among the lowest in Europe. These poor results were only marginally affected by the war, yet agricultural output during the 1940s remained below the 1933 level. This low agricultural productivity led to food rationing, substantially contributing to the great hardships endured by people living in the cities. One of the main reasons for this dilemma was the government preoccupation with industrial self-sufficiency, which resulted in neglect for the modernization of agriculture. The government did encourage grain cultivation with the aim of achieving agricultural self-sufficiency, but heavy-handed efforts to control food prices led to the massive channeling of agricultural products into the black market.
The traditional shortcomings of Spanish agriculture — excessive land fragmentation (minifundismo) and extremely large land tracts in the hands of a few (latifundismo) — were, for all practical purposes, ignored. As in the past, latifundio areas with low yields and little irrigation were primarily devoted to the production of such traditional commodities as olive oil, grains, and wine. They were, moreover, the areas where casual rural laborers (braceros) were concentrated, where wage levels were lowest, and where illiteracy rates were highest.