Agriculture in Spain
[2] Other agricultural products that benefited from irrigation included grapes, cotton, sugar beets, potatoes, legumes, olive trees, strawberries, tomatoes, and fodder grasses.
[2] Ideal growing conditions, combined with proximity to important north European markets, made citrus fruits Spain's leading export.
[2] 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.
[2] Galicia, which consists of Spain's four westernmost provinces directly north of Portugal, had a concentrated farm population living on intensely fragmented plots.
[5] 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.
[2] 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.
[2] 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.
[2] 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.
[2] 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.
The Spanish agriculture sector has already implemented several measures aimed at reducing emissions, improving knowledge about them, and introducing energy efficiency criteria in modernizing irrigation systems.
[2] This low agricultural productivity led to food rationing, substantially contributing to the great hardships endured by people living in the cities.
[2] 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.
[2] The Stabilization Plan of 1959 encouraged emigration from rural areas, and the economic boom in both Spain and Western Europe provided increased opportunities for employment.
[2] The magnitude of the rural exodus permitted the government to undertake a program of parcel consolidation, that is, to bring together into single plots many tiny, scattered pieces of land that characterized the minifundio sector.
[2] The decreased size of the rural work force affected Spanish agriculture because its traditionally labor-intensive practices required a large pool of cheap labor.
[2] In years of poor or average harvests, the country was obliged to import grains for use as animal fodder, but on the whole Spain was a net exporter of foodstuffs.
[2] The variety of agriculture practiced along the Mediterranean coast or in the Rio Ebro Valley was, however, highly efficient and capable of keeping up with foreign competition.
[2] The EC's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which aimed at supporting most of each member state's farming sector, was expensive, and by the 1980s it was consuming well over half of the organization's revenues.
[2] If the CAP were continued, it would not be likely to have a considerable effect on Spanish agriculture, for a system of domestic price supports had long protected the weaker parts of the nation's farm sector.
[citation needed] In 2022 the government of Andalusia provided a mandate for the European Investment Bank to establish and operate an innovative guarantee fund of up to €50 million in order to support the growth of its agricultural and agrifood industries.
[2] These crops were concentrated in Andalusia and in the intensively cultivated and largely irrigated Mediterranean coastal areas, where small garden plots known as huertas were common.
[2] Although the wheat crop was subject to wide fluctuations because of variable weather conditions, it generally provided about one-fourth of Spain's total grain production, which exceeded the country's needs.
[2] Especially favorable growing conditions, coupled with generous government support, caused sunflower seed output to expand spectacularly, and the amount of land used for its cultivation went from virtually nothing in 1960 to approximately 1 million hectares in the 1980s.
[2] But esparto grass, a native Mediterranean fiber used in making paper, rope, and basketry, grew abundantly in the southeastern part of the country.
[2] Spanish livestock industries had experienced significant growth and modernization since the 1950s, but their output remained well behind the levels of efficiency and productivity of European Community (EC) countries.
[2] The EC states' generous subsidies and their experience in the use of expensive feed grains gave their livestock industries a decided competitive advantage.
[2] The principal cattle areas were in the north, the northwest, and, to a lesser degree, in Extremadura, Andalusia, the Rio Duero Basin, and the Murcia-Valencia lowlands.
[2] Although raised primarily for wool, milk, and cheese, Spanish farm animals, particularly sheep, were increasingly used to satisfy the country's meat consumption needs.
[2] The aims of the program included meeting market demand for forest products, controlling erosion, and providing seasonal employment in rural areas.
[2] Output could conceivably triple if 5.8 million hectares of the best forestland, which accounted for 50 percent of the total woodlands area, were properly developed and managed.
