Unit 7 primary sector

GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY DEPARTMENT
Teacher: Maite Fresnillo

UNIT 7: PRIMARY SECTOR

AGRICULTURAL SPACES

Agricultural spaces are related to the activities developed by people in agriculture,
livestock and forestry. Nowadays those traditional activities have undergone
paramount changes and among the activities the spectrum has widen with the
addition of spare time activities, industry and services.

The variety of agricultural spaces depends on physical and human factors. In those
factors we can find agricultural structure, population, agricultural habitat and
agricultural policy. This last one has been dramatically affected since the entrance of
Spain in the European Economic Community.

1. Physical and human factors

Natural environment

Traditionally agriculture depended on physical space. Nowadays, due to the advanced
techniques that activity has changed and productivity has increased. Anyway, physical
factors continue having their influence and, in the case of Spain, that influence is
negative.

a) Relief is very high (70 per cent of land is between 200 and 1,000 metres) and
stepped areas are abundant. Due to this mechanization is not easy and erosion
is important.
b) Climate: in a majority of the regions rain is scarce and irregular and there are
frequent storms or hail; temperatures reach to extreme values and aridity is
quite important.
c) Soils: their quality is not very high.

Agricultural activity

Its traditional structure requires the use of abundant workforce. Both huge and small
exploitations were mixed and they were worked in an extensive way, with limited
technology. As a result, production was small and it was directed to self-consumption
or to the market. The market was protected by tariffs in order to avoid competition.

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In 1960s there were important changes in this
structure. Today we find the following characteristics:
· few and old inhabitants
· trend to enlarge and increase the number of agricultural exploitations
· technological advances.
As a result the production has increased and is more specialised in order to compete in
a globalised market.

a) Demographic changes

Agricultural population in Spain has been reduced since the beginning of the 20 th
century. Anyway, there are huge differences between autonomous communities.

The main reason for the reduction is the agricultural exodus that started when
agricultural works were mechanised. Many peasants left the countryside to go to cities
where they could work in industries, mainly after the 60s and until 1975, in which the
trend was altered as a consequence of the economic crisis that pushed some people
back to agriculture, at least as a part-time activity that could be combined with
industry.

The consequences
of the agricultural
exodus were the
depopulation of the
most depressed
areas of the
Peninsula and the
ageing process of
the people living in
those regions. At
least half the
population working
in agriculture is
between 40 and 64
years old.

Looking at the following years the trend is:

- Population in agricultural regions will continue reducing because those working
on that are retiring or leaving the activity. In addition to this, some
exploitations would not be competitive and those that do not produce profits
will disappear.
- It will be younger because young people will be involved, mainly if they can not
find a job in other sectors. They would benefit from the economic funds
provided by the EU for the development of the sector.

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b) Changes in exploitation, property, and
possession systems.

Agricultural space is organised in plots and lots.

-Exploitation: it comprises all the plots of land independently who is the owner.
In Spain the number of exploitations has been reduced but extension of them is bigger
than before. The problem is that some exploitations are formed by several plots of
land and that makes difficult the use of machines and reduces the space for
cultivation.

-Property is a juridical concept that refers to the ownership of the land. We can find
the following situations:
- Big properties or estates: they have more than 100 ha; they suppose a 50 per
cent of the land and only a 0.8 of proprietors. The location is in Andalusia,
Extremadura, Castile-Mancha and Aragon. Their characteristics are:
o Owners’ absenteeism
o Extensive agriculture
o Limited benefits
o Seasonal unemployment and illiteracy of workers
o Some of them are capitalist enterprises.
- Small property or smallholdings: less than 10 ha; they suppose the 10.5 per
cent of the soil and a 52.3 of the owners. They are located in the North of the
Peninsula as the case of Galicia and also in Valencia. Their characteristics are:
o Do not allow competitive production
o Scarce modernization
o Tend to disappear
o Owners combine the work in their plot with renting others.

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Classification of provinces depending on the average size of exploitations with land. 1999 Agrarian Census.

-Possession is the control over the land, this is, complete in the case of the owner and
limited in the rest of the cases. The kinds of possession can be:
- Direct: owner and head of the exploitation is the same person, they suppose
about three quarters of the ownership in Spain.
- Indirect: owners leave the exploitation of the land in somebody else’s hands in
one of the following systems:
o Sharecropping: the worker pays with part of the harvest
o Renting: the worker pays in money (this is more frequent nowadays).

c) Changes due to technique and agricultural systems are evident. From 1960 and
on agriculture has been mechanised and a lot of chemicals have been
introduced. With this production has intensified and benefits have increased.

Population and agricultural habitat

The settlement and habitat are factors of the agriculture areas and are subject to
changes.

a) Rural settlement

Settlement units comprising less
than 10000 inhabitants, among
which those with less than 2000
inhabitants are considered rural and
those between 2000 and 10000 are
semi urban areas.

The origin of the farmland is subject
to natural conditions, especially the
relief and water, to historical, as in
the case of the confiscation and land
reforms.

The typology of rural population has two models: dispersed or concentrated. There are
many intermediate situations which are distributed along the Spanish geography.

- Dispersed settlement: around the farmhouse are the land, forest and meadows
and it is isolated from other houses. It is common in the periphery of the
Iberian Peninsula (northern region, Catalonia, Valencia, Murcia and Andalusia).
There are different ways:

o Completely separate: there is no population centre. It is exceptional and
usually occurs in mountainous areas, with farms engaged in livestock or

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agriculture, livestock and forestry.
This is the case in some valleys of Cantabria.

o Limited concentration, where there are small, villages and parishes
around which the population is concentrated. No land around the
houses and all are separated from each other.

o Sparse interleaved: each house has its garden and distributed in a more
or less extensive. Have arisen due to population growth and the use of
new agricultural land or to exploit the forest. The houses are related to
the core clustered, especially with the parish, the council or the market.
This type of concentration is in Asturias, Galicia and parts of the
Mediterranean coast and Andalusia.
- Concentrated settlement: the houses are located next to each other,
depending on the location of the land. This pattern occurs throughout Spain. In
the north there are numerous small nuclei close to each other, while in the
south, the nuclei are larger but are more scattered. There are two types:
o Linear: the houses are a road and are located on either side of it.
o Concentrate: the houses are grouped around a core either regular or
irregular.

A: Separated; B: Concentrated; C: Interleaveled

In the rural settlement took place the following changes:

o In the interior the nuclear size has been reduced from the 60's due to rural
exodus. The nuclei most affected were those with few resources or poor
communications. At present, such nuclei are trying to recover traditional
activities but introducing new techniques, they are also involved in the industry
or rural tourism.

o On the coast, especially in the Mediterranean, have increased the cores
devoted to leisure. The media has been filled with housing developments,
hotels and chalets with what they are missing farming tradition.

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o Around the towns population growth and their economic growth has caused
the surrounding agricultural centres that have finally come to integrate into the
city. More distant nuclei, which have ecological value, are used to build houses.

b) Rural habitats: is composed of cells that constitute the agricultural settlement and,
therefore, there have been some model homes:

o Stone houses in the periphery

o Wood frame houses and stone-
coated

o Mud houses

The plan of the house depends on the
agricultural activities of their inhabitants.
There are several models:

o Bed-block, with all units under one roof, may be one or several levels.

o Compounded house, consisting of several buildings.

The rural habitat has been changed recently as the reasons for building the houses
have changed. Now there are other types, such as those devoted to tourism, second
homes and others. The result is the breakdown of the traditional harmony of the
countryside.

Agricultural policy

Political activity has influenced agriculture. Of particular importance are the changes
that have occurred after the entry into the EU, which has included the Common
Agricultural Policy (CAP).

a) Since the nineteenth century to the implementation of the CAP characteristics
were as follows:

o Attempt to modify the system of land tenure, with the confiscation and
agrarian reform of the Second Republic. During Franco's regime pursued
a policy of colonization with the extension of irrigation.

o The size of agricultural property was not appropriate and there were
laws to prevent the concentration or to limit the size of existing ones.

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Land consolidation began in 1952 and is still in force. The aim is to reduce the number
of smallholder farms, and that each owner has one or more parcels, but allowing the
creation of a condominium.

As a result of the merger there will be fewer places, but these are bigger grades and
more regular, this will decrease the path lost between each other and create new
exploitations.

b) European economic policy (CAP).

After the entry of Spain into the EU agricultural
policy is governed by European directives:
o Spain entered the European market:
Spanish agricultural prices rose to match
with the Europeans.
o It was released in trade with the United
States to adapt to EU principles and
common tariffs.
o It was a major effort to modernize the
sector.
o The agricultural sector faced a number of problems:
o High prices should be reduced to match the community, and that
provided additional benefits
o There is too much crop and livestock production as quotas are
established, the production has been extensive and production has led
to products that do not generate surpluses
o The environment is deteriorating to extend the production and
chemicals are used
o Agricultural areas are emptied of people and to avoid the problem
created agricultural development funds to improve infrastructure and
farms, promoting economic diversification.
o Problems have arisen in different regions as a result of EU policy.

2. The use of agricultural spaces

The distribution of agricultural land in Spain is as follows:
32 percent of arable land
15 percent of natural grasslands
35 percent forest
18 percent other uses

The figures vary from one autonomous community to another.

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The main changes that have occurred in the land devoted to agriculture are:
o The three traditional components of agriculture have changed, it has lost
weight, has increased livestock, forestry has been balanced. The change
responds to changes in diet and consumption habits.
o Emergence of new agricultural land uses such as housing, leisure and services.

2.1. Agrarian activity

Traditional agriculture is based on poly-culture and old fashioned techniques for which
the system was used extensively. This activity will be a large amount of labour. As a
consequence, yields and production were small and it was devoted to self-
consumption or national market.

At present there have been significant changes in both production and structures. As a
result yields are higher and production is oriented to the market.

a) Changes in agricultural structure:
- Specialisation
- Use of modern techniques:
o Mechanization: has not been very
widespread because there are no
unions that could manage the
machines and the families care for
their own farms
o Pesticides and fertilizers are used
more
o Selection of species and crops
o New techniques:
o Under plastic
o Sandy Bass
o Greenhouses
o Hydroponics farming

- Intensive farming is gaining weight, with the expansion due to a number of factors:
o Extension of irrigation
o Reduction of fallow in dry land territories.

b) Agricultural production has suffered a series of changes:

- Cereals: account for 37 percent of cultivated land. They are important as food. It is
grown in the interior of the Peninsula, in dry lands, and alternates with fallow or
legumes. The most abundant species are wheat and rice. Its production has increased

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thanks to technical improvements but there are
subject to European Community quotas.

- Legumes: are eaten fresh or dry and even some are consumed by livestock. The land
on which they occur often coincides with that of cereals, with those who come to
alternate. Receive more economic aid and hence grain production has been increased.

- Vines: is a rain fed crop. It is used both for its fruit
or to produce wines. The main producing area is
Castile-La Mancha, but is also found in La Rioja,
Galicia, Andalucía and even Catalonia. The main
feature is its low production cost and in some
places large areas unsuitable for other crops are
dedicated to them. Although there are quotas,
continues to benefit from European aid, but vines
have been removed, in order to introduce varieties more priced in the market.

- Olive tree is a tree that tolerates summer drought. Part of the production is devoted
to olive production, but most is intended for oil production. It is obtained especially in
the South Peninsula, in Andalusia and Extremadura. The area devoted to olive groves
and production has increased due to the demand of the EU and its aid to farmers. The
tasks have been mechanized and Spain is the world's largest producer of olive oil.

- Fruit and vegetable products, are consumed fresh or preserved. They are obtained in
watered areas in the peninsula and islands:
o Vegetables are obtained outdoors or in greenhouses in the irrigated plots in
Mediterranean coast and there are dedicated to urban consumption.
o Fruit trees on the Mediterranean coast and in irrigated areas of the interior.
There are important; citrus (Valencia and Andalusia), stone fruits (Ebro
valley, Asturias) and banana (Canary Islands).
Traditionally devoted to consumption but have had significant growth and are now
engaged in export, serving to balance the Spanish balance of payments.

- Flower production, has obtained importance in the Canary Islands and Catalonia.

- Industrial products industries must become the product before it is consumed, it is
the case of sunflower, sugar beet, cotton and tobacco. The most important production
sites are in southern and central Peninsula. Because they are industry-oriented, they
require large investments and the price is stipulated in advance:

o Sunflower has increased, reducing the fallow. Production has been limited to
areas in which it fits the best.

o Beet production has increased.

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o Cotton and tobacco are limited by quotas,
as well as European subsidies have been reduced in the case of tobacco.

- Forages used to feed animals. It occurs in northern Spain, in a wet environment. The
production and areas devoted to it have increased due to subsidies given to animals.

2.2. Livestock

In the traditional exploitation cattle lived in the same space and several species and
breeds were not widespread, in small-scale backward techniques were used and
extensive systems. Following this activity takes up much space.

The current farming has undergone major changes to its structure and production
requirements. As a result yields have increased.

a) Structural changes:

o Trend towards specialization: they produce
meat or milk. Species have been introduced
from other places but in some cases,
traditional ones such as sheep breeds
predominate.
o Increased farm size and mechanization
o Intensive farming is gaining more weight
compared with extensive that is reduced to
the places that is determined by physical
factors.

The problems encountered in the Spanish livestock are:
o There is little food for animals. The lack of water has led to a shortage of
pasture and in the case of factory farming; it is used for industrial products.
o The lot size is not suitable for farming.
o It must compete with livestock for other EU countries and also conform to the
quotas.
Although the health of animals has improved there are still some conditions that
hinder exports.

b) Animal production: is an important part of agricultural production, about 42
percent. In some areas can reach 60 percent (Asturias, Galicia, Cantabria and
Catalonia). It is a general process and consequently farms have been mechanized, land
devoted to pastures and human nutrition has improved by incorporating meat, milk
and eggs to the diet. The consumption of these products has grown since 1960.

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Livestock products have changed:

- Cattle: meat and milk is produced. Its distribution depends on the ability and
conditions
o Dairy cow, in extensive or mixed, is in northern Spain and intensive regime near
cities
o Cow meat: especially in mountain areas and in the West and Sierra Morena.
It has been affected by European quotas.

-Sheep: dedicated to meat and milk:
o Transhumance is in decline.
o Dependent on agriculture and animal feed in some areas while leaving fallow-
o One major achievement is the raising of sheep.

-Pigs: they are used for consumption and production of sausages. There are
differences in location.
o The intensive and industrial regime stands in Catalonia.
o The extensive system is focused on indigenous breeds, mainly in Extremadura
and Salamanca.
The biggest problem is the fluctuation of prices.

-Poultry is dedicated to the production of meat and eggs. The most important is
intensive and industrial production. Recently new species have been introduced such
as ostriches.

2.3. Forestry

Forests occupy 16.4 million hectares in Spain. The
most important trees are deciduous and conifers.

The production goes to the mills, to make plates
or pasta. The resins have become less important
due to high production costs. Cork production has
many ups and downs and is directed mainly for
export.

The most productive area is the North of the Peninsula and in Huelva.

Timber production has been increasing its presence in fast-growing species.

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A problem of deforestation is logging, motivated by
the fires and acid rain. To address these problems it seeks to protect the forest
extending and increasing their use as space for leisure.

2.4. New uses of agricultural spaces.

The activities of the agricultural areas have begun to diversify. Currently they try to
respond to the needs of a post-industrial society
o Use as a home for weekends or a
second home. Most of them are
near cities, but in these areas the
price of land is cheaper.
o Industrial uses, because the soil is
cheaper for the location of
industries, while they are pretty
close to the traditional labour
o Touristy uses in towns or places
especially attractive
o Leisure uses such as hunting.

The consequences of these new applications can be both positive and negative. From
the positive side it helps restoring areas that once depended solely on farming and
contributes to a higher valuation of the land. As long as the negative aspects are
concerned degradation of the countryside can be mentioned. However, what is clear is
that we must try to harmonize traditional and new agricultural spaces.

3. Spanish agricultural spaces

The agricultural landscape has the same morphology as natural space. This
morphology depends on natural factors and the combination of agricultural activities.
Resulting agricultural landscapes are varied.

3.1. Agricultural landscapes of wet Spain

It occupies the Northern and North-western Spain. The physical space is dominated by
rugged terrain, there is little flat land and ocean climate is rainy throughout the year.

a) Agricultural structures have the following characteristics:
o Abundant population, but little income from farming. This forced migration
plan. The traditional type of settlement is sparse, with towns, parishes and
villages.
o The farms are small (smallholders), closed with gates and separated from each
other’s plots. As a result yields are not great and mechanization is complicated.
To solve the problem a land concentration plan has been done.

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o The soil is mainly used for livestock.

b) Agriculture does not occupy a large area. At
the seaside gardens are at the bottom of the
valleys and where narrow agricultural
exploitations are made pending. It is a rain fed
agriculture and the rains are regular.

In the past, it was engaged in poly-culture and
devoted to consumption. Vegetables and
fruits were produced for home consumption but also corn, potatoes, fruit and grapes.
To supplement the family finances they raised animals. Some of these products were
sold in the market. This type of exploitation continues in places like Galicia.

Today poly-culture is losing importance in favour of a more specialized agriculture and
pasture for animals.

c) Livestock: It is the main economic activity. The climate and demand for milk and
meat of cities have influenced the rural exodus.

In some places like Galicia holdings are small or medium and have tried to modernize.
In the Basque country the size of holdings and improved equipment have been more
involved in producing pasture. The population is engaged in part-time farming.

The future is very promising. Many farms are small and are outdated and rely on the
dairy industry. Moreover, competition in the EU and the problem of surpluses has led
to assessments that do not support the modernization of the sector.

d) Forestry: It is the most important activity. The majority of the production is devoted
to the manufacture of furniture or paper pulp.

3.2. Agricultural spaces of the Interior of the Peninsula

It occupies the two sub-plateaus and the depression of the Ebro. The physical
geography of the area is characterized by high relief and a continental Mediterranean
climate. In summer rainfall is low and in the north frost risk is high.

a) Agricultural structures have the following characteristics:
o The population has migrated and focuses on people settlements that are
generally small and separated from each other.
o The property system is varied, with smallholdings in the area of the Duero and
in the irrigated areas of the Ebro and large properties in Salamanca,
Extremadura and both Castiles.
o The exploitation of the soil is mixed.

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b) Agriculture occupies 44 percent of the total surface and it is very different in non
watered and watered areas.
o Rain fed areas are located in the Plateau and the Ebro valley, they are extensive
agricultural lands and there are devoted mainly to the Mediterranean trilogy:
cereals, vines and olive trees.
o Thanks to irrigation intensive operations can be performed. Traditionally this
was done only along the rivers in areas devoted to vegetable consumption.
Today it has spread through the reservoir. Production has been diversified with
industrial products such as beets, hops and snuffs, also produces animal feed as
well as fruits and vegetables.

c) Livestock is important in this region:
o In rain fed areas of Castile and the
Ebro basin is dominated by sheep.
They are entered in the fields after
harvest and have interbred with
foreign species to improve the
breed. Also in Castile and Leon the
most important are dairy cows and
pigs.

o In Extremadura, the main landscape is the meadow, which extends to
Salamanca and Zamora. It is a large farm in mountain areas in which forestry
activities are carried out combined with farming of sheep and pigs.

d) Forestry: it is important in regions such as Soria.

3.3. Agricultural spaces in the Mediterranean region

It expands along the Mediterranean coast and its surrounding area, the valley of the
Guadalquivir, and Balearic Islands. The physical surroundings have a rugged, flat near
the sea and mountains further inland. The coastal climate is Mediterranean and
summer rainfall is very low.

a) Agricultural structures are:
o Population is very large, traditionally separated, but grouped to farm because
they have more services, except in areas of gardening on the coast.

o Property is highly fragmented in the irrigated area. In the rain fed areas there
are small and medium properties as in Valencia and Murcia, medium in
Catalonia and large in Andalusia.

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o Land use is varied.

b) In agriculture there are large differences between areas of rain fed and irrigated.

o In the irrigated areas favourable
factors are: mild temperatures, high
isolation, and protection of relief,
suitable soils and high purchasing
power due to the high demand.
Agriculture is practiced and in
outdoor garden under plastic
obtained in Mediterranean areas
where tropical fruits are obtained.

o In dry areas like the valley of
Guadalquivir they cultivated areas with significant slope. They grow cereals,
grapes, olives and almonds.

c) Beef cattle and swine in Catalonia stress due to urban demand, the sheep and goats
appear in rain fed areas and fighting bulls in the valley of the Guadalquivir.

3.4. Mountain agricultural landscapes

The mountain agricultural landscape is subject to extreme physical conditions, with
important reliefs and slopes and a climate with cold winters and abundant rainfall,
mostly in snow form.

o Very low population density, with people tending to depopulate, the
population is separated and concentrated in nuclei only in small valleys. At
present, such nuclei are being abandoned as they grow in the bottoms of the
valleys.

o Predominantly small property, with lots of closed plots and, in many cases
separated from each other. The municipalities have community forests and
meadows that can benefit its citizens exclusively.

o The land uses are varied and complementary and are organized depending on
weather conditions: agriculture in the bottom of the valleys, logging on the
slopes and livestock in the meadows of the peaks. Anyway, there may be
variations depending on the areas.

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b) Farming in the hills of the North of the Peninsula
is practiced in the valleys and there are orchards in the Southern Levant and some
productions such as almond and olive trees on terraces are carried out on the slopes.

c) Livestock farming is practiced on an extensive diet. In the Northern mountains
include cows and sheep grazing in the mountains, taking advantage of the meadows. In
the Mediterranean mountains, since there are areas of pasture, sheep transhumance
is practiced.

d) Forest holdings are used for timber production and include eucalyptus, chestnut and
pine.

3.5. Canaries agricultural space

In this physical space the main terrain is volcanic and the climate is mild during the
whole year, with low and occasional rainfall.

o The population of agricultural areas has decreased since many effectives are
now devoted to tourism.
o The traditional settlement is clustered with populations grouped in nuclei with
a small number of inhabitants. Larger nucleuses exist, but there are usually no
more than 500 homes.

o Contrast in the ownership, with small holdings in mountain areas and higher in
the irrigated areas along the coast.

b) The arable land is scarce.

In irrigated areas of the coast
they are engaged in an export
dedicated monoculture (banana,
tomato, potato) and peppers and
flowers are grown under plastic.
There are also newly introduced
tropical crops such as papaya,
mango, pineapple and avocado.

In the middle and upper central
island there is a traditional rain-
fed agriculture more subsistence-
oriented than market-oriented.
Today vines and potatoes are grown. Wheat, which was practiced in fallow, has been
reduced.

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c) The breeding of sheep and goats is scarce and is always linked to agriculture.

d) Forestry exploitation of pine and heather and laurel is used for wood and charcoal.

4. New world agricultural dynamic

The changes in agriculture and in activities linked to this have not been equal in Spain
as a whole. Due to this tradition and modernization live together:

- Some regions have not adapted to changes well and they continue producing
products of little value. As a result, many of them leave the activity. Those
spaces are known as “deep agricultural spaces” and they are the best example
of agricultural crisis.
- Other areas have adapted and now are included in a market economy with
products of high value and ready for competition. Anyway, they have overcome
some difficulties too.

4.1. Crisis and problems of the agricultural world

The elements to measure the crisis are the following:
- The number of active people occupied in this sector has been reduced.
- Its contribution to the GDP has been reduced
- Agriculture role now is less important in commerce than before

Spanish land spaces are subject to a series of problems:

a) Demographic problem: Evolution of active
population by sectors
a. People living from
agriculture have reduced
and the effectives who
continue in the activity
are older because young
people have migrated to
cities.

b. Workforce is non skilled,
what makes it difficult to
conduct them to other activities.

b) Economic problem:

a. Diversity of land spaces is scarce
b. Agricultural activity needs to adapt to the changes

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c. It has an increasing dependency
towards commerce and industry
d. European policy has affected by imposing quotas in order to make the
sector more competitive.

c) Problems of equipment and life-quality

In some agricultural areas there are not appropriate infrastructures even for reaching
to the places; collective equipments (schools, health, sport, culture) are scarce. One of
the reasons for that lacks is the low demographic density that results in poor living
quality. In some cases the situation is especially delicate when the rural nucleuses are
far from cities.

d) Environmental problems

Agricultural activity results in environmental degradation.

- Vegetation has been affected because it has been substituted by other spaces
or it has been set fire as a way for preparing the land. As a result erosion is
bigger.
- Soils are overexploited and they are polluted due to the use of chemicals. In the
long term pests become stronger and the amount of chemicals used increases,
having an effect in reduction of the quality of products.
- Superficial waters and aquifers are overexploited too and they have been
affected by pollution as a result of the use of chemicals.

4.2. Organization of the agrarian space

Nowadays there is a general trend to revise the situation of the agricultural spaces
through political measures. Those policies should be included in the policies for
territorial organization.

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The main characters having a say in the
organization of agricultural spaces are the EU, the autonomous communities and local
administrations.

- European Union, through his structural funds provides agriculture with helps.
The aim is to keep that areas populated to maintain agricultural landscapes and
environment. With these they aim at improve exploitations, diversify activities
and create infrastructures. In addition to that the EU finances the LEADER
programme to protect especially damaged areas. In those cases they have tried
to convert deprived regions into rural touristy resorts.

- Autonomous communities take control of the agricultural organization through
they capacity for territorial organization.

- Local administrations try to organise and support the potential of rural spaces,
promoting measures to improve living conditions.

The main lines to organise agriculture are these that follow:

a) Economic development

The objective of economic development is to maintain population and, for that, they
need to assure jobs. Measures such as activity diversification, modernization and
quality improvement and cooperatives are being taken.

- Activity diversification: they promote industrial production and rural tourism
a. If the products are transformed by hand or through industrial methods
their value increases, this is why to produce food or some manual works
rural industries are being developed.

b. Tourism in its varieties rural, children and youngsters, ecological, health,
cultural and adventure, has a positive influence on rural spaces, leading
to renewal of houses and development of infrastructures.

- Modernization of product and improvement of quality, putting special stress on
labelled products that are highly estimated in markets.

- Promote the creation of cooperatives to control and sell the production.

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b) Improvement of collective equipments and living quality

An element to bear in mind is accessibility, and for this infrastructures are required. In
order to develop this, the role of small cities is essential because they are the spaces
where people involved in agriculture tend to live. Collective equipments and industrial
development of rural areas may have a positive impact in job creation.

c) Environment protection

It can be achieved thanks to the EU’s policies and biological agriculture.

- EU’s policies finance measures of environmental protection, for instance,
devoting some areas to forestry, expansion of extensive harvest and protection
of traditional population and traditions.

- Biological agriculture supposes a new way of producing without using
chemicals. Soils are left cleaning for not less than two years, the soils are
treated with organic products and they use a turn system to reduce erosion.
The products obtained in this way are healthier. The main problem is that they
are not long lasting and their prices are higher what makes the demand a bit
limited until the moment.

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- The lack of trustfulness of transgenic products is more and more expanded but
the percentage of biological agriculture still being reduced.

AGRICULTURAL SPACES IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY

1. Agriculture, livestock and forestry
The characteristics of agrarian spaces are not the same in the slope of Biscay Sea or in
the Mediterranean area. The main differences are:
- physical environment
- agrarian structures
- population
- types of settlement
- destiny of production

In the Basque Country agrarian activities have lost weight since the 1960s due to the
modernization and to the introduction of industry that provoked the rural exodus. In
the continental area touristy activity has developed and in the Peninsula industry. As a
result the weight of agriculture in the coast is scarce. On the contrary, agrarian active
population is very active in the continental Basque Country.

In the Mediterranean slope there are intermediate values, but in those areas agrarian
activity continues because the processes have been modernized. Thanks to the

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topography, land has been mechanised and the
industrialisation process began late.

There are two areas in the Basque Country: Atlantic and Mediterranean.

Agrarian sector in the Basque Country
Last Agrarian Production Agrarian Active Population
Agriculture 52.5 % Basque Autonomous C 1.87 %
Livestock 29.9 % Navarre 6.42 %
Forestry 15.1 % Continental Basque Country 17 %
Others 2.9 %

1.1. Atlantic agrarian space

It takes the region of the Atlantic slope, from the watershed to the North, this is,
Biscay, Guipuzcoa, North of Alava and Navarre and Continental Basque Country.

The geographical space is
mountainous, with scarce
flat areas. Climate is oceanic
and rain fall is abundant and
regular during the whole
year; the quality of the soil is
medium.

As long as agrarian structure is concerned, the number of inhabitants who live from
agriculture is reduced and the rural exodus towards the cities has been important.

The exploitation system is centred on the baserri. It is a private exploitation of reduced
dimensions (5-6 Ha) organised around the house. Near the central space are cultivated
areas and grass for the animals, at once with trees in more stepped or even higher
areas, being these last the most important. In Encartaciones and Northern Basque
Country there is a tradition to limit plots with small trees creating a landscape of
bocage. Those little trees form a natural ecological corridor because they are originally
from the area, the same as the little fauna that lives around.

Referring to the techniques, the lack of mechanization is characteristic due to the
reduced extension of the plots and the difficulty of the terrain.

The exploitation system is intensive and in general it is specialised in orchards and
diary products.

The population of the region is spread in different baserris in the mountains, with the
exception of the Encartaciones where people live in towns. Houses are made of stone,

22


with two-water cover. Normally they have three
levels: first one with the kitchen and the cow shed then rooms and finally the attic (for
keeping things).

The use of agricultural spaces has developed since 1960s. The industrialization of the
Basque Country provoked the rural exodus of a lot of peasants who left the agricultural
exploitations or continued with them in a part time regime. Nowadays forages and
prairies are the most common. Orchards are devoted to self consumption in a part
time regime and under plastic in a more intensive system in which just a few peasants
are completely involved.

Livestock is specialised in cows. Sheep breeding is not as important but it is increasing.
They use prairies of high mountains such as Aralar, Aizkorri and Gorbeia to produce
the “latxa” species.

Forestry occupies 55 per cent of the surface. It has benefited from the generalization
of part time agriculture so the space devoted to trees is bigger because they give a
quite high profitability and require less work. The most common species introduces are
conifers due to their high yield even if it is risky because it get fire quite easily.

1.2. Mediterranean agricultural space

It takes the region to the South of the watershed.
The relief is more appropriate for agriculture and
the climate is Mediterranean, with dry summers.

As long as agricultural structure is concerned the
amount of population who live from agriculture is
important and, given that the land is flat mechanization is easier and the
industrialization process started later. The plots of land are bigger, being quite a lot of
them rented. Taking into account the techniques, there is a trend to specialization.

Population is grouped, with big towns, quite distant one from another.

The uses of agricultural spaces are mainly agriculture and forestry. There are
specialised cultivations: in non irrigated areas there are cereals and vines (Navarre and
Rioja Alavesa) and in watered areas industrial products, vegetables and fruits (Ribera
Navarra).

- Non irrigated areas:

i. Cereals expand in the Araban Plain, in valleys and mountains and
in Sakana in Navarre. Forages and oleaginous surface has
increased and legumes tend to disappear.

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ii. Vines are dominant in Rioja
Alavesa and due to the reduction of the extension of vines in the
rest of the Peninsula the labelled wines of this region have
increased their prices; their profitability is high.
- Watered areas:
i. Watered agriculture appears in Navarre and Alava, in the region
of Ebro River that is an alluvial plain.
ii. Corn, sugar beet, fruits and vegetable are produced for the
alimentary industries.

Forestry supposes 40.8 per cent of the surface and the leafy trees are the 30 per cent
of them, being a majority in councils’ land.

1.3. Organization of agricultural space

Agricultural spaces of the Basque Country have to answer to a series of matters. In
order to solve them agrarian policies have been organised.

The EU has described Basque Country as a Region of Mountainous Agriculture due to
the physical conditions (slope and height) because the mechanization is difficult. In
addition to that, some areas present concrete problems such as population losses,
little size of exploitations, low rents and, as a result, it has been labelled as a Zone of
Secondary Objective (Encartaciones, Arratia valley, Araban mountain, Tolosaldea and a
part of Urola-Coast, Pyrenean region and centre of Navarre). Those region receive
economic aid of the EU to reduce the differences in development and promote an
endogenous development.

In the organization of the Basque Autonomous Community agricultural spaces are
included in the Plan for Sustainable Agricultural Development to try to face the
problems as a whole:

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- promote activities to encourage
young people to work in agriculture avoiding in this way the rural
exodus, ease and advance peasants’ retirement to substitute them with
young people.
- measures aimed at improving the agrarian economy, concentrating
plots of land, actualising techniques, renewing infrastructures,
increasing the value of agricultural products (by increasing their quality,
for instance, through ecological production), develop the way of
bringing the products to the market, introduce new activities such as
rural tourism.
- plans such as the improvement of basic structures of the houses, give
due value to the landscape and culture of the baserri and solve
environmental problems with appropriate protective measures.

25

Unit 7 primary sector

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Unit 7 primary sector