Agrarian Structure and Rural Change in Spain
Rural Areas and Their Transformations
Rural areas are the undeveloped lands on the Earth’s surface, including developed agricultural areas where farming, ranching, and forestry take place. In the 1970s, other activities were introduced, such as residential, industrial, services, recreation, and landscape conservation. At present, the rural area is more heterogeneous and complex.
1. Factors: Physical and Human Elements
In Spain, a variety of rural areas exist due to the influence of various physical and human factors.
1.1. The Natural Environment
Physical factors have lost some importance in the rural world due to technical advances like growing in greenhouses, fertilizers, and genetic selection. However, the influence of physical factors in Spain is often not favorable.
A) The Relief
Abundant high altitudes and slopes, which facilitate erosion and impede cultivation/mechanization.
B) Climate
Characterized by low and erratic rainfall, frequent thunderstorms and hail, extreme temperatures, and marked aridity.
C) Soils
Soils are often of poor quality and in some areas have erosion problems that reduce their fertility.
1.2. The Agrarian Structure
– The Traditional Agrarian Structure
- Extensive farming with excessive, often backward, labor.
- Low technology use.
- Poor yields (often for self-consumption).
- Currently in extinction.
– The Current Agrarian Structure
- Large farms with an aging labor force.
- Modern technology.
- High yields.
- Oriented towards markets.
1.2.1. The Rural Population and Its Recent Transformations
a) The Employed Population
The agricultural employed population is small and aging, leading to territorial differences between areas with a small number of agricultural workers (like Madrid and the Basque Country) and those with higher figures (like Extremadura, Murcia, and Galicia). Aging is more pronounced in rural communities across the peninsula.
The Main Causes
- Rural exodus from 1960-1975.
- Since 1975, the economic crisis slowed down the rural exodus, and part-time farming increased.
b) Current Demographic Trends
- Continuing aging and declining population in rural and disadvantaged areas, due to negative natural growth, migration, retirement, and the abandonment of agricultural activity. This particularly affects less profitable farms and those worked part-time.
- Rejuvenation in more dynamic rural areas, due to the settlement of immigrants for agricultural jobs and subsidies aimed at preventing rural depopulation and supporting young farmers.
1.2.2. Farms and Their Recent Transformations
a) The Agricultural Area is Divided into Plots and Holdings
Plots: Land belonging to an owner.
Holdings: A set of plots worked to obtain agricultural products under the responsibility of an entrepreneur.
b) Recent Transformations
Transformations of these holdings affect their physical size and tenure.
– In Terms of Physical Size
Farm size is marked by the prevalence of extreme values and limited average dimensions.
– The Small Farm
(< 10 ha) Dominates in the northern peninsula and the Valencian Community. In some cases, these are traditional minifundios (worked part-time, low income), while others are modern farms (e.g., greenhouse farming, full-time, and more profitable).
– The Large Holding
(> 100 ha) Predominates in western Andalusia, Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha, and parts of Castile and Leon and Aragon. Traditional estates often feature absentee ownership, low investment, extensive cultivation, low yields, and the use of a large labor force. Today, there is growth in medium-sized farms.
Causes
- The rural exodus of the 1960s favored the sale and leasing of properties.
- Agrarian Policy of the European Union: promoting early retirement and voluntary abandonment of farming.
- Many farms still consist of several parcels; land consolidation aims to reduce this fragmentation.
– In Terms of Tenure
Direct ownership predominates (75%), while indirect tenure (leasing, partnership) increases.
1.2.3. Techniques and Agricultural Systems and Their Transformations
Transformations have led to increased production and have undergone changes since the 1960s.
– Technical Change
- Incorporating advances such as mechanization, plant/animal breeding, fertilizers, and pesticides.
– Transformations in Agrarian Systems
- Increasing intensification and yield increases.