Spanish Livestock and Forestry: An Overview of Production and Challenges
2.2. Ranching
It is based on the coexistence of different livestock species in the same area, made up of indigenous breeds with a high degree of hardiness, in small farms that used backward techniques, and extensive systems.
The current farming has undergone major changes in the structure and production, which have allowed higher yields.
a) The changes in density structure can be summarized in specialization, modernization, and intensification.
- The production tends to specialize in the production of meat or milk. This has been a substitution of the national races and other selected foreign and almost total disappearance of dual-purpose breeds. However, we are seeing some recovery of native breeds.
- To scale mechanization and farm size.
- Intensive livestock weight gains compared to the extensive. Livestock, extensive, depending on the physical environment, and fed a tooth in natural grassland and stubble, while maintaining its importance in certain areas, moving towards intensive livestock. Intensive farming or industry, unrelated to the physical environment, stables, or mixed, and wholly or partially fed with feed, has increased dramatically, so above all in areas close to consumption centers. This explains that the center of livestock, traditionally located in northern Spain, will be moving to the northeast and the Mediterranean coast, especially in the case of pigs and poultry.
Despite this significant development, the Spanish livestock still has some problems that detract from competitiveness:
- The shortage of animal feed derived from the poverty of rainfall in much of the territory, paralyze the entire calendar year of fresh grass, except in Atlantic Spain and in the areas of highest altitude in the northern half of peninsular. This, together with the increase of intensive farming, is a high dependence on imported fodder and compound feed, whose prices have seen sharp rises and unbalance the agricultural trade balance.
- The size of many livestock operations remains inadequate, despite the increasing concentration and increasing the average number of heads per farm.
- The European Union livestock faces strong competition from other countries and surpluses, which have been set quotas for some products, like milk and beef.
- Animal health, but has greatly improved, still has outbreaks affecting exports.
b) Livestock production has increased its stake in the final agricultural production. This is a general process, whose causes have been the mechanization of field, soil conservation through the cultivation of fodder.
Livestock production has also undergone changes in its components.
- The cattle are used to produce milk and meat.
- Its location varies according to the aptitude and the conditions of livestock:
- The dairy type cattle is located, in extensive or mixed, in northern Spain, and intensive regimen, in the vicinity of cities. This system required modern milking techniques and insemination involving high costs, growing dairy farming in Spain.
- The beef cattle are found mainly in mountain areas and forests and meadows of the western peneplain and Sierra Morena, in extensive.
- The problems of production of milk and meat are the strong surpluses in the European Union, which led to setting a quota system.
- The sheep are used to produce meat and milk, high demand for the manufacture of cheeses such as manchego.
- The livestock transhumance is the seasonal movement of livestock.
- The stables for livestock fattening lambs that get higher yields.
- The problem of the livestock is that there are still many traditional farms, with sheep old and of poor quality.
- The pig farming is intended in part to the consumption of fresh and partly to the delicatessen. Its location varies: Predominantly in Catalonia.
- In regime based on extensive and quality breeds (Iberian pig) is located in Extremadura and Salamanca.
- The main problem is the sharp fluctuations in prices due to surpluses and imports from EU countries.
- The poultry farming is intended to produce meat and eggs, which is high. Located in Catalonia, Castilla y Leon and Aragon, which is predominantly intensive and industrial.
2.3. Forestry activity
The forest land in Spain is 16.4 million hectares. Of these, 13.9 million are forested area, consisting of hardwoods and conifers.
The fate of the production goes to sawmills and veneer, and resin and cork. The resin is now in recession for the increased costs and competition from synthetic resins. The production of cork stoppers insulation and fluctuates a lot and mostly exported.
The main producing areas are the provinces of northern Spain and Huelva.
Timber production has increased by the expansion of fast-growing species. Still, it is clearly inadequate, which needs to import more wood.
The problem of forestry is deforestation caused by logging and fires, acid rain and forest diseases. Address these issues, forest policy has three main objectives of forest protection, increasing its size (through reforestation and forest dedication of excess land for agriculture), and enhance scenic and recreational uses.