Agriculture In Spain Research Articles

SPATIAL DIFFERENTIATION OF THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON AGRICULTURE IN SELECTED EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES

The article aimed to assess the direction and strength of the impact of the COVID- 19 pandemic on agriculture in six of the most important for EU agriculture countries. A comparative analysis of the agricultural activity indicators was the research method. The Eurostat was the data source. The analysis covered different years from 2016-2023. For some indicators the period is shorter because not all data have been available for 2022 and 2023. The research shows that the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the agriculture of the EU countries. The immediate adverse effect occurred in the animal production sector in the form of stopping animal sales as meat processing companies had severe problems with workers’ infections and quarantines. In the plant production sector the effects appeared in the second and third years of the pandemic. In general, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on agriculture took the form of an absolute decline in the value added by this sector or a reduction in its growth rate. The effects of the pandemic are at least medium-term, as the pandemic has triggered or accelerated phenomena limiting the availability of labour in agriculture. The effects of the pandemic varied significantly between countries. The pandemic most affected Italy’s and France’s agriculture and also hurt agriculture in Poland. Agriculture in Spain, the Netherlands, and Germany was quite resistant to the pandemic influence.

Moroccan and Spanish agriculture comparative analysis 2008-2021

In the general context of Morocco's New Development Model, where public policies need all their credentials, and more specifically in the context of Morocco's new agricultural strategy (Green Plan), the challenge is to develop modern agriculture with high added value and high productivity, capable of competing with agricultural production in other countries. This article compares the overall characteristics of agricultural production in Spain and Morocco. To make this comparative analysis, we have focused on a set of agricultural statistical aggregates, such as cultivated area, level of production and yield in relation to each family of agricultural products. These are calculated, using the Laspeyres index, over the period 2008 to 2021. In addition, we have chosen 2008 as the base year for plotting the evolution of Moroccan agricultural performance against that of Spain. The results of our comparative analysis showed that agriculture in Spain is more stable than in Morocco, particularly in cereals and fresh vegetables. Thus, they showed that the majority of Spanish agricultural products outperform those of Morocco. On the other hand, this comparative analysis showed that Moroccan agriculture outperforms Spanish agriculture in the production of sheep, apples, fresh peas, carrots, turnips, broad beans, green beans, goat meat, dried lentils and chickpeas, and that Moroccan agriculture outperforms Spanish agriculture in the production of dates and unshelled peanuts.

Agricultural Use of Pesticides in Galicia (NW Spain) During the 20th Century: Inventory of Active Substances and Their Geographic Distribution

Production of agricultural pesticides underwent an exponential increase during the 20th century. Many of these pesticides have since been prohibited because they are toxic and because they are bioaccumulated and persist in the environment. Detailed knowledge about any substance that is applied to land is essential to enable evaluation of potential contamination effects and the risk of latent exposure to these types of substances. However, accurate determination of the type and amounts of pesticides used throughout the history of agriculture in Spain is greatly complicated by the absence of historical records, scarce control of use and the lack of effective legislation until well into the 21st century. The aims of this study were: 1) to elaborate an inventory of the active substances of the agricultural pesticides (phytosanitary products) used in Galicia throughout the 20th century, 2) to develop a model of their geographic distribution by using a geographic information system (GIS), and 3) to contrast the geographical model obtained for selected persistent pesticides with the presence of these compounds in raw water. We consulted a large variety of sources of information and carried out a geographic analysis for the most commonly used pesticides in different crops. We inventoried a total of 176 active substances belonging to more than 50 different classes of chemicals and observed a clear geographic zoning according to the chemical class and mode of action of the substances. The presence of pesticide residues at drinking water extraction points is consistent with the geographic delimitation established in the study.

The minimis aid in agriculture in Spain

The minimis aid in agriculture in Spain

Challenges and Opportunities of Agriculture Digitalization in Spain

Motivated by the ongoing debate on food security and the global trend of adopting new emerging technologies in the aftermath of COVID-19, this research focuses on the challenges and opportunities of agriculture digitalization in Spain. This process of digital transformation of the agricultural sector is expected to significantly affect productivity, product quality, production costs, sustainability and environmental protection. For this reason, our study reviews the legal, technical, infrastructural, educational, financial and market challenges that can hinder or impose barriers to the digitalization of agriculture in Spain. In addition, the opportunities that digitalization can bring are identified, with the intention of contributing to provide insights that helps strengthen the Spanish agricultural model and make the necessary decision so that professionals in the sector are prepared to adapt to this intense change.

Experiences of desalination for agriculture in Spain: technology, economy and innovation

Experiences of desalination for agriculture in Spain: technology, economy and innovation

Le livre technique avant le XXe siècle: À l'échelle du monde [Technical books before the 1900s: On a global scale] ed. by Liliane Hilaire-Pérez et al.

Reviewed by: Le livre technique avant le XXe siècle: À l'échelle du monde [Technical books before the 1900s: On a global scale] ed. by Liliane Hilaire-Pérez et al. Emmanuelle Chapron (bio) Le livre technique avant le XXe siècle: À l'échelle du monde [Technical books before the 1900s: On a global scale] Edited by Liliane Hilaire-Pérez, Valérie Nègre, Delphine Spicq, and Koen Vermeir, with the collaboration of Konstantinos Chatzis. Paris: CNRS Éditions, 2017. Pp. 502. This collective volume tackles what is undeniably a blind spot in the history of books: the history of the technical book, which is studied much less than scientific books. The thirty-two contributions do not offer a synthesis but a set of insights into a long-term and global history (including the Chinese and Japanese perspectives as a counterpoint to Europe). If we already have studies on certain types of works, such as dance treatises, language manuals, and marine books, interestingly, this volume takes an inclusive approach, embracing a production heterogeneous in its forms, aims, and audiences. The absence of a rigid structure—thematic, chronological, or spatial—within the five broadly titled sections allows comparisons between the subjects, often from different historiographic fields, and reveals three compelling themes. The first is the importance of political factors in the development of the technical book, such as territorial control and the stimulation of technological innovation (by the Dutch government in the seventeenth century and the French Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers in the nineteenth century). Many contributions highlight the links between the print output and [End Page 904] technical schools founded around the same time. Other authors show how the formalization of technical knowledge through books contributed to the visibility and professionalization of trading communities. This process is evidenced in both institutionalized (Académie Royale de Danse in Paris, founded in 1661) and noninstitutionalized (dance and language teachers in Italy and Northern Europe) contexts. The second theme is the "reductive art" issue. Writing an account of bodily movements, for example those of a dancer, presupposed the existence of appropriate discursive and visual technologies, whether these were invented for the purpose or borrowed from other fields of knowledge. The three contributions on dance exemplify this quest for technicality via vocabulary, symbol, image, and viewpoint. The different forms of image insertion in technical books will be of interest to all book historians. Many contributions underline the constant tension between the temptation to elevate technical activity to the same ranking as the arts and sciences through the abstraction and formalization of knowledge (ornamental arts, archaeology), and the affirmation of a dimension that cannot be reduced to codification, such as experience in the field (artillery) and creative genius (choreography). The third theme concerns technical books' uses and readers. The authors show how public authorities encouraged the production and use of widely accessible textbooks in the nineteenth century, for example to promote sericulture in Japan and modernize agriculture in Spain. Publishers created and expanded the technical books market to a broader nonspecialist audience through "product innovations." For example, in eighteenthcentury Paris, Jombert published books on artillery that could easily be carried around in the field; and a century later, Cramer published guides and almanacs for colonists settling in the Pittsburgh area. Reissues are an indicator of a successful publishing strategy, which sometimes involved transforming a text's status over a long period, as in the case of the Bâtiment des recettes (Palace of recipes) between the 1500s and 1700s. "Technology entrepreneurs," as they were aptly called by editors, converted secrets into commercial inventions and the accompanying written documentation familiarized a wider public with technical expressions. The gap between the texts' intellectual claims and the sometimes barely literate target audience raises the question of transmission modes, which were not necessarily direct. Some authors have taken up the challenge of identifying individual readers, for instance through the ex libris on the Vignole books used by journeymen in the building trade from the Renaissance onward. Beyond the material traces, stains, and wear and tear, which prove their "operationalization," the specific uses of these technical works remain complicated to grasp. Future research should focus on this point...

The Boutelou Brothers: From Gardening to Agronomic Practices, Education, and Travels in Spain at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century

At the turn of the nineteenth century, agriculture in Spain was seen as an empirical know-how that was transmitted from generation to generation through practice. However, at the royal gardens the idea that agriculture was a scientific branch of knowledge was already germinating. Focusing on the two brothers—Claudio (1774–1842) and Esteban (1776–1812) Boutelou—this paper argues that these gardeners, profiting from their positions at the Spanish royal gardens, promoted agronomic development and education. In spite of the importance of the Boutelou family, a five-generation dynasty of gardeners, historiography has paid scant attention to them, as well as to the importance of agronomic travels and their reports. This paper aims at interweaving the boundaries between the history of science, history of agriculture, and gardens and landscape studies. Through the lenses of history of science and the application of Long's conceptual framework of ‘trading zones’ and Baldassarri and Matei's ‘gardens as laboratories’, we focus on the position of the Boutelou brothers in the gardens of the royal estates and the new Sanlúcar acclimatization garden. We then demonstrate how they were influenced by travels abroad and how Arthur Young, a Briton, became their role model. Moreover, we establish a relation between the Boutelou's network of experts and the rise of translations of English and French books and the appearance of the first agricultural teaching manuals in Castilian, often published in the context of agricultural societies. Finally, we show how this was fundamental to the renewal of agronomic practices and education in Spain.

Cost-Effective Mitigation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Agriculture of Aragon, Spain.

Climate change represents a serious threat to life in earth. Agriculture releases significant emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), but also offers low-cost opportunities to mitigate GHG emissions. This paper assesses agricultural GHG emissions in Aragon, one important and representative region for agriculture in Spain. The Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) approach is used to analyze the abatement potential and cost-efficiency of mitigation measures under several scenarios, with and without taking into account the interaction among measures and their transaction costs. The assessment identifies the environmental and economic outcomes of different combinations of measures, including crop, livestock and forest measures. Some of these measures are win-win, with pollution abatement at negative costs to farmers. Moreover, we develop future mitigation scenarios for agriculture toward the year 2050. Results highlight the trade-offs and synergies between the economic and environmental outcomes of mitigation measures. The biophysical processes underlying mitigation efforts are assessed taking into account the significant effects of interactions between measures. Interactions reduce the abatement potential and worsen the cost-efficiency of measures. The inclusion of transaction costs provides a better ranking of measures and a more accurate estimation of implementation costs. The scenario analysis shows how the combinations of measures could reduce emissions by up to 75% and promote sustainable agriculture in the future.

FORECASTING INNOVATION DIFFUSION WITH NEAR-OPTIMAL BERTALANFFY-PÜTTER MODELS

Using a classical example for technology diffusion, the mechanization of agriculture in Spain since 1951, we considered the forecasting-intervals from the near-optimal Bertalanffy-Pütter (BP) models. We used BP-models, as they considerably reduced the hitherto best fit (sum of squared errors) reported in literature. And we considered near-optimal models (their sum of squared errors is almost best), as they allowed to quantify model-uncertainty. This approach supplemented traditional sensitivity analyses (variation of model parameters), as for the present models and data even slight changes in the best-fit parameters resulted in very poorly fitting model curves.

Cross-sectoral implications of the implementation of irrigation water use efficiency policies in Spain: A nexus footprint approach

Abstract One technical solution often suggested for alleviating water scarcity is to increase the efficiency of irrigation water use. In Spain, several plans have been launched since 2000 to upgrade irrigation infrastructures and thereby achieve water savings equivalent to 2500 hm3/year and promote rural development. The present study uses a footprint approach to evaluate the impacts on land, water, energy, and carbon emissions of the implementation of irrigation modernization policies in agriculture in Spain between 2005 and 2011. The results show that during the period studied, the irrigated area remained stable (+0.3%), although there was a shift in crop patterns, with low-value non-permanent crops being replaced by high-value permanent crops. The water demand for irrigation decreased by 21%; half of this is explained by the shift in crop patterns and the reduction of the consumptive fraction (i.e., blue water footprint), and the other half by the cutback of return flows associated with the higher efficiency of the irrigation infrastructure. Changes in water demand have been accompanied by a progressive substitution of surface water for groundwater. Reduced water demand for irrigation has brought a reduction of 13% in water’s energy footprint and 25% in its carbon footprint. In relative terms, water efficiency (m3 consumed/m3 irrigated) has increased by 8%, although this has also increased the energy intensity (kWh/m3) to 9%. The emission rate (kgCO2 equiv/m3 irrigated) has decreased by 12% as a result of the drop in the emission factor of electricity production. Overall, irrigation modernization policies in Spain have supported the transition from an irrigation sector that is less technified and heavily dependent on surface water into one that is more productive and groundwater-based. From a resource-use perspective, such transition has contributed to stabilizing or even decreasing the irrigated land, and surpass the annual water savings target of 2500 hm3, although it has also made the sector more energy-dependent. Despite the overall positive outcomes, the observed water savings are masked by various synergistic factors, including favorable climatological conditions toward the end of the study period, which contributed strongly to curbing overall irrigation water demand. In the light of the higher frequency of observed droughts in Spain, the investments done so far do not guarantee that the planned water saving targets can be sustained if not complemented with additional measures like restricting irrigated area and/or setting caps for water intensive crops.

Arsenical Pesticides in Early Francoist Spain: Fascism, Autarky, Agricultural Engineers and the Invisibility of Toxic Risks

Abstract Lead arsenate was introduced on a massive scale in agriculture in Spain in the early 1940s. With the support of a network of agricultural engineers, the new Francoist state encouraged the production and use of lead arsenate as the main weapon against a newly arrived pest, the Colorado potato beetle. In this paper I discuss arsenical pesticides as sociotechnological products which played a pivotal role in the joint production of both chemical-based agriculture and the emerging Francoist regime in Spain during the 1940s. I review the campaigns organized by agriculture engineers and the making of the new National Register for Phytosanitary Products in 1942. The new regulations promoted research in pesticide quality control but also contributed to concealing the health hazards. This invisibilization of the risks took shape in the confluence of interests of the emerging Francoist state, the new pesticide industry, and the large network of agricultural engineers.

The Potential Role of Short Food Supply Chains in Strengthening Periurban Agriculture in Spain: The Cases of Madrid and Barcelona

Periurban agriculture is being hit by the effects of the globalized food system, as well as by concrete aspects of urban sprawl. Nonetheless, proximity to the main markets provides an opportunity to sustain agriculture in highly urbanized areas. In this sense, an increasing number of local initiatives is arising within the context of Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs). The economic impact of these initiatives, however, is limited by problems and inefficiencies that hinder their capacity to scale up. The present paper sets forth the results of a research project developed in Madrid and Cataluña. The study is based upon documentary and empirical research addressing the main problems periurban farmers are facing in relation to local food distribution. Among other factors, these refer to regulatory barriers, logistics, competition and dealing with consumers’ preferences. We conducted a questionnaire with a representative group of farmers from each region in three towns presenting different demographic sizes along with another questionnaire extended to the owners of small grocery stores, who play a vital role in the supply of fresh food in these municipalities. Our research demonstrates that most of the problems arising when dealing with SFSCS can be solved by introducing new forms of cooperation among the different agents of the food chain.

Challenges for the revitalisation of peri-urban agriculture in Spain: Territorial analysis of the Madrid and Oviedo metropolitan areas

AbstractContemporary urban sprawl and urban functional centrality at the regional scale have made the classical urban-rural dichotomy no longer valid. Instead, urban development generates a range of peri-urban transitional areas in which urban and rural uses are mixed in a fragmented land mosaic. The main objective of this paper is to detect opportunitites for the revitalisation of peri-urban agriculture based on an analysis and comparison of its evolution in two different regional contexts in Spain. The peri-urban space is delimited according to density, topography and perceptual criteria. Aerial images and cartographic bases are used to identify land quality and land use changes in the areas, concluding that peri-urban agriculture has suffered both urban occupation and internal changes in crops and agricultural uses, experiencing a process of decline. Innovative initiatives performed in these spaces are also explored as opportunities for revitalisation from a multifunctional approach, linking urban population to peri-urban agriculture, organic farming or landscape management. This analysis serves as a prerequisite to develop new policies for the planning of peri-urban agriculture at local and regional scales, based on a deep understanding of the territory and its evolution.

Organisational learning for innovation in agriculture: 25 years of experience from organic agriculture in Spain

In order to remain competitive and stay in the market in the near future, farmers will be compelled to adopt a portfolio ofstrategies that include a series of innovative proposals, with the active participation and commitment of everyone involved.To achieve this, enterprises must bet on knowledge and learning as main element to integrate experienced knowledge (fromfarmers) with expert knowledge (technical-scientific). Integrating these two kinds of knowledge through research will changeparadigms and contribute to rural modernization and to rethinking collective proposals that generate governance, prosperityand resilience. This work analyzes the processes and strategies related to knowledge management and organizational learningin the field of organic farming in an agricultural cooperative in the area of Murcia, Spain. It is a successful model oforganizational learning, as 25 years of experience are managed in order to adequately influence the organizational level,generating prosperity and sustainable development. Keywords: Organisational learning; Spain; organic agriculture.

Spanish agriculture in the little divergence

This paper explores the role of agriculture in Spain's contribution to the little divergence in Europe. On the basis of tithes, long-run trends in agricultural output are drawn. After a long period of relative stability, output suffered a severe contraction during 1570–1620, followed by stagnation to 1650, and steady expansion thereafter. Output per head shifted from a relatively high to a low path that persisted until the nineteenth century. The decline in agricultural output per head and per worker from a relatively high level contributed to Spain falling behind and, hence, to the Little Divergence in Europe. Output per worker moved along labour force in agriculture over the long run, supporting the depiction of Spain as a frontier economy. Institutional factors, in a context of financial and monetary instability and war, along climatic anomalies, provide explanatory hypotheses that deserve further research.

Redefining rural prosperity through social learning in the cooperative sector: 25 years of experience from organic agriculture in Spain

In the political system and in public perception, the well-functioning of economy is frequently equalled to the output of the national economic system. However, during the last decades, this narrow conception of economic prosperity started to erode. This paper is based on a rural prosperity conceptual framework that takes into account the systemic nature and dynamics of interactions and impacts within rural systems through the analysis of an organic agriculture cooperative called Camposeven in the south east of Spain. The focus is on rural prosperity, differences in understanding, related parameters and strategies used by the cooperativés farming partners to success without following the traditional conventions of economic growth and farm-efficiency. Experience lessons in this paper demonstrate that the “technical-economic” approach of rural prosperity is not sufficient and results emphasize the important role of individuals’ behaviour as well as the contexts in which they are involved. The findings point to the increasing relevance of expanding both the theory and practice of rural prosperity approaches in sustainable rural development. This is important in order to enrich the connections between rural prosperity and other concepts such as social capital, innovation, social learning and resilience.

A renewed view of conservation agriculture and its evolution over the last decade in Spain

The interest in conservation agriculture in Spain is evidenced by practical and institutional aspects. The practical aspect is reflected by the area cultivated under this farming system, 1.28Mha in perennial crops and 0.57Mha in arable crops, both for 2013. The period under review was 2009–2013 for arable crops and 2006–2013 for perennial crops. In that period, figures increased 208% for no tillage in arable crops, and 54% for groundcovers in perennial crops. The institutional support is reflected by the financial funding given to conservation agriculture farming practices by some Spanish Regional Governments, primarily through Rural Development Programs, that reached over € 200 million in the 2000–2006 period. The origins of soil conservation practices date back to the 1930s and have evolved in parallel in America and Europe. This parallelism has led to the use of different terminology for similar practices that do not always fall within the scope of conservationist practices. Consistent with the literature, and based on the results of 6 meetings with 144 Spanish experts, this paper aimed at clarifying terms and practices applied under the conditions of Spain, but could be useful for other geographies. This article also proposes definitions to clearly describe the different concepts for experts, advisers, and also for policy makers to accurately allocate funds in the European financial framework 2014–2020.

Estimating potential outdoor water consumption in private urban landscapes by coupling high-resolution image analysis, irrigation water needs and evaporation estimation in Spain

In the past two decades, the Spanish Mediterranean coast has experienced urban and demographic growth through the expansion of low-density residential areas characterized by ornamental gardens, swimming pools, and lawns. To determine the potential outdoor water demand, land cover data were mapped from high-resolution WorldView-2 imagery along a climatic gradient from Mallorca, in the Balearic Islands, to Andalusia in Spain. WorldView-2 imagery was analyzed by adopting object-based feature extraction to generate spatial information layers as additional input features (predictor variables) for supervised per-pixel classification. Swimming pools and gardens planted with turf grass, trees and shrubs were mapped automatically with high levels of overall accuracy, ranging from 88.98% to 96.13%. The resulting GIS (geographic information systems)-ready vector layer was used to calculate net irrigation requirements with the landscape coefficient method and to assess evaporative loss from swimming pools. The method and results can be used by urban planners, water managers, property owners and others to assess the implications of landscaping styles for water demand. Net irrigation requirements (April–September) range from 2335m3/ha to 6330m3/ha compared to 5400m3/ha per year in irrigated agriculture in Spain. Per unit area, the same outdoor landscaping produces a 45.5% higher net irrigation requirement and 21.6% more evaporation from swimming pools along the climatic gradient. The combination of high-resolution image analysis and the landscape coefficient method captures the relevant information for the identification and quantification of outdoor water consumption in private urban landscapes.

Assessment of Nonpoint Pollution Instruments: The Case of Spanish Agriculture

Nonpoint pollution is characterized by imperfect knowledge of biophysical processes, stochastic components, and asymmetric information among agents. The design and implementation of measures to abate emissions is a difficult task because of this lack of biophysical information and the strategic behaviour of stakeholders. The development of input-intensive agriculture in Spain during the last century has created large discharges of nutrients and other harmful substances into water bodies, causing damage to aquatic ecosystems. In Spain and other European countries, the control of nonpoint pollution is a crucial step in achieving the “good” ecological status of water bodies sought by the European Water Framework Directive. The empirical findings challenge the current approach to pollution policies and call for policy efforts focused on nurturing stakeholders' collective action and on supporting the necessary institutional setting.