Spanish Agricultural Landscapes: Morphology and Regional Diversity

Spanish Agricultural Landscapes and Morphology

The agricultural landscapes defined by the morphology of the rural environment represent the combination of natural physical factors with human practices over the land. This diversity of combinations explains the wide variety of existing agricultural landscapes across the Spanish territory.

Northern Spanish Agricultural Landscapes

The agricultural landscapes of northern Spain comprise the northern and northeastern areas of the peninsula.

Physical Environment and Settlement

• Relief: The environment features rugged terrain with scarce surface area.
• Land Structure: Characterized by a traditionally numerous population settlement with a predominantly dispersed pattern interspersed with smallholder property systems. Farmers are typically smallholders.

Land Uses and Activities

• Agriculture: Covers little surface area, clustered in extensive fields located in valleys with polyculture, though polyculture has largely disappeared today as crops specialize.
• Livestock: A very important economic activity, particularly in Galicia where family farms and SMEs predominate.
• Forestry: An important destination for land use, heavily tied to the furniture industry.

Interior Peninsular Agricultural Landscape

This landscape encompasses both the Mesetas and the Ebro depression.

Land Structure and Population

• Population: Marked by rural depopulation due to emigration in recent decades.
• Property Systems: Varies significantly; smallholdings dominate the Duero Valley, while large properties (latifundia) are characteristic of Salamanca and Extremadura.

Agriculture and Livestock

• Agriculture: Occupies 44% of the surface area, traditionally featuring the Mediterranean trilogy of wheat, grapevine, and olive. Today, fallow land has been largely replaced by continuous cultivation, and irrigation has enabled much more intensive land use.
• Livestock: Important in certain areas like the Castilian depression and the Ebro valley, where sheep farming dominates. Extremadura also features a distinct pastoral landscape.
• Forestry: Notable for pine forests and Mediterranean woodland holdings.

Mediterranean Agricultural Landscapes

This category covers the coastal and pre-coastal Mediterranean zones.

• Land Structure: Characterized by a very large, dispersed population with traditional land ownership that is generally deeply divided, alongside diverse land uses.
• Agriculture: Crops present a distinct difference between dry farming and the irrigated crops found notably in the valleys, such as the Guadalquivir countryside.
• Livestock: Bovine livestock operations are generally the most prevalent.

Mountain Agricultural Landscapes

The physical landscape of mountainous areas presents extreme conditions.

• Land Structure and Population: Agrarian structure features very low population densities, a trend toward depopulation, and a predominance of small enclosed parcels (closed fields) with diverse land uses.
• Agriculture: Practiced primarily at the bottom of mountain valleys, featuring vegetable garden (huerta) crops.
• Livestock: Animals graze under an extensive livestock farming regime.
• Forestry: Exploitation focuses mainly on the use of firewood and timber.