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Agriculture News
Agriculture Market Growth in Spain
In Spain, nearly 1 million farms and holdings maintained more than 30 million hectares of land in 2015, according to data provided by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). That equated to around 750,000 people actively employed in the sector.
Spain is the second biggest beneficiary of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funding after France, from a pot worth about €408 billion for the 2014-2020 period. Just over €300 billion of that is earmarked for direct payments, the first pillar, and just under €100 billion will be available for rural development, the so-called second pillar.
That means that Spain’s farming and rural areas will be able to count on about €45 billion: €34.58 billion in direct payments and the rest in rural development funding.
In 2015, according to data supplied by the Spanish Agricultural Guarantee Fund (FEGA), the first pillar received €5.58 billion and the second €1.69 billion. In total, €7.27 billion was distributed among 902,261 beneficiaries.
Farmers face numerous costs associated with labour, equipment, raw materials, safety, hygiene and health.
According to Spain’s agriculture ministry, in 2015, total spending on intermediate consumption rose 2.37% on the previous year to €21.49 billion.
According to the Spanish agricultural ministry, income is the amount made in farming activities (remuneration for land, capital and labour) and the added value of subsidies, with intermediate consumption subtracted.
Spanish agriculture minister Isabel García Tejerina said at the first meeting with farmers during the new government’s mandate three weeks ago that “the object is to consolidate the growth” seen in agricultural income and farmer income.
Crop production last year totalled €27.5 billion, up 7.68%, while animal husbandry brought in €16.2 billion, up 2.49%.
Agriculture in Spain makes up some 8.5% of GDP and directly and indirectly provides 2.5 million jobs.