Agriculture in Spain

Agriculture in Spain is important to the national economy. The primary sector activities accounting for agriculture, husbandry, fishing and silviculture represented a 2.7% of the Spanish GDP in 2017, with an additional 2.5% represented by the agrofood industry.

Geography and climate of Spain

Viewed in terms of land mass, Spain is one of the largest countries in Western Europe, and it ranks second in terms of its elevation, after Switzerland. Most of the territory experiences a dry summer climate (mediterranean or semiarid) with scarce rainfall in the summer and high potential evaporation, as well as a total annual rainfall ranging from 400 to 600 mm. Longer droughts also occur. Although average minimum winter temperatures are often above 0 °C in a large part of the agricultural land, frosts are not uncommon in the interior of the country during the Winter.

20.6 million of Spain's 50.5 million hectares of land, or about 40 percent, is suitable for cultivation. The soil is generally of poor quality, and about 10 percent of the land can be considered excellent. The roughness of the terrain has been an obstacle to agricultural mechanization and to other technological improvements. Furthermore, years of neglect have created a serious land erosion problem, most notably in the dry plains of Castilla-La Mancha.