Proceedings of the Second NAHWOA Workshop

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Organic livestock production in Spain

 R. García Trujillo

 Instituto de Sociología y Estudios Campesinos, Universidad de Córdiba, Ave. Menéndez Pidal s/n, 14004 Córdoba, España. Tel 34 957 218541, Fax: 34 957 218563, E-mail ec1segue@uco.es

 

Introduction

Organic livestock production in Spain (MAPA 1999, personal communication) includes 1159 production units. 52% of them are in beef production, 28% are in sheep for meat production and 5% are in goat for meat production (Figure 1). The milk production units in all species represent 3.7 % of the holdings. The rest of the species represent less than 12% of the organic livestock production units.

Most of the animals are in pastures on extensive systems. The total area of pastures and forages under organic management is 182,812 ha, representing 51.9% of the total organic agriculture area and 2.4% of the total pasture and forage area of the whole country.

At the moment, the organic agriculture and livestock production is increasing rapidly. The expansion of most of the organic sector depends on the exportation of products to Europe. However, the increased production of organic livestock is related mainly to internal demand, which at the moment is small.

The control and regulation of organic farming in Spain is a decentralised activity, controlled by the autonomous regions. The activity of different regional committees (CCAE) is variable. This makes it difficult to gather exact statistics on organic livestock production.

 Figure 1. Organic livestock production in Spain

The significance of organic and extensive livestock systems in Spain

Spain has great potential for organic livestock production, as there are significant areas of agroecosystems that can only be used efficiently through an extensive livestock production system. The introduction of intensive practices can easily destroy these systems, as has been seen in some Dehesa-areas. High stocking rates, introduced mainly because of subsidies (mostly for sheep) or due to the premium price obtained for the Iberic pig meat, reduce the regeneration capacity of trees, resulting in serious damage or permanent destruction of the system.

An example of the magnitude of extensive livestock systems in Spain is shown in Figure 2, demonstrating the importance of the sector in comparison to intensive livestock production. 

Figure 2. Proportion of Spanish livestock extensively managed.

Other important factors that can contribute to the development of organic livestock in Spain, in addition to the existing extensive agroecosystems, are the existing ecological animal management practices and the great number of indigenous breeds of different animal species, adapted to different situations. Some of these breeds are capable of surviving in extreme conditions. The numbers of some of the breeds have been reduced significantly, while some breeds are actually on the increase (e.g. Retinto Asturiana de los Valles, Rubia Gallega, Avileña, Morucha, Pirenaica in the bovine species; Castellana, Churra, Lacha, Carranzana, Manchega, Merina, Navarra, Aragonesa, Ripollesa y Rubia Gallega in sheep; Agrupación Caprina Canaria, Malagueña, Murciana-Granadina y Verata in goat and Iberico in swine). (See Table 1.)

Table 1. Number of autochthonous/indigenous livestock breeds in Spain

Species	Total Autochthonous	Growing	Decreasing (with official protection)
Cattle	34	7	27
Sheep	36	10	26
Goat	20	4	16
Swine	5	1	4

 

The principal agroecosystems in Spain

The principal agroecosystems that are relevant to the development of organic livestock prodcution are the Dehesa, Monte Gallego and Mountain systems.

Dehesa occupy more than 3,500,000 ha in the southern parts of the Iberian Peninsula. The traditional uses of this system include the combination of livestock, forest and agriculture activity. Cattle and sheep use the grass and tree cuttings, swine eat Quercus acorns, horses graze the hard and less palatable pastures, and goats and wild animals use the shrub. The outputs of these systems include meat, milk, wool, charcoal, cork bark and grain. Around 12-18% of the area is planted with crops annually. The crops are used for animal feed or for cash cropping, depending on the rainfall of the area (see the next paper for a more detailed description of the Dehesa-system).

 The Monte Gallego is a typical system found in Galicia. The traditional system has been severely damaged in many areas, but its characteristics are a good example of an ecological system for a specific situation. There are about 1,350,000 ha of this type of agroecosystem, supporting an important herd of indigenous heavy cattle breeds called Rubia Gallega. These animals are excellent for beef production, but can be used as a multiple-purpose animal as well.

The Monte Gallego system (see Figure 3) is characterised by its high diversification, including a plot near the villages (1-6 ha) called "terrazgo", used for intensive organic crop, vegetable, fruit and pasture production, and the "monte" (scrub), which represents about 64% of the total area. The "monte" is used for grazing animals. Some 12-25% of the area is cleared and sown with cereals annually, supplying both grain and bedding for animals.

The principal animals in this system are cows (73% Rubia Gallega breed), for calf production and sale, and pigs and other smaller stock for home consumption. The sheep, which in the past were an important component of the system, have practically disappeared.

The Mountain systems continue to play a complementary role to the agriculture of the valleys, but have suffered a progressive abandonment, due to poor attention to and support of this type of agriculture.

The Mountain livestock show some typical characteristics, although they can be found in very different geographical areas. The basic element of this system is the use of natural grassland, which occupies around 3,000,000 ha of the humid parts of Spain and some resources of scrub and forest. In the spring, the animals begin to move to the hills, where they remain grazing during the summer and early autumn, returning to the valley for the winter grazing with supplement feeding with hay produced during the summer in the valley.

Figure 3. General scheme of the Monte Gallego agroecosystem

Click here to see diagram.

The principal livestock system that we find today in the mountain system is suckler cow production, with outdoor fattening. Twenty years ago, sheep, goats and horses were also an important part of the livestock system. Until some years ago, the production of cereal, potatoes and vegetables was more important for home-consumption, but now the best area of the valley is used for forage production and for intensive milk production with a high external dependence of feed (nearly 65%).

Organic livestock production is today an alternative for the recuperation of the economic and social activities of these areas, and some communities have started developing organic porduction.

An evaluation of the ecological characteristics of the principal extensive livestock production systems in Spain shows the biggest endogenous potential for the transformation to organic production (see Table 2).

From the productive point of view, an indirect evaluation of a group of research that describes the characteristics of different extensive livestock production systems shows that the diversified systems are as or more productive than some "intensive" systems of cattle production with high external inputs, as shown in Table 3.

Table 2. Agro-ecological characteristics of the principal extensive livestock production systems in Spain (García Trujillo 1998).

Characteristic	Transhumance	Diversified Dehesa	Monte Gallego	Mountain System	Straw Livestock
Level of local resource use	***	***	***	***	***
Animal diversification	*	***	**	**	*
Management stocking rate	***	**	***	***	***
Integration (cattle-forest-agriculture)	*	**	***	***	***
Nutrient recycling	**	**	***	**	**
Soil conservation	**	**	***	***	**
Maintain autochthonous breeds	**	***	**	***	**
Ecosystem preservation	***	***	**	***	**
General diversification	**	***	***	***	**

 

Table3. Productivity of some extensive livestock production systems in Spain in comparison with intensive beef production in mountain areas (García Trujillo 1998)*

System	Live weight gain (Kg/ha/year)	Reference
Diversified Dehesa	240	Campos Palacín 1984
Dehesa (Iberic swine)	102	Bellón Infante 1976
Dehesa (cattle)	44	Barea et al. 1980
Monte Gallego (64% of monte)	370 (+ 1,4 t/ha of crop and fruit)	Diez y Sineiro 1979
Mountain System (Intensive beef production in Pirineos region)	143	García Trujillo 1998,

*El Papel de los Animales en los Sistemas Agroecológicos. En: IV congreso de la Sociedad Española de Agricultura Ecológica. Valencia, 11-15 de Septiembre de 1998.

 

Organic livestock in Andalucia

In Andalucia, there has been a rapid growth of organic farming recently, with a 50% growth in the last two years (1997-1998). Currently, Andalucia has 21.3% of the total Spanish organic acerage.

The total number of organic livestock is 12,654. Among them, 63.4% are sheep, 18.3% goats and 14.8% cattle. The animals are concentrated in 94 production units (37 of beef cattle, 44 of sheep, 8 of goats, 2 of swine, 1 of hens, 2 of poultry and 8 of apiculture).

Beef farms are mainly located in a specific extensive agroforestry system named Dehesa, typical of the south of Spain with poor soils and about 400 mm of rain per year. In these systems, all animals are free-ranging and are supplemented during summer when the grass growth is poor.

Organic sheep units are mainly in Dehesa systems, but other interesting systems are developing. These systems include rearing sheep under olive trees and play an important role in the control of erosion of the olive areas, as in the organic units the soil cover is not removed, as in conventional systems, but is allowed to be grazed by the sheep.

Organic goat flocks are kept mainly in mountainous areas on natural pastures and in forest regions, where the animals graze freely.

 

Research into organic livestock production

Research into organic livestock production has only started recently in Spain. The main area of investigation is the production efficiency of the organic livestock systems in the natural or agroforestry areas that exist in the peninsula. The integration of local animal breeds and the development of alternative medicine practices for disease control and treatment are other areas of interest.

The principal research groups involved in research, teaching and advice in organic livestock production are:

1) The organic livestock group from the Veterinary School of Córdoba University. (Dpto Producción Animal. Fac. Medicina Veterinaria. Av. Medina-Azahara s/n 14005 Córdoba. España)

Director: Dr. Clemente Mata Moreno, Professor of the Animal Production Department.

The principal staff in animal production are:

• Med. Vet. Idelfonso Caballero Luna
• Med. Vet. Cipriano Díaz Gaona
• Med. Vet. Eva Muñoz Mejias
• Med. Vet. Daniel López Baldón
• Med. Vet. Juan Carlos Ruíz

This group is involved in research into and advice on organic livestock production in Andalucia, and in teaching.

The group members are currently working on the following research:

• Organic cattle production in the Dehesa;
• Different projects for finishing organic beef cattle;
• Organic egg production on mountain olive systems.

The teaching activities of this group include:

• Phd programme in Organic Livestock production
• Extensive production systems: Organic Livestock (for veterinary students in the Veterinary Faculty)

 

2) Research Group of the Sociology and Rural Studies Institute, in the High Agronomy and Forest Engineering Department of Córdoba University (Instituto de Sociología y Estudios Campesinos, Universidad de Córdiba, Ave. Menéndez Pidal s/n, 14004 Córdoba, España. Tel 34 957 218541, Fax: 34 957 218563, E-mail: ec1segue@uco.es.)

Director: Dr. Eduardo Sevilla Guzmán.

The principal staff in animal production are:

• Dr. Roberto García Trujillo
• Ing Esther Cano Avila
• Ing Armando Contreras 

This group is carrying out research in agroecological systems in different regions of Spain, including animal components:

• Study of the biological and social reasons for degradation of Dehesa systems in Los Pedroches regions.
• Transformation of a traditional mountain livestock system to organic, in Polaciones Valley, Cantabria.
• Evaluation of the organic agriculture and livestock production in Andalucía and support to its development.
• Study of the olive-sheep organic production system in Andalucía.

 The teaching activities of this group include:

• Organic Agriculture (including organic livestock), for agronomy students at the University of Córdoba.
• PhD degree in Agroecology, Sociology and Rural Development.
• Master's degree in Agroecology and Rural Development in Latin America and Spain.

 

3) Agriculture School of Manresa. Cataluña Government (Sant Joan dén Coll, 9 08240 Manresa, Cataluña).

Director: Ing. Teresa Obrador

Professor in Organic Livestock: Ing. Jaime Brustenga

This group is involved in organic livestock teaching for technicians and producers.

 

4) Group of Organic Agriculture in Extremadura region. (Junta de Extremadura. Dpto. Producción Forestal, Pastos y Producción Animal. Finca La Orden Apdo. 22 06080 Badajoz, España.)

Principal researchers:

• Ing. Manuel Espejo Díaz
• Ing. Mercedes Izqierdo Sebrin

 The group carries out research into:

• Organic cattle production in the Dehesa

 

[Presented at the 1^st NAHWOA Workshop in Reading, 6-8 June 1999]

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