Environmental constraints on agricultural growth in

Ecological Economics 41 (2002) 257– 270 This article is also available online at: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon

SPECIAL SECTION: EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY AND ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS

Environmental constraints on agricultural growth in 19th century granada (Southern Spain) Manuel Gonza´lez de Molina * Uni6ersidad de Granada, Campus DE Cartu´ja, 18071 Granada, Spain

Abstract Historians and economists have been unaware of environmental constraints and they have considered the low yield per hectare of the main cereals to be an indication of the relative backwardness of Southern Spanish agriculture. This paper proposes a methodology of analysis that integrates environmental and economic variables to explain the differences in crop productivity between Southern Spain and northern Europe in the 19th century. Here, the relative backwardness will be explained not only by deficiencies in productivity, capital investment or diffusion of new technology, but principally by the comparati6e ecological disad6antages that areas such as Andalusia had in comparison with Northern Europe, if an agricultural growth based on cereals was to be chosen. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Economic growth; Ecological limits; Hydric deficit; Nutrient requirements; Rotation systems; Agroecosystems; Agricultural productivity; Environmental history

1. Introduction For many decades historians and economists have criticised Spain for its failure to modernise its agriculture and its economic system at the same time as some northern European countries. The agrarian sector was assumed to be responsible for the political and economic backwardness. The low yield per hectare of the main cereals, in comparison with countries such as the Netherlands, UK or Belgium, constituted an indication of the relative backwardness of Spanish agricul* Tel.: +34-958-243635; fax: + 34-958-248979. E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Gonza´lez de Molina).

ture, especially in Andalusia. Those accounts saw the environment as irrelevant to human and economic development. The environmental constraints were considered as simple obstacles to be overcome. This article states something usually forgotten by economists: that every economic system must be place-specific, and that an agricultural system that works in one biome or climate regime cannot be expected to work the same way in another. So, here the importance of environmental factors is asserted in the explanation of the low yields per hectare, at least until the complete transformation into an industrial-type agriculture based on fossil fuels that happened after 1950. This

0921-8009/02/$ - see front matter © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 9 2 1 - 8 0 0 9 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 3 0 - 7

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M. Gonza´ lez de Molina / Ecological Economics 41 (2002) 257–270

paper proposes a methodology of analysis that integrates environmental and economic variables, refusing any environmental determinism. According to the co-e6olution principle (Norgaard, 1994) we consider the agricultural sector subject to a double limitation; the first being ecological, in that physical/biological cycles sometimes impose strict limits on the development of the productive activity, and the second being social, as every agro-ecosystem (Altieri, 1995; Gliessman, 1998) is the result of human manipulation of the previously existing ecosystem and, to this extent, is a socially and historically constructed space which may modify the originally existing ecological conditions. The relative backwardness may be explained not only by deficiencies in productivity, capital investment or diffusion of new technology, but also, and principally, by the comparati6e ecological disad6antages that areas such as Andalusia had in comparison with Northern Europe, if an agricultural growth based on cereals was to be chosen. In the first part of this paper, we shall describe the socio-ecological conditions of farming in the province of Granada, this being an area which is representative of the environmental peculiarities of southern Spain prior to the liberal reforms of the beginning of the 19th century. In the second part, we shall define the farming model practised in the 19th century in the province until the fin de sie`cle crisis.

2. The agriculture of 18th century from the ecological point of view Societies still based on solar energy (organic economies, according to Wrigley (1988)), with hardly any external energy inputs, endure fairly harsh and spatially localised limitations. On the other hand, in societies based on fossil energy, with the possibility of considerable external inputs, the environmental limitations tend to become less dependent (except perhaps for water) on the physical location of production, and generally give the false impression that the productive activity is independent of nature. The farming system at the end of Old Regime was essentially solar, the

whole cycle working mainly through energy from the sun, in contrast to present-day agriculture which, thanks to fossil fuels, can even function without soil and in artificially created climatic conditions. The efficiency of plants in trapping solar energy, i.e. the productive potential of the Mediterranean agro-ecosystems, was limited by the rainfall and amount of nutrients (fertiliser) per unit of surface area which could be obtained from livestock; in other words it was restricted by the amount of land available for grazing or animal fodder. The environmental conditions made it necessary to dedicate a particular part of the land to agricultural crops, another to grazing for livestock and finally, another to woodland; these spaces had to be maintained in equilibrium, as each one satisfied demands essential in the functioning of the system. The flow of energy and nutrients was basically circular and its supply was mainly to be found in the immediately surrounding area. This was logical in a world where commercial trading was still unusual and communications between different regions difficult. The case of the province of Granada is a good example of this. Its climate establishes fairly strict limitations on activities in which water is an essential factor. The most decisive factor is rainfall. Its spatial distribution is fairly heterogeneous. However, a scarcity of rainfall is the norm in the intramountain depressions and even on the coast, these areas being where agriculture is situated. The average rainfall (see Table 1) does not even reach 500 mm. In addition to its average scarcity, the specific monthly distribution must be considered, whose incidence in farming activities is critical. The whole of the province is characterised by having a fairly long dry season, whose peak time is reached in July and August. The areas with greatest agricultural potential tend to have the most severe dry seasons. The hydric balance, taking into account the potential evapotranspiration, indicates that the whole of the province is deficient. This negative hydric balance explains the low values of the run-off indices. The amount of water, which ends up circulating in rivers, streams, watercourses or gullies, averages 26%, in comparison with the national average of 34%. Of


the 16 meteorological stations considered in the Caracterizacio´ n agroclima´ tica de la provincia de Granada (Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentacio´ n, 1989) (Agroclimatic characterisation of the province of Granada), only one of them can be classified as humid Mediterranean. The rest correspond to dry Mediterranean, with annual humidity indices averaging just over 50%. The combination of temperature and rainfall typical of the province establishes restrictive conditions not only on the availability of water but also on the type of vegetation. The dry period coincides with the hottest months, those in which evapotranspiration is at its highest— meaning that there are hydric deficits. These circumstances, in which the vegetation lives practically at the limits of survival, determine the type of crops possible, especially when the frequency of frosts also establishes limits in winter in spite of the theoretical abundance of rainfall. Frosts, and the summer water deficit, therefore, characterise the main agroclimatic conditions of the province of Granada. Scarcity of rainfall and low temperatures make it essential to practise unirrigated agriculture in which winter cereals for human Table 1 Hydroclimatic features of the province of Granada Average precipitation (mm) Average temperature (°C) Relative humidity (%) Wind speed (km/h) Insolation (h per month)

486 16.9 59 9 223

Potential e6apotranspiration Km2 with B800 mm Km2 between 800–1100 mm Km2 with \1100 mm

843 11 628 60

Surface with humidity index HB0.35 (Km2) 0.35–1.00 (Km2) H\1.00 (Km2)

599 11 081 851

Surface with risk of frosts More than 5 months with frosts (Km2) 2–5 months (Km2) Less than 2 months (Km2)

8504 3329 698

Source, Agencia de Medio Ambiente, 1987 Informe General del Medio Ambiente en Andalucıá. 1987, pp. 48. (General Report on the Environment in Andalusia, 1987).

259

consumption and highly drought-resistant bush and tree crops, such as vines, olives and almonds, predominate. Indeed, the crops mentioned make up the typical Mediterranean trilogy, which characterised and, to a large extent, continues to characterise the province of Granada. Only two districts, the Valle de Lecrıń and the Coast, enjoyed adequate temperatures for developing crops with large markets, such as sugar cane or cotton, citrus or other fruit trees and other subtropical products; but even here, there was still not sufficient rainfall. The same occurred with the other districts in the province, whose hot summers, in contrast to the harsh winters, allowed a wide range of products to be cultivated for domestic consumption or export: non-citrus fruits, vegetables, fodder, industrial plants such as sugarbeet, flax or hemp, summer cereals, etc, but their low resistance to the summer drought made them unviable. These limitations could only be overcome by irrigating previously unirrigated land. Removal of the water restriction would mean that the aridity and high temperatures could become a comparative advantage because of the possibility of cultivating plants that were difficult to grow in other more humid latitudes. The wheat yields in countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium or UK were between three and four times higher than those obtained from the unirrigated cereal crops in Andalusia (Simpson, 1996). In the absence of outside energy and nutrient inputs into farm production, the explanation for the differences in the yields per cultivated hectare of cereals with respect to other areas of the country and other more humid countries in Northern Europe, can be found almost entirely in the scarcity of rainfall and in its intra and interannual regime. This statement can be indirectly substantiated by establishing the water balance corresponding to wheat production in near average agroclimatic conditions for the province. In order to do this, we use the village of Santa Fe, close to a meteorological station (Granada airport) and which, therefore, can provide us with data on all necessary variables to construct a Blanney– Criddle water balance. Blanney–Criddle is one of indirect methods to calculate the potential evapotranspiration or Ref-


260

Table 2 Water balance for wheat agroclimatic conditions in Santa Fe (Granada) Month

November

December

January

February

March

April

May

June

Total

Rainfall ETc (1) ETc adj (2) Reserve Variation Reserves Excess De´ ficit

26 6 6 20 20

55 12 12 43 63

45 17 17 28 90

40 21 21 10 100 9

32 103 103 72 29

38 148 66 29

28 185 28

17 35 17

280 527 270

82

157

18

9 257

Data refers to the crop cycle, expressed in mm. (1) Eto, crop evapotranspiration under standard conditions or crop water requirement; ETc adj, crop evapotranspiration under non-standard conditions or actual crop evapotranspiration. ETc adj must be B or = to ETc. The balances are made taking into account no soil moisture reserves in soil (fallow does not store water in the soil). Water excedents begin in November, as well as the agricultural season. Soil moisture reserves are estimated at 100 mm maximum. More than this is considered soil moisture excedent, and drainage begins. ETc adj result from adding rainfall to soil moisture reserves until ETc is reached. When soil moisture reserves are zero, ETc adj will be equal to rainfall, as maximum. At this point, the difference between ETc and ETc adj will be considered as soil moisture deficit. Wheat Cycle in Santa Fe, measured from November to June.

erence Crop Evapotranspiration (Eto). It is applied for monthly periods and it is based in the expression: f = p(0.46t + 8.31) where f, Blanney –Criddle factor, expressed in mm water per day; It has the same value for every day of the month. t, monthly average temperature, expressed in °C; p, relation between monthly diurnal hours and total hours. When ‘f’ is calculated, it can be related with Eto using some graphics including the other important factors: relative air moisture, sun exposure and wind speed. Relative Air Moisture is taken at the minimum value during day (between 14.00 and 16.00 h); there are three categories: low ( B 20%); medium (20– 25%); and high (\ 50%). For sun exposure it is considered the relation n/N, where ‘n’ are the actual sun exposure hours and ‘N’ are total diurnal hours; ‘n’ are measured by heliograph. There are three categories: low (0.3– 0.6); medium (0.6– 0.8); and high (\ 0.8). For Wind Speed it is considered diurnal wind at 2 m up to the soil. There are three categories: weak ( B 0 – 2 m/s); moderate (2– 5 m/s); and strong ( \ 5 m/s). Daly Eto is, therefore, estimated with a quadruple input graphic, using ‘f’, minimum relative air moisture, n/N, and wind speed (more details in Doorenbos and Pruit (1986)).

The water balance (Table 2) was measured for the most common rotation on unirrigated land in Santa Fe, ‘al tercio’ (wheat— erial [fallow]— barbecho blanco [fallow after ploughing up]). The data show that the crop suffered water stress from April onwards, which includes the most critical period of development as regards final yield (flowering and grain ripening). Actual yield was calculated to have been around 60% of the maximum yield obtainable if no hydric limitations had existed. The balance corresponding to the fallow and fallow ploughing years show that no significant effect of accumulation of water reserves existed to alleviate the spring deficit indicated. In any event, the balance shows that from March to November no surplus water existed and that in the months of May, June, July and August, there was considerable deficit. This means that without irrigation, it was not possible to cultivate spring or summer plants. The environmental conditions only permitted winter crops, and even these had the added limitation of water scarcity in critical periods. These same agroclimatic limitations bring with them other consequences. Given the meagre amount of biomass produced per hectare, the success of the harvest in any given plot required the subsidiary use of other equivalent plots of land lying fallow, producing fodder, grazing, etc.


such that the real amount of land necessary for actual production was several times the size of the plot itself. The hostile ecological conditions made it advisable to grow crops preferably in winter, or at least during the spring, thus making the most of the rainfall of those seasons in the growth of the plants. A second harvest was, therefore, not advisable even when the land was under irrigation. The high insolation and scarcity of rainfall reduced the organic matter in the soil, making it practically impossible to grow crops every year without a fallow period or without the application of considerable amounts of fertilisers. This made crop rotation necessary, i.e. 1 year of harvest should be followed by another being left fallow without any attention (‘descanso’) and/or left fallow after being ploughed (‘barbecho’), in order to recuperate the nutrients exported in the previous harvest. Under these conditions of low biomass productivity, the capacity to maintain abundant livestock and produce more natural fertiliser was limited. The Mediterranean open woodlands, and even its pastures could not compete with the meadows of ‘Rainy Europe’ (Jime´ nez Blanco, 1986). Moreover, grazing land had to compete for the soil with crops destined for human consumption or cereal-fodder thus leading to a reduction in the quantity of manure. It was a kind of vicious circle. The only way of maintaining annual crops without a break was through the cultivation of bushes or trees, especially olives, vines and almonds. At that time, various crop rotations were practised on the unirrigated cultivated land in Southern Spain, and the intensity of these depended on the availability of fertilisers. Tables 3– 6 set out the nutrient balance corresponding to olive groves and the three most generalised types of cereals. The yields, which had not changed significantly since 1750 except in the case of olives, and other physical data on the systems mentioned, are taken from property and tax register sources from the mid-19th century. The most widespread rotation was the ‘one third’ rotation, in which winter wheat was the main crop, followed by 1 fallow year (‘descanso’) and a third and last year of ploughed fallow (‘barbecho’). Table 3 shows that the nutrient extractions in the wheat year substan-

261

Table 3 Nutrient balance in the ‘one third’ rotation system in kg/ha Export

N

P

K

Wheat (822 kg) Straw (950 kg) Stubble (247 kg) (4) Unploughed fallow (579 kg) Losses (3 years) Total

17.16 4.56 1.18 2.78 15.00 40.68

6.51 2.09 0.54 1.27 – 10.41

4.29 5.98 1.55 3.64 – 15.46

Inputs Seed (75 kg) Atmospheric replacement (1)

1.5 30.0

0.6 –

0.4 –

– ? ? 2.6 34.1 −6.58

– ? ? 1.0 1.6 −8.81

Harvest remains (4) Free fixation Symbiotic fixation (2) ‘Redileo’ (3) Total Balance

– ? ? 2.0 2.4 −13.06

Source, average yields obtained from the ‘Cartillas Evaluatorias’ (Evaluation Notebooks) from various villages in the province of Granada. The nutrient content of each crop was obtained from Soroa (1947). More details on methodology in Gonza´ lez de Molina (2001). (1) According to Urbano Terro´ n (1992), the N. Input from rainfall in an area with precipitation of 400 mm/year is 11.2 kg/ha per year, whereas in an area with 600 mm it is 16.8. According to this author, the optimum for Spain would range between 10 and 15 kg. Another method of measure (Loomis, 1978) establishes a range of between 8 and 12 kg in these conditions of rainfall. Taking into account the average values reached by the precipitation (see Table 1), we have taken a maximum value of 12.6 kg/ha per year and a minimum of 10 kg as being valid. (2) We have not been able to calculate the input possibly generated by pulse weeds, as we do not have conclusive data. Nor have we been able to include any amount in respect of fixation made by free micro-organisms as this is considered to be very scarce in semi-arid regions (Guerrero, 1987). (3) Calculation have been made on the basis of how long working and revenue generating animals spent grazing on the stubble fields and unploughed fallow and the number of animals that could ‘redilear’ per hectare, according to data provided by the Cartillas Evaluatorias mentioned above. N.B. ‘redileo’ was the system used to fertilise land with the manure left by animals specifically gathered together on the land for a certain period of time for this purpose. (4) We could have assumed this on the basis of the hypothesis of Urbano Terro´ n (1992) according to which nitrogen losses and gains unattributable to the farming activity compensate for one another. However, we have chosen to calculate nitrogen losses and gains as we believe that in this ‘one third’ rotation system they must have been decisive for fertility. We have considered the minimum amount of nutrients exported by the stubble in order to compensate for the inputs received from the remains of the previous harvest.

262


Table 4 Nutrient balance in the ‘one third’ rotation system with sown fallow land in kg/ha Product

kg

Export N

P

First year broad beans/chick peas and ploughed fallow land Chick pea seed 15 Broad bean seed 40.6 Chick peas 175 5.5 Broad beans 193 7.8 Fallow land – ? Chick pea straw 192 3.1 Broad bean straw 200 3.2 Losses 5.0 Symbiotic fixation (1) Free fixation Atmospheric replacement Harvest remains (2) 133 Manure (3) 1029 Total first year 24.6 Second year: wheat Wheat seed Wheat Wheat straw Stubble Atmospheric replacement Symbiotic fixation Free fixation Losses Total second year Third year: unploughed fallow Unploughed fallow (4) Atmospheric replacement Symbiotic fixation Free fixation Losses Total third year Total 3 years Balance (5)

140 869 1216 267

Input

18.1 5.8 0.6

K

1.6 2.2 ? 0.8 0.8 –

N

P

K

0.3 1.6

0.1 0.5

0.2 0.5

77.5 ? 10.0 0.6 5.5 95.5

– ? – 0.3 3.2 4.1

– ? – 0.8 5.6 7.1

2.9

1.1

0.7

–

–

1.1

0.7

– ? ? –

– ? ? –

5.2

7.8

2.3 2.3 ? 3.8 4.0 –

5.4

12.4

6.8 2.6 0.3

4.5 7.6 0.8 10.0

1160

5.0 29.5

– 9.7

– 12.9

5.5 – –

2.5 – –

7.3 – –

5.5 11.0 65.1 +53.3

2.5 17.6 −12.4

7.3 32.6 −24.8

12.9

10.0 ? ? – 10.0 118.4

Source, see Table 3. (1) The values for average fixation of broad beans and chick peas were taken from Garrabou and Saguer (1996). (2) We have assumed that half stubble from wheat still remains after it has been grazed. (3) The average composition of manure from livestock in Granada and its nutrient content have been taken from Gonza´ lez de Molina and Pouliquen (1996). (4) It is calculated that grazing production is 1.3 times that of wheat production (Naredo and Campos, 1980). (5) The balance suggests that the symbiotic fixation and that of the free organisms is very important, particularly in the fallow grazing year. It also suggests that without the manure it would have been impossible to sow the fallow land and grow broad beans and chick peas, and this lack of manure is the reason why part of the land was left completely fallow.

tially exceeded inputs-by almost three times— meaning that without further inputs of manure than those provided by the ‘redileo’ [gathering the livestock together on the land in order to fertilise it], the land could not be sown in the following 2

years (the balance only recovered after 3 years). It is worth noting the importance that free fixation of N must have had in the recovery of fertility. Very little is known about the type of plants that grew in the year of rest, but there seem to be


263

Table 5 Nutrient balance in the rotation in the ‘RUEDOS’ in kg/ha Product

kg/ha

Export N

First year: broad beans Seed Grain Straw Losses Symbiotic fixation Free fixation Atmospheric replacement Stubble Manure Harvest remains Total first year Second year: wheat Seed Grain Straw Losses Symbiotic fixation Free fixation Atmospheric replacement Stubble Total second year Total 2 years Balance

157.6 1260 1007

387 7025 196

80 1277 1865

Input P

K

N

P

5.6 44.6 10.5 5.0

4.0

11.0 3.8 –

1.4

K

1.4

1.5

145.0 ? 10.0

– ? –

– ? –

37.9 2.0 200.5

21.7 0.7 23.8

38.6 2.1 42.2

1.6

0.6

0.4

0.6 24.4

0.4 42.6

12.3 10.7 –

4.1

64.1

16.2

27.1

26.6 8.9 5.0

10.1 4.1

6.6 11.7

0.9 41.4 105.5 +106.6

0.4 14.6 30.8 −6.4

1.2 19.5 46.6 −4.0

10.0 196

11.6 212.1

Source, see Table 3. ‘Ruedos’ are the areas immediately surrounding the villages, which were easier to fertilise with manure and urban waste due to their accessibility.

indications of the presence of pulses, which increased the symbiotic fixation capacity. Table 4 shows the same system but at a slightly more developed stage, typical of the large farms of Andalusia which had a lot of working animals and could allow themselves the luxury of manure. The difference between this and the previous system was that pulses were sown in one part of the ploughed fallow land (broad beans or chick peas), leading to the paradoxical name sown fallow land (‘barbecho semillado’). The balance shows the positive effect produced by the pulses, which generated a surplus of N, which in turn led to an improvement in the wheat yield, increasing it from 11 to 16 hl/ha. However, the input of manure was essential for these pulses to grow, not so much because of the existing N deficit, as the deficit in P and K; in spite of manure, fallow land

continued to play an essential role in replacing nutrients. The balance suggests that where there was sufficient livestock, ploughed fallow land was sown (‘barbecho semillado’), and the size of this sown area depended on the amount of manure available. In this system, the pulses were planted with a view to meeting the food requirements of the working animals, against the background of a sharp rise in the demand for cereals for human consumption and a fall in grazing land and fodder crops (as we shall see below), rather than as a result of their utility as plants for improving the wheat yield. Table 5 reflects the most intensive rotation in unirrigated land of the South. This was used on the area surrounding the villages and towns (ruedos) to where it was relatively cheap and easy to transport and apply manure produced in stables

264


or generated from urban waste. The most common succession was broad beans in the first year and wheat in the second, although in other places in a cycle of 3 years, broad beans were grown after wheat and the last year was dedicated to barley. The yields were fairly high (17 hl/ha of wheat, a similar amount for broad beans and around 20 hl/ha of barley) in comparison with those achieved in the previous rotations, but they were still a long way from those achieved in Denmark, Belgium, UK and the Netherlands, proving the limitation caused by the specific Mediterranean rainfall regime. The nutrient balance shows a situation of equilibrium in P and K, but a considerable surplus of N, which in the long run must have affected positively the fertility of the soil. In any event, the broad beans, together with the manure, fulfilled their fundamental task and allowed the fallow to be eliminated. In this regard, in the ruedos a rotation similar to that of the European agricultural re6olution was possible, although with a lower yield than in the humid countries of northern Europe. It required a great deal of manure and, consequently, more livestock. The data available on the amount of animals in the mid-18th century (see Table 10) reveal that it was simply impossible to produce enough manure to generalise this system (between 3.5 and 4 Tm per ha were required annually, whilst only 2.8 Tm per ha of fresh matter were produced, including Table 6 Nutrient balance in olive groves in kg/ha Export Olive (1052 kg) Timber and branches (621) Average losses Total Input Symbiotic fixation Free fixation Atmospheric replacement Total Balance

N

P

K

4.7 4.6 5.0 14.3

1.1 1.8 – 2.9

10.0 2.4 – 12.4

? ? 10.0 10.0 −4.3

? ? – – −2.9

? ? – – −12.4

Source, average yields obtained from the ‘Cartillas Evaluatorias’ of various villages in the province of Granada. The nutrient of each crop was obtained from Soroa (1947).

every kind of livestock and without taking into account humidity losses). Again, the limited capacity of the Andalusian pastures restricted the possibilities of increasing the number of livestock. This means that the unavailability of external nutrients was the principal limiting factor for traditional organic agriculture, and this limitation was further aggravated by the relative scarcity of water. Finally, Table 6 represents the nutrient balance of 1 ha dedicated to olives, in which the difference with cereals can clearly be observed. Olives required three times less N and P, and 20% less K. The deficit is low enough to estimate that the symbiotic fixation, or the fixation of the free organisms, was enough to replace it, especially when the plantation was fairly widely-spaced (between 56 and 60 trees per ha). Furthermore, the grass was usually used for grazing with a consequent manure input from ‘redileo’. Apart from this, manure was only applied if a tree was diseased. This means that under conditions of a structural lack of nutrients, only olive groves (or vineyards) would permit an annual crop without a fallow year and without having to resort to the application of fertilisers obtained from outside the farm. However, their yields were fairly irregular due to their high sensitivity to the rain between October and March of the previous year (Naredo, 1983). It can be seen, therefore, that Andalusian agriculture at the time was subject to a fundamental ecological limitation: due to its lack of humidity and, as a result, its incapacity to produce vegetal biomass, more land was required for agricultural, livestock and forestry activities for a given production level than in the humid areas of the north of the peninsula and northern Europe. This meant that agricultural use was to a large extent incompatible with livestock or forestry use of the same plot of land. Under the existing agroclimatic conditions, it was practically impossible outside the ruedos to adopt crop systems and rotations such as those which protagonised the famous English agricultural revolution. Quite apart from the differences between English and Andalusian soils, nitrogen constituted a limiting factor for all traditional agriculture (Chorley, 1981; Overton, 1991;


265

Table 7 Yields per hectare in various crop systems and their comparison with the Norfolk system, 1830–1850 Crop system

Dry matter per year In thousands of Kcal in kg per year

Equivalent has. Required by the ‘one third’ system

One third One third with sown fallow ‘Ruedos’ Occasional irrigation Constant irrigation Norfolk system

745 1222

2489 3864

1 1.6

2649 2074 4795 2936

10 624 6623 19 164 11 732

3.5 2.8 6.4 3.9

Source, the calorific values of each product were taken from Naredo and Campos (1980); the dry matter content from Soroa (1947) and the production and gross field for each system was taken from the average of various ‘Cartillas Evaluatorias’ in the middle of the 1850s. The data relating to Norfolk System was obtained from Overton (1991).

Ellis and Wang, 1997), but in the case of Andalusia, the lack of water was an additional limiting factor, which led to an even greater scarcity of nutrients. Where this limitation was overcome— in the rare cases of irrigated land—the rotations and yields were similar to British ones. Table 7 compares the productivity of the agroecosystems with those in the county of Norfolk (UK) in the mid 19th century, using the agricultural revolution as a reference point. The values are averages for both regions and are ordered from highest to lowest intensity and from highest to lowest significance in terms of land area. As can be seen, the differences are quite considerable, both in the production of dry matter per hectare and in kilocalories, and reflect the differences as regards the humidity regime and accessibility to organic fertilisation. The ‘one third’ rotation system, which was the most common in the province of Granada, required four times more land than that of the British county to produce the same amount of dry matter per hectare. But the difference not only lies here, but also in the fact that in Granada, the capacity to sustain livestock was three times lower. In Norfolk. the number of livestock units per cultivated hectare was 1.8, whereas in the province of Granada, it was 0.48.1 1 The conversion of livestock units was made on the basis of proportion of different types of livestock used by Overton (1991) and the number of animals in Table 11 corresponding to 1868 in the province of Granada.

Given the considerable territorial needs of cereals, it is difficult to understand why such an enormous proportion of land in Spain was devoted to them. Prior to the 19th century, cereal production was already perhaps oversized (Garcıá Sanz, 1986). This was due to the lack of commercial trading and its peripheral concentration around the large rural towns. The high cost of inland transport in the country made merchandise— including grain— so expensive that trade was discouraged and its use was limited to times of particular need or bad harvests. This meant that every village or district had to dedicate a large amount of land to growing cereals, as the working animals and the farm labourers themselves depended on barley and wheat for their main source of energy. The traditional farming system could not have functioned without cereals. The natural productivity of the Mediterranean open woodland and other land reserved for grazing was insufficient to permit any significant increase in livestock. The need for new land to feed a higher population, and at the same time more and better grazing for livestock to work the land and transport the produce elsewhere, led to the cultivation of previously unused land and, when this was not possible, the dedication of part of the farmed land to growing cereal-fodder such as barley. This vicious circle led to yet a further increase in the amount of land dedicated to cereals. However, its territorial expansion was constrained by the fact that a very significant


266

proportion of productive land was subject to a feudal common land regime, which prohibited cultivation. The tension between the increasing demand for cereals— in which population growth constituted an important factor—and the institutional limitations mentioned, caused the rise in cereal prices recorded during the second half of the 18th century, which in turn naturally stimulated a new wave of cultivation dedicated to cereals.

3. Agriculture after the liberal revolution The Spanish Liberal Revolution led to the implementation of a set of agrarian measures (e.g. enclosures, sale of church lands, free grain trading, etc.). Three changes of particular significance arose out of these measures: (a) the commercialisation of property and other natural resources; (b) the collapse of the integrated traditional system of mixing agriculture with livestock farming and forestry (c) the predominant use of the land by agriculture over and above everything else. The main agent in this triple process was the expansion of cereals. Cereal production occupied first place, ahead of any other land uses, due to the fact that it was a product of mass consumption and, therefore, easy to sell on the market with good returns. Protectionist measures in the domestic grain market, such as those adopted in August, 1820, contributed to this. Perhaps cereals were the best alternative from the point of view of the market and of the large agrarian interests of the time, but it is doubtful whether it was so from

the ecological or even general economic point of view. The social costs were quite considerable. Cereals required little labour and, at the same time, used up a lot of land (olives provided more than double the number of days’ work per ha in comparison with the cereal system run on the ‘one third’ rotation basis, which was the most generalised). Secondly, the reduction in grazing and woodlands which gave way to agriculture (Lo´ pez Estudillo, 1992; Cobo et al., 1992), and the establishment of enclosures-which introduced the sale of grazing rights of stubble and fallow fields into the economic market— must have led in turn to the fall in livestock numbers. It does seem clear that livestock did not increase to the extent that cultivated land did, leading to lack of manure to fertilise all the cultivated land. A significant increase in more intensively cultivated unirrigated land with fewer fallow periods was impossible. In this regard, cereal yields during the 19th century in Andalusia show stagnation, a trend which can be generalised to most Spanish Mediterranean cereal farming (Garrabou et al., 1995). The data relating to the province of Granada (our case study) are even more conclusive with regard to the effects of the expansion of the cereal system. Table 8 shows the land requirements of grain production in Granada, destined for the most part to feeding its population and working animals. These requirements are calculated on the basis of average yields provided by the agrarian statistics and corrected by us with the help of land and tax register and notarial documentation. The data on average consumption per head was taken

Table 8 Land requirements for grain production in Granada, 1879 Crop

Production in hl

Requirements in ha

Unirrigated area occupied

Irrigated area occupied

Wheat Barley Broad beans Rye Maize Chick peas Total

1 074 672 431 644 69 243 106 457 148 106 5649 1 835 771

255 064 85 757 12 364 29 709 8391 1158 392 443

160 179 85 757 – 29 709 – 1158 276 803

43 786 – 12 364 – 8391 – 64 541

Source, Morell and Terry (1888) and own data. In unirrigated ‘one third’ rotation.

M. Gonza´ lez de Molina / Ecological Economics 41 (2002) 257–270 Table 9 Distribution of agricultural land in hectares Surface

1885

Cereals and 278 709 pulses, of which Sown area – Fallow – Vineyards 25 376 Olive groves 25 600 Fruit trees 42 Roots, tubers, 2330 bulbs crops Horticultural 3520 plants Industrial plants 1785 Artificial 1706 pastures Unirrigated 254 278 land Irrigated land 72 232 Cultivated land 339 068 Open woodland 881 332 and pastures Agricultural 1 220 400 land

1900

Percent variation

309 960

11.2

145 932 164 028 6995 33 290 616 2493

– – −72.4 30.0 1366.6 7.0

2232

−36.6

7253 403

306.3 −76.3

257 781

1.3

105 371 363 152 857 248

45.8 7.1 −2.7

1 220 400

–

Source, GEHR Estadı´stica de la Produccio´ n Agraria Espan˜ ola. (1991) (Statistics of Spanish Agricultural Production). Morell and Terry (1888) and own data. Granada, 1885–1900.

from Morell and Terry (1888) and completed, with regard to animal feed, using the work of the ‘Junta Consultiva Agrono´ mica’ [Agronomic Consultative Committee] carried out at the end of the 19th century. The results reveal very similar figures for the cultivated surface area in 1885 (see Table 9) and show that agriculture in Granada at the time was mainly oriented towards satisfying the demand for food from its population more than from its livestock, meaning that the growth in livestock remained limited. We have reconstructed the total volume of agricultural production from the whole province on the basis of the agrarian statistics of 1900. Net production (without straw or harvest remains, which the statistics do not include) was 654 795 Tm, almost 2 tonnes/ ha, and half a tonne of dry matter. All this required a minimum of 11 kg. of N, 4.2 kg of P and 7.1 kg of K, per ha, still without taking into

267

account the consumption of straw and harvest remains. We then examined the evolution of livestock recorded from the middle of the 18th century on whose composition we have reliable data (see Table 10). As can be seen, at the end of the 19th century, livestock had fallen by 35% with respect to 1749 (Urdiales, 1998), which brought about a reduction in the availability of manure of a little over 11%. Over this period, a fundamental change had occurred in its composition: revenue producing livestock (sheep, goats and pigs) had fallen by 40.5%, whilst working animals had increased by 14%. Two factors undoubtedly contributed to the decline of revenue producing livestock: on the one hand the extension of enclosures, the elimination of some common rights, and the privatisation of a great deal of grazing rights over pastures and stubble fields, and on the other, the very expansion of cultivated land which replaced some of the traditional grazing land. Among the working animals, substitution of cattle by mules took place and there was also a decline in donkeys. The number of working cattle fell by 45% and donkeys by 25%. The growing difficulty in finding common grazing land to feed the oxen undoubtedly contributed to this situation, more than any advantages in terms of traction which mules may have had. In any event, this substitution was yet another stimulus (or perhaps a reflection of the agriculturalisation process) for the expansion of cereals, as barley and cereal Table 10 Evolution of livestock, 1749–1900 Livestock

1749

1868

1900

Horses Mules Donkeys Cattle Sheep Goats Pigs Total

1989 6347 40 002 33 510 462 254 260 237 74 698 879 037

12 218 28 300 46 775 16 778 353 021 112 613 90 046 659 751

10 420 34 832 29 940 18 466 324 190 106 260 43 730 567 838

Source, for 1749 Urdiales (1998); for 1868 Morell and Terry (1888) and for 1900 Jime´ nez Blanco (1986) (number of animals).


268

Table 11 Estimated manure production and its macronutrient content in Tm

Manure N content P content K content Tm/ha N/ha in kg P/ha in kg K/ha in kg Deficit

1749

1868

1900

829 364 4478 2571 4561 2.8 14.9 8.6 15.2 −10.8

815 655 4404 2528 4486 2.4 13.1 7.5 13.3 −12.6

734 515 3966 2277 4044 2.0 10.9 6.2 11.1 −14.8

Source, Soroa (1947) and own data. The manure production per head was taken from Ventue´ and Peralta (1885). The deficit is the result of the balance for wheat with the input of macronutrients per hectare, calculated for each year in the table.

straw were the basic fodder for mules. The changes in the livestock improved very slightly the traction capacity per cultivated hectare (from 0.11 HP per ha in 1749 to 0.13 in 1900). The increase recorded in working animals was due more than anything to the increase in cultivated land and the increase in commercial traffic for which mules were used as a means of transport. In any event, the overall reduction in livestock did not reduce the feeding input to any significant extent, as working animals had higher requirements. However, this was not satisfied by grazing uncultivated land but by the harvests from cultivated land, grain and straw. These changes did not improve the fertilising capacity of the livestock but rather the contrary. In Table 11, we have calculated the average production of manure for all livestock and its content in macronutrients. For revenue-producing livestock these could often be profitably used only by specifically gathering the herds together on the land for this purpose (‘redileo’) or from temporary stabling. The results are revealing. There was a fall in the fertilisation capacity of the farming system in general, which must have prevented more intensive crop rotations. In conclusion, the excessive extension of cereals led to a reduction in the possibility of intensifying agriculture on unirrigated land and limited a more intensive orientation of irrigated land.

The wheat expansion would not have been possible without the importation of animal feed from other areas of Andalusia. In Table 12 we have calculated the cultivated land requirements, only taking into account the needs of working animals, which had a basic diet of cereal fodder, straw and some pulses. The results are conclusive: wheat generated an important deficit in barley and other fodder grains which, in 1891—for which we have reliable data on the movement of grain in the province—was 309.139 hl and in 1900 was over half a million. This, in terms of land with average yields, meant the importation of 20.473 and 36.414 ha, respectively. If we bear in mind that the areas from which barley was brought in corresponded to the Andalusian countryside of Jae´ n, Seville and Co´ rdoba, where the usual crop rotation was on the ‘one third’ basis, the actual amount of land necessary to maintain cereal agriculture in Granada was 400.487 ha in 1891 and 472.394 ha in 1900, 30% more than the existing cultivated land of the time. The coexistence between the food needs of the population and those generated by the livestock was hindered by the soil and climatic conditions and the amount of animals. The competition between food and livestock was resolved in favour of the former, due to the higher monetary profits arising out of wheat. As opposed to what happened in other countries in ‘Rainy Europe’, the number of animals was determined during these years by the need for traction rather than fertilisation. Table 12 Evolution of the cultivated land requirements for feeding working animals 1749–1900 Year

Barley hl

Straw in Tm

Surface area in ha

1749 1868 1900

988 903 1 419 842 1 431 856

312 573 360 811 300 260

137 529 197 461 199 132

Source, the needs were calculated for each working animal according to the data contained in the ‘Cartillas Evaluatorias’ of the various villages in the 1850s. The estimation of the area required was made by dividing the barley needs by the average yield in 1900 (15.1/hl per ha) and multiplying by 2.1, which was the ratio between cultivated and fallow land in the cereal system in that year.


In the kind of agriculture we have analysed, in which it still was not possible to import fertilisers from elsewhere, except Peruvian guano, the dedication of important portions of land to ‘manufacture’ manure by providing grazing for animals, or to provide fuel from woodlands, limited the possibilities of agriculture to expand. In this context, the only possibility of increasing production lay in improving yields per unit of surface area, thus saving land. Water and organic fertilisers constituted the main limiting factors for 19th century Andalusian agriculture. At the same time, the viability of cereal crops depended on protection of the domestic market, i.e. it depended on economic policy decisions that were subject to the fragility of the relationships of political power, and the setbacks that the unstoppable process of international integration could cause in the agricultural product markets. It was the latter that ruined the traditional model of growth. The collapse in cereal prices, especially wheat—at the fin de sie`cle agrarian crisis— made the disadvantages of the system clear and, above all, revealed the ecological and social limits on which it was based.

Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the useful comments by Geoff Cunfer and Joan Martıńez-Alier.

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