“In Spain. It is only a semantic debate because there is no cataloging as such. What there are are larger farms, which are also usually more modern and efficient than the small ones.” Josep Collado, general secretary of the Federation of Meat and Meat Industries of Spain (Fecic), does not understand the criticism launched by the Minister of Consumption Alberto Garzón against the sector.
Especially, because if the data from the latest report on Pig Economic Indicators, prepared by him, of the 88,437 farms in our country, are analyzed, only 2,136 are included in the so-called Group 3, those that can house from 201 to 750 breeding mothers and/or up to 5,500 fattening animals. There are 6,250 in total, although the autonomous communities have the power in large farms to later raise that limit another 20%, they can raise it up to 7,200.
Within the Group of small farms, which includes those with up to 5 breeding mothers and a number not exceeding 25 animals, there are 16,123 farms, 18.23% of the total. In the so-called Group 1, which includes those with between 6 and 50 breeders and/or up to 350 fattening animals, there is a total of 18,188, which is equivalent to 20.57% of the farms. In Group 2, where there are farms with between 51 and 200 breeders and/or up to 2,000 animals, there is a total of 9,324 registered farms, 10.54% of the total.
Our country is the only one in the EU and in the world that has placed a limit on the size of pig farms, the director of the National Association of Pig Producers, Miguel Ángel Huigera, explained to elEconomista. Specifically, for two decades only farms with a capacity of 7,200 animals in the case of fattening and 2,880 head for breeding have been built.
This pioneering regulation makes Spain rank 10th in Europe in terms of the size of its farms. A ranking headed by Denmark, where the average of its farms is 3,500 pigs, compared to 500 in Spain. Our country is also the only one in Europe that has limited the minimum distance for the installation of pig farms to one kilometer and between them and urban centers.
Most of the large farms are concentrated in Aragon and Catalonia, which in fact add up to more than half of the farms. Aragón occupies a leadership position, with a strong investment in recent years, which has led it to add 628 large farms, those could add more than 2,500 animals. In Catalonia there are another 495, leaving Castilla y León far behind, with 316; Castilla-La Mancha, with 161 and Andalusia with 149.
The president of the agrarian organization Asaja, Pedro Barato, yesterday harshly criticized the statements on the quality of Spanish meat by the Minister of Consumption, Alberto Garzón, calling them “irresponsible” after recalling that the ‘macro-farm’ model does not exist In our country. Barato clarified that “more than 80% of the meat produced in Spain is intensive and is intended to be confused. What we do we do rigorously, with exceptional quality, because if we did not have it, the markets would not buy it from us.”
An agri-food pillar
In our country there are currently a total of 88,437 pig farms, 68,836 of which operate in an intensive regime, according to data from Interporc, the Interprofessional Agri-Food Organization for White-Coated Pork, the predominant breed with 29.13 million of the 32, 44 million head of cattle registered in Spain.
As recalled from the interprofessional, the activity around pig farming and its associated industries employ a total of 423,425 people, of which 154,925 are direct jobs and 172,750 indirect, while the remaining 95,750 would be induced employment. The direct jobs of the pig, they add from Interporc, represent around 12% of the total employment of the national agri-food sector.
And it is that 73% of all Spanish meat industries (2,630), for example, correspond to the pig sector and generate an annual turnover of 18,750 million euros. This amount represents more than 18% of the total turnover of the food and beverage industry in Spain. Likewise, the sector represents almost 15% of all Spanish agri-food exports and accounts for barely 1.32% of imports, with which its contribution to the system’s positive trade balance exceeds 38%.
To this economic weight must be added the important contribution that reaches the public coffers from this agri-food activity, with more than 2,300 million euros in 2020 through taxes such as VAT, companies, local rates or personal income tax.
Key in the rural world
The pig sector is strongly implanted in that rural Spain made up of municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants, both in the productive livestock activity and in the industrializing and marketing activity.
In this sense, the interprofessional Interporc highlights that 43% of farms and 45% of industries in the pig sector are in rural areas. Likewise, 35% of the employment generated by this industry also remains in rural areas, with more than 21,000 jobs recorded. The entity also emphasizes the importance of this livestock when it comes to generating female employment, with 65,000 workers, 24% of the sector, 30 of which carry out their activity in rural areas.
In the midst of the controversy over the statements of the Minister of Consumption, Alberto Garzón, on meat, the agrarian organizations announced yesterday the celebration of a large demonstration in Madrid on March 20 in defense of the rural world.
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