After a challenging 2021 due to production costs rise, the instability of farm-gate prices, the lack of water, new CAP’s negotiations, among other stumbling blocks, further concern is now being added by consequences of the Consumer Affairs Ministry’s statements to a British newspaper.
Spanish livestock sector has become the focus of a political debate in recent weeks following an interview given by Alberto Garzón, Minister for Consumer Affairs, to The Guardian (Spanish should eat less meat to limit climate crisis, says minister | Spain | The Guardian). The minister stood up for the "sustainable" model of extensive livestock production compared to the so-called megafarms. According to him, those intensive farming systems “pollute the soil, they pollute the water” and then they export "poor quality" meat from “these ill-treated animals”. Minister Garzón did not refer to the livestock sector as a whole, he only pointed out to bovine intensive production, but he did anger farmers' associations, opposition parties and quite some socialist politicians.
Some of the royal decree’s main new standards can be red here: Spain updates its regulation for pig farm management | Nieuwsbericht | Agroberichten Buitenland).
More specifically in relation to the controversy that has arisen, this Spanish law includes the limitation of the maximum size of pig farms. Thus, it classifies farms according to their productive capacity, expressed in LSU. Considering the published equivalences, the maximum number of animals per farm is 7,200. Of the 88,437 registered pig farms in Spain, only 2,136 (i.e. 2.4%) have that maximum permitted size.
Most of the larger farms are located in Aragón and Cataluña, which in fact account for more than half of all farms belonging to the this group. Aragón holds a leading position, thanks to its strong investment in recent years, with 628 farms out of a total of 2,136. Cataluña has 495, with Castilla y León far behind with 149. (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1. Regional distribution of larger pig farms
The average size of pig farms in Spain is 500 animals, being Spain number 10th in Europe in this respect.
Moreover by the law, Spain limits the minimum distance for the setting up of pig farms and the distance between pig farms and urban centers.
World's second largest exporter of pig meat
Beyond the controversy, Spain is the second largest exporter of pigmeat, and the evolution of foreign sales in this sector has been spectacular in recent years (Fig. 2). Just over 60% of the total is exported to markets outside the EU.
Fig. 2. Evolution of Spanish pig meat exports
Spain is currently the leading supplier of pork to China (Fig. 3), although there are signs that the Chinese "bubble" will deflate in the coming years as the worst of the ASF (African swine fever) is over.
Fig. 3. Spanish pork exports between January and October 2019-2021
Regarding meat exports as a whole, they are at one of their best moments. In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, they reached €9.8 million, 20% of all agri-food foreign sales.
Of the 2630 Spanish meat plants, 73% are pork-based, generating an annual turnover of almost €19 billion. This amount represents more than 18% of the total turnover of the Spanish food and beverage industry. Given the huge difference between exports and imports, it contributes to 38% of the sector's positive trade balance.
Livestock farmers fear that Minister Garzón's statements to a newspaper from a Spanish meat-buying country will cause a drop in exports, at an already difficult time for them.