The pending issue of Spanish agriculture

Spain has almost 12 million hectares of extensive crops, of which about 6 million are dedicated to the production of cereals and around one million are dedicated to producing leguminous crops, mainly peas, vetch, alfalfa, yeros, lentils and chickpeas. Spanish farmers have largely abandoned the cultivation of legumes in recent decades for various reasons, which the Union of Small Farmers and Ranchers has delved into by carrying out surveys that shed light on the situation of this crop in our country. The research work has been developed in recent months within the framework of the European project Leguminose, in which UPA and the CSIC participate, which tries to promote the possibilities of developing the technique known as intercropping, based on mixtures of cereals and legumes. . Surveys have shown worrying data, such as that only 5% of farmers use legumes to improve the fertility of their soils, compared to 41% who use manure or slurry, alone or combined with mineral ...