Spain will be one of the areas most affected by climate change,” he said, adding that a one-degree temperature change pushes the boundaries of winemaking as much as 100 kilometers north – the fact that Britain now has 1,000 hectares of winemaking land would have been unthinkable just 150 years ago. Spain, by comparison, has 2.9 million acres of land planted with wine-producing vines.
Archive for the ‘Farming’ Category
Winemaking and climate change
Tuesday, April 26th, 2011
From El País in English
Vultures on the roads
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
Vultures in Catalonia are being increasingly spotted on the roads in search of roadkill, because of the paucity of their traditional sources of dead livestock: The EU prohibuts abandoning animal cacrasses because of mad cow’s disease. The above photo from La Vanguardia is along the N-230 between Lleida and Val d’Aran.
Vultures and climate change
Monday, October 18th, 2010
A new Spanish study has highlighted the role played by vultures in reducing energy consumption in Spain, saving the annual energy use of an estimated 9,000 homes and preventing 193,000 tons of CO2 from being released in the atmosphere. Spanish livestock farmers produces 380,000 tons of carrion, whose incineration involves a high energy cost. An adult vulture consumes some three kilos of meat a week, with all vultures in Spain consuming some 10,000 tonnes a year. Unfortunately the strict EU rules, as a result of mad cow’s disease, force many farmers to incinerate dead animals in official centres at a high cost to both them and in terms of CO2 production. I’d be interested in knowing how much CO2 the vultures would save if and when the EU rules are eventually relaxed.
A flock of sheep in Castilla
Saturday, May 29th, 2010
I liked this photo of a flock of sheep somewhere in Castilla y León. By Tito Afredo on Flickr.
Teruel truffles
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
I thought this documentary by Escarabajo Verde about the booming truffle industry in Sarrión, Teruel was fascinating.
Truffles have had a positive effect on the local environment as 3000 hectares of holm oak have been planted in recent years, under which the truffles grow. Government subsidies have aided the oak reforestation and truffle cultivation in unproductive hilly areas since 1987. There are now some 4,500 ha of truffle orchards in the surrounding county and 530 members in the local truffle association. The truffles, which are harvested using trained dogs, typically fetch local cultivators average prices of 5oo euros/kg, although retail prices of high-quality specimens may reach twice this amount. Sarrión has achieved the mutual goals of biodiversity conservation and improving the rural economy.
I’ve put together this brief guide to Truffles in Spain: Spain produces around 35% of world black truffle (Tuber melanosporum – trufa negra) output. Some 10,000 people are involved as harvesters…
Traditional agriculture in León
Monday, February 1st, 2010Dave spotted this remarkable scene of “a working pair of Oxen with a cart full of manure, which the driver was distributing over a small rectangle of newly ploughed land. Location: some 40km from León capital. More here on the forum.
EU may change dead livestock law
Thursday, December 10th, 2009
The Guardian reports here on a study by scientists that vultures should be allowed to return to their old jobs as nature’s waste managers. They say the birds are suffering as they increasingly depend on being fed by people. The law was changed in 2002 because of mad cow disease and outlawed the leaving of carcasses of dead cows, as well as sheep, goats and other livestock, in the open.
The upcoming decision by the EU on whether to change the law affecting dead livestock will have important repercusions for Spanish wildlife. The Spanish government has called on the European Union to alter the rules on the animal corpses and allow farmers to leave them where they fall.
Andalusian fields from space
Friday, October 2nd, 2009
Image captured by Nasa’s Earth Observatory satellites last month
In a patchwork of agricultural fields outside Seville, Spain, two towers rise above the plain (at the centre of the top of the image). Nearby arrays of mirrors reflect light onto the towers, illuminating the water vapor and dust suspended in the air and creating visible beams. Within the towers, the thermal energy from the concentrated light creates steam, and the steam powers turbines to generate electricity. Known as PS10 and PS20, the mirror-tower networks are part of a larger project intended to meet the energy needs of some 180,000 homes roughly the energy needs of Seville by 2013, without greenhouse gas emissions
Using donkeys to protect sheep from wolves
Monday, January 26th, 2009Interesting Galician short news item about a farm which is using donkeys to protect its flock of sheep from wolves, an idea taken from the use of donkeys to protect livestock from leopards in Namibia. Donkeys it seems, unlike most breeds of cows, will face up to wolves rather than run away.
Ripped by forestman
Casa Grande de Xanceda the eco-yoghurt farm
Poison in the Spanish countryside
Sunday, January 4th, 2009Poison is killing Spanish wildlife, it’s official. According to a study carried out by Ecotoxicología, with figures confirmed by the government, the number of dead animals found is only the tip of the iceberg. The study has revealed that in the last 15 years almost 7,000 animals included in the National Catalogue of Endangered Species have perished even though the practice of setting poisoned bait in the countryside has been banned since 1983. In general terms of species affected, the bodies recovered account for only between 5% and 15% of the estimated total of deaths due to poison. The author of the study and director of a forensic wildlife laboratory, one of six such centres in Spain, Mauro Hernández says the figures represent the minimum amount of casualties. Every year at least 800 animals are admitted to his laboratory alone. In the case of the Spanish Imperial eagle, the study believes that for every bird found poisoned another possible nine could be undetected. The problem is proving a stumbling block for many recovery and reintroduction programmes.
The method of setting meat laced with poison is aimed at predators in competition with man such as foxes and wolves but is indiscriminate in its killing. Even a small quantity ingested can weaken an animal and leave it vulnerable to death by other means such as collision with traffic or overhead power cables, or drowning because one of the effects of the poisons most commonly used is severe thirst. Most recent cases have been the discoveries of a Lammergeier and an Iberian lynx, both in Andalucia.
As in a previous study by WWF/Adena, “Poison in Spain, 1990-2005“, the blame is mainly directed at a small proportion of the hunting and farming communities, the administrations of which are both trying to combat the problem from within. Temporary closure of hunting reserves where poison has been discovered has been found to be insufficient but stricter penalties should help. Two hunters were recently succesfully prosecuted and sentenced to two years in prison for setting poisoned bait on a hunting estate in Lérida, Catalunya. To supplement the national SOS Poison hotline campaign, a network of predator control managers is to be established. Let’s hope that tighter regulations on the selling of the noxious substances follow.
News from El País.
More information from the Black Vulture Conservation Foundation.
Climate change affecting wine in Spain
Monday, October 27th, 2008
Climate change is beginning to affect vineyards in Spain. The start of the grape harvest has moved forward 11 days in the last 20 years. This is increasingly seen as a major threat to the wine industry in Spain and elsewhere. According to the experts, until now the changes to grapes caused by higher temperatures (fruitier flavours, higher acidity and higher concentrations of alcohol) have generally had a positive impact on the taste of wines. But if temperatures keep rising in Spain, wines could soon taste very different, ruining some vintages.
- El cambio climático amenaza al vino (El Mundo – Foto above: Vicente Sotés)
- Spanish wine makers fight climate change (BBC)
Shepherd uses wild boar to control his sheep
Monday, September 15th, 2008
Appros of nothing in particular, a story here from the Olive Press about a shepherd in Granada who uses a wild boar to control his sheep. Read
Galician wolf predation prevention
Friday, August 15th, 2008
Interesting news from Galicia. An environmental collective, Fegama, are calling for a more positive and effective management of the Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus) in their region by encouraging man’s coexistence with the species rather than continuing with the age-old battle against it. They suggest that instead of the present, negative method of paying farmers compensation for damages to livestock caused by wolves (often a long, drawn-out affair), that a system of subsidising farmers in areas shared by the wolves would be more beneficial to both. Subsidies would be used to pay for preventative measures such as livestock guardian dogs and fencing to protect flocks from the Galician wolf population of some 70 family packs. They are going to start a campaign of education to dispel the fear caused by myths surrounding the animal and to promote awareness of the important role that wolves play in the region’s biodiversity by keeping down numbers of their natural prey, for example Wild boar and Roe deer, two species that are potentially destructive. As always, prevention is better than cure.
News from La Voz de Galicia
Read about Iberian wolf conservation management on IberiaNature forum
Spain second in Europe in BSE cases
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008Europe has still not managed to eradicate Mad cow’s disease (BSE). last year 174 cases were detected, 65 in the UK and 40 in Spain. 500,000 animals were tested in Spain last year El País + EU reports here in English
The removal of livestock because of BSE has had a huge effect on Spanish wildlife. See archive on iberianature
