Overview of the Spanish Agro sector

Traditionally, the Spanish agricultural sector has been one of the most important industries in Europe thanks to its history and geography. Since ancient times, Spain has focused its efforts on improving irrigation systems and crop efficiency, being able to irrigate crops even in semi-desertic areas. 

Nowadays, Spain is the second country of the EU in agricultural production with 13% of the total European production, only surpassed by France. To achieve this position Spain counts on an agro surface of more than 23 million hectares, of which 17 million of them are devoted to cultivation. 

Regarding the evolution of the Agro sector, it experienced a decrease after the global crisis of 2008 which affected all the industries of the Spanish economy. Nevertheless, since 2009 the agricultural industry has experienced an exponential growth, being 2020 the most remarkable year with a growth of 5,3%, reaching 35.398 million euros. Regarding its weight in the national GDP, in 2020 the Agro industry sector reached 3.4% of the total Spanish GDP. (World Bank, 2022)

Spanish crop diversification

Due to its geographic conditions, Spain has a wide variety of crops, being the most important olives, barley, wheat, sugar beets, corn, potatoes, rye, oats, rice, tomatoes, and onions, as well as extensive vineyards and citrus orchards. 

Respecting the principal crops systems, climatic and topographical conditions make rainfed agriculture the most common in some parts of Spain. However, the Mediterranean coastal provinces historically had the need of using irrigation systems, and this formerly arid coastal belt has become one of the most productive areas of Spain, where it is common to find crops under plastic. A good example of this can be found in the provinces of Murcia and Almeria, where the largest extension of greenhouses in the world is located, which, thanks to the enormous production of fruit and vegetable products, has earned the title of “Europe’s Orchard”.

In Spain, the different crops are divided by regions due to the great variety of climates and type of land present in Spain. In the following map, it can be seen the Spanish crop distribution.

Figure 1. Division of the different crops in Spain. Source: Own elaboration

Agro-Tech situation in Spain

In Spain, the main efforts have been traditionally focused on improving irrigation systems but there are many benefits that technology has brought to agriculture in Spain: increase of crop efficiency, better control of the growing process, reduction of water waste, increase of the product quality, and cope with climatic conditions.

Regarding the degree of modernization and use of technologies for crop management in that sector, Spain is below the European Union average (Ministry of Agriculture of Spain, 2020). Nevertheless, some regions and crop specialization have experienced a great investment on innovation, such as the full efficient irrigation systems of the Levantine coast. Among the main technologies used are GPS or geographic information systems, mobile apps, crop management software, and use of drones. 

With the objective of solving the small technological gaps, Spain’s Agro Sector is willing to improve agricultural performance through the investment and development of new systems.

Opportunities for the Agro-Tech companies.

Following the objectives of the sector, the gap fields where there can be opportunities in the short-medium time are the following.

Big Data

Spain is in the developing path, and it will need more investment to totally apply this technology. Currently, the trends of Big Data are together with sensor implementation, which lets the farmers analyse and evaluate the ground conditions in order to select the best typology of crops for each period, allowing a greater efficiency and profitability, providing them with data, graphics and statistical evolutions of the different cultivations.

Drones

The use of drones in Spanish agriculture is growing each year. The trend of those innovative products pretends to control, evaluate, and monitor the crops and identify any problem in terms of plagues or any disease which can affect the plants. 

Automation

Automation is one of the main goals of the Spanish sector willing to achieve a greater profitability and efficiency in the processes, reducing the work and the efforts of the farmers.

Since different types of tools like sensors can provide important data for the crops, it will be possible to automate some actions in the cultivations in order to maintain suitable conditions for the fields. An example of this are some Spanish companies with greenhouses crops which use sensors that can evaluate the temperature conditions and activate a watering system when it is required.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is being developed in Spain, specially, its subcategory Machine Learning. In this case, some companies are creating agricultural machinery with this technology in order to improve the use of pesticides and irrigation, reducing waste. Apart from that, the use of tools which can obtain and evaluate data to create predictions for the crops, in terms of climate change or modifications in the conditions of the ground, will let the farmers foresee the most suitable cultivation for each period and avoid the appearance of inconveniences like plagues or plant diseases.

Spain as an opportunity to Agro-Tech companies 

Given the trend and the margin for improvement in the implementation of innovative solutions which allow optimizing the productivity of crop fields, it is the right time for foreign Agro-Tech companies that wish to grow their presence in the Spanish market.

If you would like to analyze individually the potential of your company to fulfil the requirements of the Spanish Agro market, contact How2Go, and we will help you in whatever way possible: contact@h2gconsulting.com