Spain: Fewer farms and more livestock

The National Statistics Institute (INE) has published the new Agricultural Census 2020. The data show a 7.6% reduction in the number of farms, with 70,000 fewer farms compared to the last edition (2009).

The utilized agricultural area has grown by 0.7% and exceeds 23.9 million hectares. This translates into an increase in the average area of farms, which stands at 26.37 hectares, 7.4% greater than in 2009.

The data obtained continue to show a trend towards the specialization of farms due to the increase in the average utilized agricultural area (UAA) and in the livestock units (LSU) of the farms, in addition to the increase in management by legal entities as opposed to individuals.

Evolution of livestock types by species

Since the previous census in 2009, the evolution of the number of animals has been different depending on the species and types of livestock:

• Cattle: In general, the number of head has increased (+27.61%), although for dairy cows the increase has been very slight (+2.55%).
• Sheep and goats: Slight decrease in sheep (-3.41%), while the goat sector experienced a notable increase (+12.92%).
• Poultry: Broiler production increased (+14.95%), while the number of layers decreased slightly (-4.39%). A sharp decline was also observed for the rest of the poultry.
• Swine: Strong growth, from 24,712,057 head in 2009 to 30,091,215 in 2020 (+21.77%).
• Rabbits: Number has declined significantly.

Livestock type breakdown

In order to assess the importance of each species in the total livestock production, a standard measure must be used to compare the number of animals of different species and ages. For this purpose, total livestock units (TLU) are used; the determination is based on the use of specific coefficients for each type of animal, which are established according to their nutritional requirements.

We see that although the poultry group has the largest number of head, swine is the livestock species with the greatest weight in the total. The total number of TLU in Spain in 2020 exceeds 16.5 million, of which 8,139,797 are swine.