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| Jayci in a vineyard in Spain |
Agriculture. This one word has many different meanings and
every person associates it with something specific to their lives. For me, when
I think of agriculture I think of family, hard work, good values, cotton,
school, and Spain. Yes you heard me correctly, Spain.
My father
is third generation dry-land cotton farmer in West Texas. Before this summer,
agriculture was something I associated with being home and cotton farming. I am
a senior at Texas Tech University pursuing a degree in agricultural communication
with a minor in agriculture economics. My education is another one of the many
faces I put on agriculture.
Now, let’s
get back to Spain. When most people think of Spain they probably think of
flamenco dancing, Spanish food, or even the beautiful architecture. For me,
however, Spain holds a very different meaning. This past June, I had the
opportunity to study abroad in Seville, Spain. While there I took two
agricultural economics classes, Farm and Ranch Management and Agricultural
Marketing. From now on, I will forever associate Spain with agriculture.
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| The vineyard "Vinicola" |
While we
were in Spain, we had the opportunity to study the industry and look at the
different aspects of agriculture. Not only were we able to look at the farming
side of things, but also how the products were marketed and how both differed
from the practices in the United States.
We saw a
lot of high-value agriculture while in Spain. Although, we did see a couple of
cotton fields, vineyards and olive orchards were much more prominent. We also
had the opportunity to visit a strawberry farm, olive press, winery, hog farm,
and a ham processing facility.
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| What an amazing experience! |
Cotton is a
commodity, which means in order to successfully make a living; a large amount
of land is needed. With grapes, however, they are a high value product. The
vineyard/winery we visited was a cooperative. The cooperatives 400 members own
and manage both the cooperative and the winery, which purchase their product.
Each member farms around two to six hectares of land; a hectare is approximately
two and a half acres. The producers rely solely on the plants to be rain fed
and land in the region we visited costs around $13,000 per hectare. When
looking at land and production costs, maintaining a vineyard is fairly
inexpensive. How nice would it be if a cotton farmer could be successful under
these same conditions?
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| Non-irrigated grapes!! |
When
comparing this operation to those in Texas the first obvious difference is that
Texas wineries are not cooperatives. Another major difference is most Texas
vineyards are irrigated. The weather does not allow them to be rain fed like
the vineyard we toured in Spain. Other than irrigation techniques, most of the
farming practices in Spain are very similar to those in the United States.
However, the producers in Texas also farm somewhat larger plots. The average
plot size is between five and ten acres. One winery in Texas may only get
grapes from around 20 producers, while the cooperative in Spain has around 400
members. This is a significant difference in the size of the wineries.
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| Barrels and Barrels of Spanish Wine! |
Studying in
Spain allowed me to broaden my view of agriculture. When thinking of the word
agriculture now, along with my family and cotton, I think of my adventures in
Spain and the different aspects of agriculture I was exposed to during my time
in Spain.
What does
the word agriculture mean to you?
