The University of Córdoba (UCO) has carried out the "first socio-productive characterization of transhumance in Spain with an agroecological perspective", a pioneering work that "identifies three types of transhumant systems" in the country and confirms their link to the sustainability of ecosystems.
In an informative note, the UCO underlines that, "beyond its economic value, grazing makes essential environmental, social, and cultural contributions that are crucial for the conservation of biodiversity and the mitigation of climate change".
Within extensive livestock systems, the academic institution highlights that transhumance plays "a fundamental role in the socio-ecological sustainability and vitality of rural territories. It is an age-old practice that involves the seasonal migration of herds, moved by shepherds to other latitudes in search of food and favorable climatic conditions".
The study has been developed by a team led by the Institute of Sociology and Peasant Studies of the University of Córdoba, which presents for the first time a socio-productive characterization of transhumant systems in Spain from an agroecological approach, integrating economic, productive, socio-cultural, political, and governance dimensions.
According to the lead researcher, Francisco Lagos Susaeta, the objective of the work is "to provide information, evidence, and testimonies of transhumant livestock farming, as a living heritage of immense cultural, social, and ecological value, which offers keys for a truly sustainable interaction with our ecosystems and in the production of our food".
This X-ray of transhumance in Spanish territory offers key data to understand its present viability and its weight in the rural environment. The results reveal that there is "great diversity among Spanish transhumants, but that they share a common cultural and practical base, shaped by political, economic, and ecological pressures and circumstances".
Lagos underlines that the UCO's work "provides cross-cutting and up-to-date information on a system that, although valued discursively, lacks current and detailed data".
The study also analyzes "the alignment of transhumant practices with the agroecological principles defined by the United Nations High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security, demonstrating that transhumance has high congruence with ecosystem-related agroecological principles".
Among these principles are "nutrient recycling, input reduction, soil health, and biodiversity promotion, while demonstrating high resilience to external pressures such as agricultural intensification policies, market volatility, and climate change".
The research is supported by 84 interviews conducted with transhumant shepherds from eight Spanish communities and has been designed with a mixed methodology. The qualitative analysis of the conversations allowed for the detection of the most repeated perceptions and evidence on ecological, productive, economic, political, and social aspects. In parallel, the quantitative part, based on descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis, made it possible to distinguish three groups of transhumant shepherds with their own characteristics.
Groups of Spanish transhumant shepherds
The three identified profiles are mainly associated with livestock routes and territories where livestock activity takes place, with one group linked to the Cañada Real Conquense, another to the Cañada Real Segoviana, and a third to the Santiago-Pontones area, in the province of Jaén.
The first group, with an average age of 55 years, carries out transhumant routes of greater length, manages larger herds and with a mixture of species. The second group is made up of younger farmers, with an average of 47 years, focused above all on cattle, especially of the Avileña Negra Ibérica breed, with shorter displacements than those of the first group and with more varied and direct marketing channels.
The third group develops transhumance mainly between the Sierra de Segura and Sierra Morena, with flocks formed mostly by sheep, smaller than those of the other two groups and with a more intense involvement in professional associations of the sector.
The conclusions of this work, published in the journal "Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy", show that, "although transhumance is a system of high resilience, fundamental for the conservation and functionality of ecosystems, and which delivers food of the highest nutritional and cultural value, there is an urgent need for greater political support and a regulatory framework that protects it, that adapts to its particularities, dignifies the working conditions and lives of the transhumant farmer, and that ensures generational succession".