AgricultureID

Autonomous community · ES-AN

Andalusia

Andalusia has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate over most of the Guadalquivir basin, grading to hot semi-arid conditions on the southeast coast around Almería — one of the driest parts of Europe — while the Sierras receive far more rainfall and snow.

Major crop systems

  • Olive groves for olive oil and table olives — the world’s largest olive-producing region, centred on Jaén and Córdoba
  • Intensive greenhouse horticulture (tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, courgettes) under plastic on the Almería coast
  • Citrus, especially oranges, in the irrigated Guadalquivir valley
  • Dryland and irrigated cereals (wheat) and sunflower on the campiña
  • Cotton and rice in the lower Guadalquivir marshes

Major livestock systems

  • Iberian pigs on the dehesa (oak savanna) of the Sierra Morena
  • Extensive sheep and goats, including dairy goats, on the sierras and dehesa
  • Fighting and beef cattle on rangeland and marsh pastures

Agricultural land: The fertile alluvial Guadalquivir valley supports intensive irrigated and arable farming, the rolling campiña carries vast olive groves and dryland cereals, and the arid Almería coast hosts Europe’s densest concentration of plastic greenhouses. Irrigation: Irrigation is fundamental: the Guadalquivir and its reservoirs supply large irrigated districts for citrus, cotton, rice and horticulture, while the Almería greenhouses depend on tightly managed groundwater, making water scarcity a defining constraint.

Agroecological zones: Csa (Hot-summer Mediterranean), BSh (Hot semi-arid (steppe)), BSk (Cold semi-arid (steppe))

Documented crops & livestock

Official institutions

  • Consejería de Agricultura, Pesca, Agua y Desarrollo Rural (Junta de Andalucía) — Regional ministry of agriculture, fisheries, water and rural development.
  • Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación (MAPA) — Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
  • Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) — National Statistics Institute of Spain.

Data coverage & limitations

Descriptive profile; subnational statistics for Andalusia are published by the Junta de Andalucía, MAPA and INE and are not reproduced numerically here.

  • Regional boundaries and the classification of agricultural land follow the official ISO 3166-2 subdivision and national statistical definitions.
  • Any statistics are dated and source-specific; consult the year and dataset version at the cited official body rather than treating figures as current.
  • The community spans very different systems — irrigated intensive horticulture, rainfed olive and cereal farming, and extensive dehesa livestock — so region-wide aggregates obscure sharp internal contrasts.

Sources

This article draws on the following authoritative sources. See our sources & methodology for how they are selected.

  1. [1]European Commission — Agriculture and rural development (opens in a new tab)

    European Commission, Directorate-General for Agriculture

    Authoritative

    Cited for: EU Common Agricultural Policy framework and Eurostat regional farm statistics

    Type:
    Government agency
    Jurisdiction:
    European Union
    Accessed:
    2026-07-12
  2. [2]FAO — Food and Agriculture Organization (opens in a new tab)

    Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

    Authoritative

    Cited for: Global crop and livestock production context

    Type:
    Intergovernmental organization
    Jurisdiction:
    Global
    Accessed:
    2026-07-12