AgricultureID

Autonomous community · ES-AR

Aragon

Aragon centres on the Ebro depression, one of the most continental and semi-arid parts of Spain, with hot dry summers, cold winters, very low rainfall and the drying cierzo wind; the Pyrenees to the north and the Iberian System to the south are cooler and wetter.

Major crop systems

  • Irrigated maize and alfalfa on the Ebro valley floodplains
  • Fruit orchards — peaches (Calanda), pears, apples and cherries — in the irrigated valleys
  • Dryland cereals, mainly barley and wheat, on the semi-arid plains
  • Wine grapes in Cariñena, Campo de Borja and Somontano
  • Irrigated rice in the lower Ebro districts

Major livestock systems

  • Intensive pig production — Aragon holds one of Spain’s largest pig herds
  • Poultry and rabbit units integrated with cereal cropping
  • Sheep for lamb (Ternasco de Aragón) on the dryland steppe and mountain pastures

Agricultural land: A sharp divide separates the productive irrigated lands of the Ebro and its tributaries — including the historic Canal Imperial and Monegros schemes — from the surrounding arid dryland steppe (the Monegros) and the mountain grazing of the Pyrenees. Irrigation: Irrigation from the Ebro and its regulated tributaries is the backbone of high-value production; large state irrigation schemes such as Riegos del Alto Aragón transformed the Monegros, and water allocation remains central to the regional economy.

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

Documented crops & livestock

Official institutions

  • Departamento de Agricultura, Ganadería y Alimentación (Gobierno de Aragón) — Regional department of agriculture, livestock and food.
  • 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 Aragon are published by the Gobierno de Aragón, 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 contrast between irrigated Ebro-valley cropping and arid dryland steppe is extreme, so community-wide averages do not describe either system well.

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