Radiography of farms in Spain: how many are there, how have they grown and where do they declare what they pollute?

After the Minister of Consumption, Alberto Garzón, criticized the livestock industries with thousands of animals in

, the macro-farms have become the center of public debate.

But what do we know about Spanish farms?

Are they all macro farms?

There is no official definition.

As this category does not exist, there are no figures on these facilities either, but there are data that speak for themselves and help us answer these questions: How many are there, how have they been growing and where do they declare what they pollute?

To answer these questions, we have visited a farm with 700 heads of cows, including dairy cows and calves, in Velada, Talavera (Toledo), a medium-sized livestock facility in the Castilla-La Mancha area. Agustín Cabo, the owner of the farm, believes that there is a lot of ignorance in this controversy: "People confuse the intensive with the extensive and not everything intensive is a macro-farm." It started with 50 cows in the center of the village and gradually grew into a larger plot. This is how the farms in this area have grown in size. "Before we were 60 ranchers and now we are six, not because we have all become macro-farms, but because many of us have joined together to live better and have greater profitability," says Agustín.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food prepares the first rule to regulate cattle farms in Spain.

Among the novelties, limits to capacity and more control of the polluting gases they emit.

It is the only sector that is not required to register the gases it emits in the State Registry of Emissions and Polluting Sources, created to control the impact of farms on the environment.

Larger swine and poultry facilities are required.

If we consult this registry, there are 3,775 pig and poultry farms in Spain with more than 2,000 pigs weighing more than 30 kilos or 750 breeding females or with more than 40,000 birds.

You can find this and other data in the video that accompanies this information.

You can follow CLIMA Y MEDIO AMBIENTE on