Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Belowground and Aboveground Sustainability: Historical Management Change in a Mediterranean Agroecosystem (Les Oluges, Spain, 1860–1959-1999)

  • Published:
Human Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We examine the historical evolution of the farming practices linked to the maintenance of soil fertility in a semi-arid Mediterranean village. We analyse the agroecosystem from a sociometabolic perspective at three different points in time (c.1860, 1959, and 1999), focusing on the estimation of the nutrient balances and connecting the assessment of the belowground sustainability with the aboveground dimension of agroecosystem management. Nutrient balances at the aggregated scale were in greater equilibrium in 1860 and 1959 (with results between -7 and 1 kg ha−1) than in 1999 (with nutrient surpluses over 86 kg ha−1), but at the crop system scale nutrient deficits existed at all three points. We discuss the complexity of sustainable farming management assessing the efficiency, effectiveness, and durability of the fertilization techniques. Our conclusions highlight the unsustainable nature of industrialized agriculture and the value of integrated management of agroecosystems to improve agricultural sustainability.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

The data analysed for the study are available from the corresponding author on request.

Notes

  1. A formiguer was a heap of shrubs and small tree branches that was burnt under a soil cover in the cropland. Then, the ashes and charcoal were spread and buried in the soil.

  2. A municipio (municipality or township) is an administrative unit composed of the built village centre and the surrounding rural areas of cropland, woodland, and pastureland with some scattered farms or isolated buildings linked by a network of roads and paths.

References

  • Agnoletti, M., and Emanueli, F. (Eds.). (2016). Biocultural Diversity in Europe. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26315-1

    Google Scholar 

  • Altieri, M. A. (2004). Linking ecologists and traditional farmers in the search for sustainable agriculture. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2(1): 35–42. https://doi.org/10.1890/1540-9295(2004)002[0035:LEATFI]2.0.CO;2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bardgett, R. D., and Van Der Putten, W. H. (2014). Belowground biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Nature 515(7528): 505–511. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13855.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barthel, S., Crumley, C., and Svedin, U. (2013). Bio-cultural refugia — Safeguarding diversity of practices for food security and biodiversity. Global Environmental Change 23(5): 1142–1152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.05.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellamy, J. (1999). Marx ‘s theory of metabolic rift: Classical foundations for environmental sociology. American Journal of Sociology 105(2): 366–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bignal, E. M., and McCracken, D. I. (2000). The nature conservation value of European traditional farming systems. Environmental Reviews 8(3): 149–171. https://doi.org/10.1139/er-8-3-149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blondel, J. (2006). The “design” of Mediterranean landscapes: A millennial story of humans and ecological systems during the historic period. Human Ecology 34(5): 713–729. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-006-9030-4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bosch Serra, A. D., Iglesias Fernández, N., Amat Bové, M., and Boixadera Llobet, J. (2007). Efficiency of nitrogen in slurry and mineral fertilisation under rain-fed Mediterranean agriculture. In A. D. Bosch Serra, M. R. Teira Esmatges, and J. M. Villar Mir (Eds.), Towards a better efficeincy in N use. Universitat de Lleida.

  • Brussaard, L., de Ruiter, P. C., and Brown, G. G. (2007). Soil biodiversity for agricultural sustainability. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 121(3): 233–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2006.12.013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cushman, G. T. (2013). Guano and the opening of the Pacific world: A global ecological history, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • De Deyn, G. B., and Van Der Putten, W. H. (2005). Linking aboveground and belowground diversity. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 20(11): 625–633. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2005.08.009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Díez, L., Cussó, X., Padró, R., Marco, I., Cattaneo, C., Olarieta, J. R., Garrabou, R., and Tello, E. (2018). More than energy transformations: A historical transition from organic to industrialised farm systems in a Mediterranean village (Les Oluges, Catalonia, 1860-1959-1999). International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 16(4–5): 399–417. https://doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2018.1520382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eichhorn, M. P., Paris, P., Herzog, F., Incoll, L. D., Liagre, F., Mantzanas, K., Mayus, M., Moreno, G., Papanastasis, P., Pilbeam, D. J., Pisanelli, A., and Dupraz, C. (2006). Silvoarable systems in Europe - past, present and future prospects. Agroforestry Systems 67(1): 29–50. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-005-1111-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fernández-Escobar, R., Sánchez-Zamora, M. A., García-Novelo, J. M., and Molina-Soria, C. (2015). Nutrient removal from olive trees by fruit yield and pruning. HortScience 50(3): 474–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galán del Castillo, E. (2015). Socio ecological transition of organic agricultures in Catalonia (late 19th-20th century). B 11617–2015

  • Garcia-Ruiz, R., González de Molina, M., Guzmán, G., Soto, D., and Infante-Amate, J. (2012). Guidelines for constructing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium balances in historical agricultural systems. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture 36(6): 650–682. https://doi.org/10.1080/10440046.2011.648309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garrabou, R., and González de Molina, M. (2010). La reposición de la fertilidad en los sistemas agrarios tradicionales. Icaria.

  • Garrabou, R., Naredo, J. M., and Ávila Cano, J. C. (1999). El Agua en los sistemas agrarios: una perspectiva histórica, Visor, Madrid.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gingrich, S., Haidvogl, G., Krausmann, F., Preis, S., and Garcia-Ruiz, R. (2015). Providing food while sustaining soil fertility in two pre-industrial alpine agroecosystems. Human Ecology 43(3): 395–410. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-015-9754-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gliessman, S. R. (2015). Agroecology: The ecology of sustainable food systems. CRC Press.

  • González de Molina, M., and Toledo, V. M. (2014). The social metabolism: A socio-ecological theory of historical change, Springer, Cham.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Guzmán, G. I., González de Molina, M., and Alonso, A. M. (2011). The land cost of agrarian sustainability. An assessment. Land Use Policy 28(4): 825–835. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2011.01.010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guzmán, G. I., Aguilera, E., García-Ruíz, R., Torremocha, E., Soto-Fernández, D., Infante-Amate, J., and González de Molina, M. (2018). The agrarian metabolism as a tool for assessing agrarian sustainability, and its application to Spanish agriculture (1960-2008). Ecology and Society 23(1): 2. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09773-230102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, P. J. (1988). Microbial transformations of nitrogen. In A. Wild (Ed.), Russell’s soil conditions and plant growth (pp. 608–651). Longman.

  • JCA (1890). Avance Estadístico sobre el cultivo del cereal y de leguminosas asociadas en España. Dirección General de Agricultura, Industria y Comercio.

  • JCA (1911). La invasión filoxérica en España y estado en 1909 de la reconstrucción del viñedo.

  • Krausmann, F. (2004). Milk, manure, and muscle power. Livestock and the transformation of preindustrial agriculture in Central Europe. Human Ecology 32(6): 735–772. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-004-6834-y.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, J. F., Roy, E. D., Diemont, S. A. W., and Ferguson, B. G. (2010). Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK): Ideas, inspiration, and designs for ecological engineering. Ecological Engineering 36(7): 839–849. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2010.04.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mestre, C., and Mestres, A. (1949). Aportación al estudio de la fertilización del suelo por medio de hormigueros (Vol. 109).

  • Neary, D. G., Klopatek, C. C., DeBano, L. F., and Folliott, P. F. (1999). Fire effects on belowground sustainability: A review and synthesis. Forest Ecology and Management 122(1–2): 51–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1127(99)00032-8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Netting, R. M. C. (1993). Smallholders, householders: Farm families and the ecology of intensive, sustainable agriculture, Stanford Univeristy Press, Stanford (CA).

    Google Scholar 

  • Öborn, I., Edwards, A. C., Witter, E., Oenema, O., Ivarsson, K., Withers, P. J. A., Nilsson, S. I., and Richert Stinzing, A. (2003). Element balances as a tool for sustainable nutrient management: A critical appraisal of their merits and limitations within an agronomic and environmental context. European Journal of Agronomy 20(1–2): 211–225. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1161-0301(03)00080-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oenema, O., Kros, H., and De Vries, W. (2003). Approaches and uncertainties in nutrient budgets: Implications for nutrient management and environmental policies. European Journal of Agronomy 20(1–2): 3–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1161-0301(03)00067-4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olarieta, J. R., and Padró, R. (2016). Investment in Landesque Capital in semiarid environments: Dry-stone terraces in Les Oluges (La Segarra, Catalunya). Annales-Anali Za Istrske in Mediteranske Studije - series Historia et Sociologia 26(3): 487–498. https://doi.org/10.19233/ASHS.2016.29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olarieta, J. R., Padró, R., Masip, G., Rodríguez-Ochoa, R., and Tello, E. (2011). “Formiguers”, a historical system of soil fertilization (and biochar production?). Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 140(1–2): 27–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2010.11.008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, Y. M., Robertson, M. J., and Weeks, C. (2010). A new look at an old practice: Benefits from soil water accumulation in long fallows under Mediterranean conditions. Agricultural Water Management 98(2): 291–300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2010.08.024.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peoples, M. B., Bowman, A. M., Gault, R. R., Herridge, D. F., McCallum, M. H., McCormick, K. M., Norton, R. M., Rochester, I. J., Scammell, G. J., and Schwenke, G. D. (2016). Factors regulating the contributions of fixed nitrogen by pasture and crop legumes to different farming systems of eastern Australia. Plant and Soil 228(1): 29–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plieninger, T., Höchtl, F., and Spek, T. (2006). Traditional land-use and nature conservation in European rural landscapes. Environmental Science and Policy 9(4): 317–321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2006.03.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pujadas i Rúbies, R., Solé i Roig, S., and Pujadas, I. (1980). L’Economia de la Segarra: Especialització agrícola i desenvolupament ramader, Caixa d’Estalvis de Catalunya, Barcelona.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roxas Clemente, S. (1808). Sobre los hormigueros u hornillos. Semanario de Agricultura y Artes 588: 209–216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandor, J. A. (2006). Ancient agricultural terraces and soils. In Warkentin, B. P. (ed.), Footprints in the soil, Elsevier, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shiel, R. S. (2006). Nutrient flows in pre-modern agriculture in Europe. In J. R. McNeill and V. Winiwarter (Eds.), Soils and societies. Perspectives from Environmental History. The White Horse Press.

  • Soroa, J. M. (1953). Prontuario del agricultor y el ganadero (Dossat, Ed.). Madrid.

  • Tello, E., Garrabou, R., Cussó, X., Olarieta, J. R., and Galán, E. (2012). Fertilizing methods and nutrient balance at the end of traditional organic agriculture in the Mediterranean bioregion: Catalonia (Spain) in the 1860s. Human Ecology 40(3): 369–383. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-012-9485-4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tello, E., Galán, E., Sacristán, V., Cunfer, G., Guzmán, G.I., González de Molina, M., Krausmann, F., Gingrich, S., Padró, R., Marco, I., Moreno-Delgado, D. (2016). Opening the black box of energy throughputs in farm systems: A decomposition analysis between the energy returns to external inputs, internal biomass reuses and total inputs consumed (the Vallès County, Catalonia, c.1860 and 1999). Ecological Economics 121:160–174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.11.012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thiele-Bruhn, S., Bloem, J., de Vries, F. T., Kalbitz, K., and Wagg, C. (2012). Linking soil biodiversity and agricultural soil management. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 4(5): 523–528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2012.06.004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van der Ploeg, J. D. (2013). Peasants and the art of farming: A Chayanovian manifesto. Fernwood. https://doi.org/10.3362/9781780448763.

  • Vicedo i Rius, E., Boixadera Llobet, J., and Olarieta Alberdi, J. R. (1999). Sistema hidráulico, organización de los riego y usos del agua de la huerta de Lleida (1830–1959). In El agua en los sistemas agrarios, (pp. 225–274). Fundación Argentaria, Visor Ediciones.

  • Wardle, D. A., Bardgett, R. D., Klironomosw, J. N., Setala, H., van der Putten, W. H., and Wall, D. H. (2004). Ecological linkages between aboveground and belowground biota. Science 304(June): 1629–1633. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1094875.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Xavier Mestre, Josep Maria Llenes and Vicent Torres for their information about the agricultural managements in 1959 and 1999.

Funding

This research has been funded by the Spanish project RTI2018-093970-B-C33.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economic History, Institutions, Policy and World Economy, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Lucía Díez & Enric Tello

  2. Department of Soil Science and Environment, Engineering School of Agriculture (ETSEA), University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain

    José Ramón Olarieta

Authors
  1. Lucía Díez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. José Ramón Olarieta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Enric Tello
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lucía Díez.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOCX 43 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Díez, L., Olarieta, J.R. & Tello, E. Belowground and Aboveground Sustainability: Historical Management Change in a Mediterranean Agroecosystem (Les Oluges, Spain, 1860–1959-1999). Hum Ecol 47, 639–651 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-019-00105-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-019-00105-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation