Extremadura not only offers visitors a rich mixture of history, architecture, culture and art, which can be seen in its important Roman or Arab remains or in places of great beauty with natural pools, waterfalls or a sweet beach. This autonomous community offers a great natural and gastronomic wealth from its crops, fruit and vegetables.
At EDYPRO, we highlight those that are more deeply rooted and others that are emerging in the last few harvests and years. The fact is that the generational changeover in some cases, the greater prominence of large landowners and agricultural companies as opposed to more traditional family farming, and the new models of super-intensive farming or the demands of nearby industries for certain products have marked this change in the Extremadura landscape;
–Stone fruit. Extremadura continues to be the fourth region in Spain in terms of total stone fruit volume with more than 238,592 tonnes of stone fruit production. Although plum continues to be the most widely grown fruit, the flavour of its nectarines, with a production of more than 61,416 tonnes, is one of the most outstanding.
It is followed by the peach, with a production of more than 30,000 tonnes and the flat peach, a fruit which, although it is harvested early, has a high degree of sweetness, and of which more than 11,708 tonnes are produced in Extremadura. marked this change in the Extremadura landscape;
–Industrial tomato. One of the main production areas for this crop is Don Benito and Villanueva de la Serena, precisely one of the regions that has attracted the most media attention due to its referendum to decide its union as the third city of Extremadura. This decision also has important consequences in terms of agriculture and agro-industry. After its union, the municipality will be the great industrial tomato capital of Extremadura and at national level. With an average processing per season of 75,000 tonnes of this crop from 8,000 hectares.
-Super-intensive olive groves. According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s Survey of Surface Areas (ESYRE) from 2010 to 2020, the crop that has grown most in this region has been olive groves for oil mills with more than 18,000 new hectares of super-intensive or hedgerow planting. These have been focused mainly in Vegas del Guadiana, but also in areas of the province of Cáceres such as Campo Arañuelo or Tiétar. This situation has allowed Extremadura to achieve average yields of over 72,000 tonnes in recent seasons.
–Figs. In this crop, Extremadura can boast of being the leading autonomous region in Spain in terms of extension and fig production with more than 5,220 hectares of fig trees and an annual production of 8,272 tonnes, practically more than 29% of Spain. Its production is widely distributed, both in the province of Badajoz and in Cáceres. The three main fig tree-growing areas have been the protagonists for decades. In Badajoz, the Salvaleón-Barcarrota-Higuera de Vargas production area stands out. In Cáceres there are two large production areas. On the one hand, in the north, the regions of La Vera and Jerte, centred on the Cuello de Dama variety. The Agrupación de Cooperativas del Valle del Jerte is the main marketer of dried figs in the north of Cáceres.
And the main dried fig production area in Cáceres has its epicentre in the village of Almoharín. In other villages in the region of Montánchez y Tamuja, figs are also the mainstay of the agricultural sector.
Figs from Extremadura are not only sold on the domestic market, but also on foreign markets such as Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, Venezuela and the United States, where they are presented with chocolate.
Would you like to discover all the agricultural gifts that Extremadura has to offer?