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Jamón Ibérico - worrying news

timr

Active Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Several and counting...
This story is in the Guardian today. The change in climate is affecting the availability of acorns and hence the production of jamón ibérico bellota.

 
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This story is in the Guardian today. The change in climate is affecting the availability of acorns and hence the production of jamón ibérico bellota.


In X-amount of years it will be impossible in some months in Extramadura to walk a Camino.
An annoyance maybe for the average pilgrim but devastating for those who live there and see their work and livelihood destroyed because of this.
 
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Ah, the dear old Gruaniad. Once renowned for the humour of it’s compositors ( the description of Edward Heath as the Prim Minister was a favourite).

A desiccated Dehesa and skinny pigs can be added to the list of things we should be more worried about than the availability of sleeping bag transport between 3* Albergues
 
I read the original report in Spanish and it is amazing how the Gaun's reporter has embellished his story with mentions about climate change.

These are totally absent in the Spanish report: there was little rain in October, the pigs aren't as fat as they should be and prices of jamón are expected to go up.

https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20230130/falta-bellota-sequia-jamon-iberico-espana/2419089.shtml
Embellishing is unfair, I think. It is apparent that the writer (who is based in Spain) has done some extra research and established, for example, that importing acorns is an option, but not an attractive one. He has explained for the benefit of non-Spanish readers what dehesas are, why they are generally under threat and why they are important. The writer has also added statistical information about rainfall and temperature in Estremadura pointing out a 35% drop over the last 50 years and interviewed local representatives to corroborate the original story. The inference that the weather changes are part of a general pattern of climate change is exactly what mainstream science is saying. These are not 'embellishments'. They are additional pieces of useful, background information showing that the reporter has done his job properly and not just cut and pasted from another report as a lazy journalist might do.

Incidentally, there have also been reports that the Rioja grape-producing region is facing similar problems and may have to replace tempranillo grapes with more resilient varieties.
 
Glad to hear that perhaps things not as bleak for the spanish pigs (and those that like to eat them) as first reported. Still a worry for the trees in this tough area. Walking through the dehesa was a highlight of the Vdlp and the locals we spoke to were very aware of the important role the trees played in maintaining their livelyhood. They were less then impressed at Scott's plans to fatten pigs on walnuts at our place, saying we were loco to waste walnuts on pigs... our Berks didn't complain but at the moment they have to make do with plums in the orchard.
Screenshot 2023-01-31 at 11.04.53 AM.png
 
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I read the original report in Spanish and it is amazing how the Gaun's reporter has embellished his story with mentions about climate change. These are totally absent in the Spanish report: there was little rain in October, the pigs aren't as fat as they should be and prices of jamón are expected to go up.
https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20230130/falta-bellota-sequia-jamon-iberico-espana/2419089.shtml

You may have picked the wrong article in Spanish ☺️. Try this one:
Quotes [translated from Spanish]: "If anyone doubts climate change, I invite them to come to the Dehesa with me for a year [in one year?] and they will understand what it is". This is how Rodrigo Cárdeno Sánchez responds to climate denialism. The drought and heatwaves that have affected the whole of Europe and whose virulence is attributed to climate change have left the fields with fewer acorns to be harvested. "We used to have one month of summer and now we have three months. When I was a kid we used to go out in a sweatshirt and long trousers all summer and now I go out in shorts and a short-sleeved T-shirt. We have 26-degree nights and that didn't exist here", continues the owner of this farm.

However, when you read a few more articles, there are other concerns, too, that threaten the Dehesa. I had not been aware of the fact that the dehesas of the southwestern Iberian Peninsula are 'man-made' ecosystems, i.e. both natural and artificial and that there are severals threats in addition to a lack of rain. I believe a fungus, a beetle (?), overgrazing, and no proper replacement of trees that are getting too old or are sick.
 
prices of jamón are expected to go up.
I am a fast reader and wondered about the mention of prices, too. The Guardian/Graudian has a reputation for their spelling errors but not for shoddy reporting of their reporters and contributors. As the article refers to market prices, I took this to mean the price that producers can ask for their product and not the price that the consumer pays. That farmers receive less while consumers pay more, due to the market-dominant power of supermarket chains, will not surprise anyone who takes an interest in how their food is produced, marketed and sold. But that is not the reason as I learnt when I read a bit more, out of mere curiosity.

The Guardian article is apparently correct: as a result of unusually hot and dry summers, the oaks are producing fewer acorns. This, plus a drop in the market price, led to a 20% reduction in the jamón ibérico produced last year in Extremadura. The article does not refer just to this year's summer and it refers to last year's drop of prices. Producing a jamón ibérico bellota isn't quick, it takes 2-4 years. Rentability and profitability are an issue, and small farmers may give up because of this. One may wonder whether we ought to take an interest in the news about the land where we walk as peregrinos and about the people who live there and about short and long-term developments that affect their livelihood when we are merely passing through. Up to each individual to decide.

The price of acorn-fed Iberian hams will skyrocket in the coming years due to a 15% drop in the number of pigs because many farmers stopped rearing this species during Covid-19 and also because of the increase in production costs.
The closure of restaurants and the cancellation of fairs, celebrations and social gatherings during the height of the pandemic caused the price of pig products to fall drastically in 2019 and 2020.

 
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But
I am a fast reader and wondered about the mention of prices, too. The Guardian/Graudian has a reputation for their spelling errors but not for shoddy reporting of their reporters and contributors. As the article refers to market prices, I took this to mean the price that producers can ask for their product and not the price that the consumer pays. That farmers receive less while consumers pay more, due to the market-dominant power of supermarket chains, will not surprise anyone who takes an interest in how their food is produced, marketed and sold. But that is not the reason as I learnt when I read a bit more, out of mere curiosity.

The Guardian article is apparently correct: as a result of unusually hot and dry summers, the oaks are producing fewer acorns. This, plus a drop in the market price, led to a 20% reduction in the jamón ibérico produced last year in Extremadura. The article does not refer just to this year's summer and it refers to last year's drop of prices. Producing a jamón ibérico bellota isn't quick, it takes 2-4 years. Rentability and profitability are an issue, and small farmers may give up because of this. One may wonder whether we ought to take in interest in the news about the land where we walk as peregrinos and about the people who live there and about short and long-term developments that affect their livelihood when we are merely passing through. Up to each individual to decide.

The price of acorn-fed Iberian hams will skyrocket in the coming years due to a 15% drop in the number of pigs because many farmers stopped rearing this species during Covid-19 and also because of the increase in production costs.
The closure of restaurants and the cancellation of fairs, celebrations and social gatherings during the height of the pandemic caused the price of pig products to fall drastically in 2019 and 2020.

But, what this last article says is that the problem is not the lack of acorns, but the increase in cost production (electricity and feed). Actually it says that acorn production has been good in last campaigns.
The pigs eat feed (cereals, etc) from april to septembre when there are no acorns.
The other three DOP are: Guijuelo (Salamanca), Jabugo (Huelva) and Los Pedroches (Córdoba).
 
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But

But, what this last article says is that the problem is not the lack of acorns, but the increase in cost production (electricity and feed). Actually it says that acorn production has been good in last campaigns.
The pigs eat feed (cereals, etc) from april to septembre when there are no acorns.
The other three DOP are: Guijuelo (Salamanca), Jabugo (Huelva) and Los Pedroches (Córdoba).
This last article is dated 8th December 2021. I take this to mean that in addition to the increase in costs and loss of markets that existed the year before last, the farmers are now facing a shortage of acorns. We have had a La Niña event since then which probably accounts for that.

On a more general note; the dehesas are a remarkable feature of traditional Spanish agriculture. They comprise pasture with oak trees planted at carefully calculated intervals. The trees prevent the grass drying out in the sun in summer but provide enough light for the grass to grow up in spring. This grass feeds cattle but the trees also provide shade for the cattle in summer. In addition to that, the trees provide timber and firewood. The acorns are almost a bonus. In some areas they used to plant cork oaks as well holm oaks, another source of income. Plus they are nice to walk through, as you will a lot of the time if you follow the Via de la Plata.
DSCN1225.JPGDSCN1310.JPG
 
This last article is dated 8th December 2021. I take this to mean that in addition to the increase in costs and loss of markets that existed the year before last, the farmers are now facing a shortage of acorns. We have had a La Niña event since then which probably accounts for that.

On a more general note; the dehesas are a remarkable feature of traditional Spanish agriculture. They comprise pasture with oak trees planted at carefully calculated intervals. The trees prevent the grass drying out in the sun in summer but provide enough light for the grass to grow up in spring. This grass feeds cattle but the trees also provide shade for the cattle in summer. In addition to that, the trees provide timber and firewood. The acorns are almost a bonus. In some areas they used to plant cork oaks as well holm oaks, another source of income. Plus they are nice to walk through, as you will a lot of the time if you follow the Via de la Plata.
View attachment 140614View attachment 140615
Yes, dehesas are important in center and south Spain. There are also dehesas with ash trees (for cows). They cut their branches ( desmochado) in a way to make the shade bigger.
 
One may wonder whether we ought to take an interest in the news about the land where we walk as peregrinos and about the people who live there and about short and long-term developments that affect their livelihood when we are merely passing through. Up to each individual to decide.
Speaking for myself I find the reality of life for those who welcome and sometimes tolerate us as pilgrims of great interest. It is one of the reasons I prefer the less-travelled routes and I make an effort to learn enough language to speak to people beyond the hospitality industry.

Note the word la sequía in the Spanish article quoted. In Puglia a few weeks ago I kept hearing the Italian equivalent la siccità. Both mean drought.

And on the forum from time to time we see warnings about floods and forest fires. Without getting into contentious discussion about mechanism or causality, the drought, the floods and the fires are real and affecting people through whose hinterland we walk.

I recently walked the Via Ellenica from Matera to Brindisi and the second part is called the Terra degli ulivi - the land of olives. Hugely interesting to walk through boundless areas of olive cultivation, centuries and indeed millennia old. Fascinating to see ancient olive presses from Roman and pre-Roman times. And sad to hear about the latest risk from very destructive Xylella infection of the trees. Xylella is a huge problem. It was sad to see large areas of dead trees in places. And also to see the development of alternative sources of income.....wind farms and solar farms replace the old olives in places.
 
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The business must not be easy. To give an exemple, in the Comunidad de Madrid 12,5% are oak forests (997 km2) and I see on Internet that there is only cerdo ibérico in Manzanares el Real ( Camino de Madrid).
 
I read this article shortly after listening to an item on National Public Radio (from the U.S.) about the 6 states in the U.S West which have devised a plan to address the drying up/disappearance of the Colorado River, which supplies water to people from Wyoming to Mexico.

How sad to read that the livelihood of farmers in Spain are being affected by the same problem - as insidious as COVID and, since slower moving, more devious.

And La Rioja, also? My dear tempranillo grapes???!!! Say it isn't so.

Even though the jamon problem may be relieved by importing acorns or some other nut from elsewhere, the basic problem remains.
 
I read the original report in Spanish and it is amazing how the Gaun's reporter has embellished his story with mentions about climate change.

These are totally absent in the Spanish report: there was little rain in October, the pigs aren't as fat as they should be and prices of jamón are expected to go up.

https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20230130/falta-bellota-sequia-jamon-iberico-espana/2419089.shtml
I am not a scientist but of course climate change has something (alot) to do with it.

Here is a quote from one farmer from this news report:
But the farmers are insistent the soaring temperatures and increasingly severe and long dry periods are brought on by climate change - and they are suffering the consequences.

Farmer Paco Marin, 45, told us that the farmers were at the forefront of acknowledging lifestyles had to change.
"The fires, the droughts, they're all caused by climate change but we as humans all cause this climate change so we have got to change."
This the story the quote is taken from:
Or this quote:
“The problem is not the lack of rain; olive plants can cope with that. The problem is it was so hot that when the flowers came out, they were literally burnt away,” Juan Jiménez, CEO of Green Gold Olive Oil Company, told Euronews.

With climate change likely to mean droughts become a regular feature of life in southern Europe, Jimenez believes technological solutions are the only way to survive.

Taken from this source:

Yes there are droughts through history but there is absolutely nothing like what is happening to day worldwide. Whether the specific article says the words climate change or not a google search will bear this out and farmers, and ranchers across Spain, Europe, and the whole world will say the same thing.
 
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Some might suggest that this topic has little to do with the pilgrimage to Santiago. Any reference I might make to my "hungry gap" greens totally destroyed by 10 days of continuous sub-zero temperatures (never before in the 20 years I've lived and gardened here) might lead others to think that that has even less to do with Camino.

Forest fires are a nuisance for pilgrims but the low low water levels in Portomarin do provide some spectacular views. The long hot summers mean the rain gear can be left at home and the fleece is unnecessary even in the evenings. If that sweet fat grape "the early one" doesn't get so plump anymore it won't push up the price of that "copa de tinto" by much. Certainly not for anyone who pays London, New York or Sydney prices for a glass in a bar. Some of the fuente may run dry, but hey, there's always another bottle of spring water in the fridge. A few fewer big black cattle and curious pigs might make passage through those funky forests a little less un-nerving and crossing the arroyos will be a doddle when there's no chance of a flood...

So, this topic probably hasn't much to do with the pilgrimage to Santiago. It's more about what we all need to do every day of our lives rather than just for those precious 30 or 40 days a year
 
Ah, the dear old Gruaniad. Once renowned for the humour of it’s compositors ( the description of Edward Heath as the Prim Minister was a favourite).

A desiccated Dehesa and skinny pigs can be added to the list of things we should be more worried about than the availability of sleeping bag transport between 3* Albergues
The Guardian headline that has stuck in my mind is "Queen in brawl at Palace" - a reference to footballer Gerry Queen being shown a red card after an incident while playing for Crystal Palace.
 
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Passed through there yesterday. I can report that the reservoir is full at the moment. Never seen so much water there!

View attachment 140651
I’ve seen it high a couple of times and once so low that the guy who runs the eel trap was carrying water on his quad bike to try and keep his catch wet. Good to hear it’s full
 
Some might suggest that this topic has little to do with the pilgrimage to Santiago. Any reference I might make to my "hungry gap" greens totally destroyed by 10 days of continuous sub-zero temperatures (never before in the 20 years I've lived and gardened here) might lead others to think that that has even less to do with Camino.
Sorry to disagree, but this thread is very much to do with the camino. I, like most of the pilgrims i've met are very interested in the environment through which they are walking. Yes part of it may be if it is too hot, to dry, on fire or flooded which affects the ability to progress. But also if the comunities and the area through which we travel is being adversley affected surely if the trees are dying are as bigger consern as to discarded toilet paper. The lack of jamon, wine or olives on the way will be as much of a worry as to if there is a a bed at the end of the day as many of us look forward to this (even if I dont eat meat) as much as checking out a local chapel. Talk to a local on the Vdlp and the level of the reservoir, health of the trees, amount of grazing is more important to them then the number of pilgrams that pass by. The history of the route is more then in the churches and bars, it literaly is in the stoney ground we walk on so taking time to look up and wonder what is happening and what we can do about it is part of the camino contemplation.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
I much prefer a conversation over a glass to a confusion over a key-board ;)

No luck on the vino front, lying flat on my back recovering from a broken hip - not walking of lack of vege related, rather an over enthusiastic heading dog deciding that the quickest way to a rabbit was through not around me. All good, just generally falling apart as I age feeling a bit grumpy and house bound.
 
No luck on the vino front, lying flat on my back recovering from a broken hip - not walking of lack of vege related, rather an over enthusiastic heading dog deciding that the quickest way to a rabbit was through not around me. All good, just generally falling apart as I age feeling a bit grumpy and house bound.
Sorry to hear that amiga. Speedy recovery
 
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