The agricultural sector and rurality in perspective. 50 years of the Geografia de Catalunya of Aedos

Abstract

The evolution of agriculture and the Catalan countryside in the last century is analysed using the Geografia de Catalunya that was published between 1958 and 1974 by Aedos. The Geography of Aedos portrays the massive modernization of agriculture from the point of view of the French regional geography prevailing at that time. It includes the incorporation of machinery, fertilizers and new inputs of industrial origin, the abandonment of self-subsistence and production for the market. It meant a turning point of previous production structures and a profound transformation of agricultural landscapes. Since that moment, agricultural employment has fallen and rurality has welcomed new economic sectors, which have radically transformed the economy, well-being levels and social behaviour.

Keywords: geography of Catalonia, agriculture, agrarian sector, rural areas.