‘An underused tool’: How regenerative farmers are shielding Spanish land from wildfires

Regenerative Agriculture Emerges as Critical Defense Against Spanish Wildfires

Poinews.com – Across western and central Europe, smoldering earth continues to pose threats as persistent heatwaves and arid conditions heighten wildfire dangers. In Greece, near Athens, additional evacuations became necessary when two aerial firefighting aircraft collided, claiming the lives of one Greek citizen and one Danish national on Sunday. This incident adds to a devastating summer that has already displaced approximately 300,000 residents throughout France and Spain. Observers are still determining whether this year’s fire season will surpass 2025’s remarkable benchmark: 10,000 square kilometers consumed across the continent, accelerated by warming temperatures climbing at more than double the worldwide rate.

A Personal Battle in Catalonia

“This is the most dangerous summer I’ve ever experienced,” reflects Sergi Caballero, who co-founded the permaculture cooperative and farm Mas Les Vinyes in Catalonia. “We’re inland, we get minus 12 in winter – but this year I’ve measured 45°C in the field. I’ve never had to use a fan at night before.”

Having completed training as an ADF—Catalonia’s volunteer forest defense firefighters who frequently arrive before professional teams reach remote regions—Sergi and his spouse strategically positioned water storage tanks throughout their property. These reservoirs remain ready for immediate deployment should nearby flames ignite.

Rather than merely responding to emergencies, Sergi dedicated over ten years to fortifying his farm against Spain’s escalating fire threats. At Mas Les Vinyes, this involved identifying vulnerable zones, extracting fire-susceptible pine species while preserving drought-tolerant oaks and holm oaks, operating wood chippers to convert fallen branches into nutrient-rich soil amendments, and allowing livestock to consume dry vegetation before it becomes combustible material.

“The single most important thing we can do is stop grass from drying out and building up – keeping it grazed – and managing the forest understorey with livestock,” Sergi explains. “That is the key.”

These methods have successfully tripled organic content within the farm’s soil, enhancing moisture retention capabilities. Nevertheless, current drought conditions prove particularly severe. A comparable dry period three years prior eliminated an entire apricot harvest at full production capacity, and this season Sergi has documented twenty additional deceased pear trees.

“I’ve had to replace dead apricot trees with figs because they’re more drought-resilient, but figs sell for much less,” he notes. “The crops that survive the climate crisis are worth the least. That’s a problem policymakers need to solve.”

A Continent-Wide Perspective

While Sergi demonstrates how regenerative methods protect agricultural land, he represents neither the sole practitioner nor the majority of such farmers. Commonland, an international organization collaborating with communities across fifty-plus nations to rehabilitate degraded territories, contends that landscape restoration constitutes Europe’s most neglected fire defense mechanism.

“Our ecosystems have been stripped bare by industrial land use practices and we’re witnessing the results in real time,” states Lily Maxwell-Lwin, Commonland’s advocacy director. “Our most underused tool to fight wildfires is restoring our landscapes. As well as moving away from a fossil fuel economy, we must invest in green infrastructure as a vital risk management tool, focusing on strengthening our natural reserves to protect communities from the devastating impacts of extreme weather.”

Commonland’s methodology, termed the 4 Returns Framework, connects ecological rehabilitation with social benefits, biodiversity enhancement, economic returns, and local community pride.

Success in Andalucía

Further south in Andalucía, Carmen Bueno—a farmer and creator of the regenerative agriculture group Serranías Vivas—implemented a preventive fire strategy during May. She reports that her property, maintained through sheep and horse grazing, emerged completely unharmed from this year’s blazes. Even her cork oak trees, despite surface scorching, appear poised for recovery.

“The key to this is that we did not remove the cork during the last 11 years: the cork is the trees’ greatest protection,” she observes. “While it may look burnt on the outside, it is protecting the tree itself.”

Conventional farmers lacking regenerative grazing techniques experienced considerably worse outcomes this summer. The Spanish Association for Regenerative Agriculture examined fire effects on both traditional and regenerative farmland management systems.

“The conclusions are striking,” declares the association’s president, Ana Digón. “Where sheep had been moved daily and used [for grazing], the land remained protected.”

These findings reinforce what farmers like Sergi and Carmen have long understood: working with nature rather than against it provides meaningful protection against increasingly severe climate challenges.