| The study is analysing the region of Monegros located between the provinces of Huesca and Zaragoza, in the Spanish Autonomous Community of Aragon. The region has in general a quite arid landscape and a wavy topography, including a lot of extensions and rural population's centres. The land use consisted traditionally on the practices of dry land workings, supplemented with the extensive cattle use. Indeed, dry land agriculture prevailed in the area with many limitations.; In the context of the Irrigation Plan in the Northern Aragon, a very extensive surfaces in the province of Huesca have been transformed in irrigated land; among them the region of Monegros. Therefore, there has been in the area a transformation process causing several changes in the distribution of the cultivated surface, the property, the agrarian rent, the fragmentation of farm exploitation. In consequence, the land use has been modified creating new uses, as well as the creation of a new settlement system, construction new rural villages, the great mechanization level and the installation of new infrastructures of irrigation, as the canals net, dams, so on...; Nevertheless, this great effort doesn't have enough answer. Indeed, we will see that the obtained benefits are below to the attainable ones, that the production factors employment is quite deficient. We will try consequently, to analyse the past, present and future situations of these agrarian reforms in order to evaluate its true dimension and real importance, adopting as hypothesis that this transformations have created an environmental impact and have affected to the socioeconomic aspect of the farmers. |
