agricultural association,
farm,
milking capacity,
largest dairy farm
Spanish holding to become Europe’s largest dairy farm with 20,000 cows
A farm under construction in the province of Soria in Spain is planning to have a 20,000-cow milking capacity which, if it goes ahead, will purportedly make it the largest dairy farm in Europe.
The farm will be built in the village of Noviercas, which has a population of 166 local inhabitants.
Between 250 and 300 workers will be employed when the farm is fully developed over a four to five-year period, according to local reports.
The project is being undertaken by the Spanish dairy co-op Valle de Odieta (“Odieta Valley”), which will reportedly invest up to €95m on the farm.
The farm will comprise of an alleged 3,000ha of land, 150ha of which will be used for housing and livestock facilities.
The move has received a mixed response, with a local agricultural association UPA-COAG denouncing it, saying “it will be detrimental to other farmers in the area”.
The UPA-COAG has even begun a petition to halt the development of the dairy farm, claiming it would destroy up to 726 jobs along with 432 family farms in the area.
However, another local agricultural association, the Asaja de Soria, has come out in support of the project, according to El Economista, a Spanish publication.
Dabid Anaut (EH Bildu) said that the proposed farm, Valle de Odieta, encompasses almost the same number of dairy cows that all of Navarra currently has, just over 25,000.
Ruben Velasco (Podemos) noted that the milk produced by the projected 20,000 cows would represent 28% of the total currently produced in Castilla y Leon.