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The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a European Union (EU) policy aimed at supporting farmers, guaranteeing food security, and promoting sustainable rural development, which has undergone numerous reforms to adapt to the needs of the agricultural sector and society in general. The main objective of this work is to statistically analyse CAP aid in southwest Spain, specifically in Extremadura, a region characterised by areas at risk of depopulation and deep rural areas, during the last two periods of European aid (2007–2013 and 2014–2020). In this study, by means of principal component analysis (PCA), agricultural, economic, and demographic variables were interrelated, together with geographic information systems (GIS), to evaluate their impact on the development of the regional agricultural sector. This methodology will help to identify areas with improvements in their territorial structures and can therefore serve as a basis for their application in other European territories. Through the analysis, we identified areas where the interrelation of the variables showed improvements in their demographic, social, and economic structures, with the municipalities of populations over 10,000 inhabitants in Extremadura being the ones that compose the territorial substructure A. Therefore, this work shows how European agricultural aid can disproportionately favour the most dynamic territories and leave the less developed regions at a disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a European policy created in the early 1960s to address the food and economic problems affecting European society and the agricultural sector in particular. Throughout its history, the various reforms carried out in this policy have oriented it towards a reduction of direct aid to farmers' production (due to its excessive cost, among other reasons), in favor of income-related aid. In recent years, the agricultural sector in Extremadura has received CAP aid in a very unequal manner, with a more significant concentration in the agricultural areas where intensive production has been established as a base and where there is a larger population. Thus, the main objective of this research is to analyze the spatial relationships between CAP subsidies and other demographic, economic and social context variables. To achieve the proposed objective, a spatial regression model, namely Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR), has been calculated to determine the relationship between the amounts received from the CAP and the socioeconomic situation of each of the municipalities in the region. The results show a concentration of this aid in the most dynamic areas, with municipalities with a larger population and a more productive agriculture, mainly related to irrigated farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the end of the 20th century, tourism was positioned as an activity capable of diversifying and reactivating the economies of rural European areas, which were experiencing problems of demographic regression and a high rate of ageing. Subsequently, with the emergence and promotion of new models of tourism consumption, the provision of rural tourism facilities has increased, as is the case in the north of Extremadura. This study analyzes, through the use of a descriptive and analytical method, the distribution of the demographic, socioeconomic and heritage variables existing in the tourist territory of the Valle del Jerte-La Vera region in order to interrelate them with the tourist supply and demand in this area. The results allow us to observe that Valle del Jerte-La Vera is promoting tourist activities, with the promotion and implementation of better lines of action for the reception of travelers, in such a way that they favor the increase in the economic income, and these factors are capable to maintain the existing population, thus facilitating the development of rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than 30 years, the LEADER approach has been a key tool in the endogenous, local, participatory, and sustainable development of the most disadvantaged European rural areas in demographic and socioeconomic terms. However, despite the unquestionable labor of the rural development policy and the local action groups, various authors, both at a European level and at a national level, in Spain, have concluded that the majority of investments and the greater number of projects through LEADER have been concentrated in the most populated and most developed rural areas. For this reason, there is positive discrimination toward them in the management of aid for rural development. Knowing this and according to the objectives pursued by LEADER, the aim of this work is to analyze the situation in Extremadura (Spain), which has been a beneficiary from the beginning, building an optimal location model for rural development aid. Thus, it will be possible to determine the most convenient, optimal, or priority municipalities to receive aid for rural development due to characteristics such as a smaller population, low demographic growth, low birth rate, high mortality rate, high aging population, low productivity index, high unemployment rates, low accessibility to urban centers, and low LEADER investments in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Throughout the history of the European Rural Development Policy and the LEADER (Liaisons entre activitiés de Developement de L'Economie Rural) Approach, the Regulation that heads them has experienced changes in order to provide greater support for the development of the most disadvantaged European rural areas. Currently, the EAFRD (European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development) finances this aid, which is immersed the Programming Period 2014-2020 with certain changes compared to the previous one. Thus, this paper intends to analyze the role of LEADER in the current Programming Period and to know how the territorial distribution of it is. It will be possible to see how there are differences in the operation of the LEADER Approach and how demographic and socioeconomic variables continue to act as location factors of rural development investments in Extremadura. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past 25 years, it has been applied in Europe's rural areas, and especially in Extremadura, territorial strategies through the LEADER Method in order to enable their economic development. This is by means of implementation of new activities as Rural Tourism is. The objective is to keep the population and slowing emigration processes and aging. In this paper, the evolution of aids to Rural Tourism is studied, as well as its regional implementation with context indicators, such as investments and projects by area and population of Local Action Groups. Moreover, other socioeconomic and demographic variables are studied to verify the success of its initial objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 25 years, a number of regional strategies are being applied in European rural areas, particularly in Extremadura. The aim of these territorial strategies is to activate the economic development of rural areas and reduce their differences with urban ones through economic diversification of the area of action with the implementation of co-financed projects by European funds, national administrations and local population. These aids are known as "Leader Method". In this paper, the rural development aids during the last programming period (2007-2013) in Extremadura are studied, respect to their distribution and management. This is through the Principal Component Analysis and Geographic Information Systems. It is studied the correlation between the variables that represent the different realities of the region: physical, demographic, socio-economic and those concern rural development aids. With this, the management of the aid will be determined and represented in the territorial model. It has become evident that these aids are benefiting the most dynamic areas and the more established sectors of the region. Furthermore, in other more depressed areas, the development of tourism and the rehabilitation of degraded historical and natural heritage are being carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]