Traditions are an important part of agriculture in Spain, but those ties to the past carry both positives and negatives, Iowa Farm Bureau members learned on a visit to the second-largest country in Western Europe.

Centuries-old customs provide a touch of nostalgia and value-added marketing opportunities for farms that raise fighting bulls, world-famous Iberian ham and Spanish wines. But at the same time, an unwillingness to embrace 21st century science and technology prevents row-crop farmers from planting the best corn and soybean genetics...