The budgetary constraints derived from the economic crisis have been drawing a significant impact in rural areas in recent years. Besides of the lower availability of services in the less densely populated regions, additional constraints have been added that worsen the living conditions of its inhabitants. In addition to undermining agricultural and livestock development measures, environmental services for the conservation of forest ecosystems and programs to promote diversification through non-agricultural economic activities have resented.

Concerning life in the population centers, in Spain and according to the Law Governing the Basis of Local Regime (BOE-A-1985-5392), all municipalities -regardless of their size- must provide a series of fundamental services to the citizen. Among them are the following ones:

• Street lighting
• Waste collection
• Street and road cleaning
• Household supply of drinking water
• Sewerage
• Cemetery
• Access to population centers
• Paving of public roads

However, in municipalities with a population of less than 20,000 inhabitants, the Provincial Council (Diputación) or equivalent entity must coordinate the provision of most of these services. When it is not the Diputación itself that performs the direct provision of services, other mechanisms of shared management through consortia, 'mancomunidades' or similar formulas are used.

Apart from these mandatory services, the municipalities can carry out the provision of additional services. In particular, the Municipality can promote activities and provide public services that contribute to meeting the needs and aspirations of the neighbourhood community, for the management of their interests and within the scope of their competencies.

In addition, where a municipality justifies to the Diputación that it can provide the aforementioned fundamental services with an effective cost lower than that derived from the management form proposed by the Diputación or equivalent entity, the municipality may assume the provision and coordination of these services in case the Diputación considers it accredited. In case that the Diputación decides to assume the provision of the services, the municipalities are affected the effective cost of the service according to its use. If they are financed by taxes and the Diputación assumes the responsibility, collected taxes will be obviously transferred to on its benefit.

Technologies currently available, and in particular those related to the Internet of Things (IoT), allow to manage most of the services in a very efficient way, avoiding that they become complex and expensive. This may help to alleviate the fact that, on average, Spanish municipalities dedicate about 30% of their expenditure to financing non-compulsory competences (sometimes called 'improper services'). Of these, the competences of security, civil protection, and social protection are some of the ones that more resources usually absorb.

The aforementioned Law on the Basis of Local Regime recognizes municipal competencies in various areas, and its text emphasizes on many occasions the need to evaluate the appropriateness of the implementation of local services in accordance to the principles of decentralization, efficiency, stability and financial sustainability.

However, it is necessary to recognize that, regarding the adoption of new technological solutions, it is the private initiative, and more specifically the productive activities developed by self-employed entrepreneurs that take the lead. The reason can not be more obvious: the search for the greatest return on investment is an innate approach among those who keep developing agricultural and livestock labours, and almost no one questions nowadays that the improvements in farm efficiency will show being in the medium and long term far more useful than any subsidies policy.