Andalusia Weighs More Support for Traditional Olive Groves

The Andalusian regional government has announced, as part of an update to its ambitious first olive sector strategy, that new studies are underway to provide assistance and financial aid for traditional and mountain-side olive groves that cannot be mechanized.

The studies will also examine the region’s program for traditional olive groves that face particular challenges and possess high environmental value.

While most of the update focuses on achievements to date, the inclusion of the new initiatives is likely to draw the attention of the region’s traditional olive growers, who face mounting threats to their livelihoods.

The prospect of additional financial aid and investment aimed at supporting environmentally beneficial olive cultivation is also likely to be welcomed by many growers in Andalusia’s traditional sector.

The announcement of new studies on social and tax burdens appears to address concerns and criticism raised by agricultural groups and other experts, as well as calls to revise relevant legislation and policies.

There has been specific criticism of the methodology used to calculate financial aid and tax reductions. Groups such as COAG have called for methodological reform that would incorporate 10 years of historical data and current economic variables, including the relationship between production costs and market prices.

While many of these criticisms and calls for change predated the release of the most recent cost report, its findings have added weight and urgency to the issue, providing farmers and agricultural associations with data to support their arguments.

Such calls have intensified in recent days, with Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias de Andalucía, Andalusia’s largest farming association, publicly calling on the Spanish government and the European Union to take significant, urgent action to support the olive sector amid new and worsening threats.

The program for traditional olive groves facing particular challenges and possessing high environmental value, also identified in the report as an initiative receiving renewed attention, is intended to address circumstances specific to Spain but with parallels in many other Mediterranean olive-growing countries.

First developed during preparations for the Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan and drawing heavily on olive cultivation cost studies published by the Spanish Association of Olive-Growing Municipalities (AEMO), the program recognizes the outsized importance of traditional olive cultivation relative to its profitability.

Regarding environmental benefits, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food identifies a range of factors that make Spanish olive cultivation, particularly traditional rain-fed farming, an important component of environmental conservation.

Olive groves are described as creating a microclimate resembling native Mediterranean woodland and providing valuable habitat for many native species.

The ministry cites 180 bird species, 60 ant species, 200 wild bee species and more than 750 plant species found in Spanish olive groves. Together, they represent approximately 20 percent of the species within these groups known to occur on the Iberian Peninsula.

Erosion control and protection against desertification are also cited as major benefits of traditional olive growing. Rain-fed groves produce much lower yields but consume far less water, an increasingly scarce resource in Spain and across the Mediterranean.

Olive groves also provide important protection against soil erosion. The steep slopes and mountainsides where non-mechanizable groves are commonly found are particularly vulnerable due to the terrain, while generally poorer soil conditions can further increase erosion in the absence of suitable ground cover.

The ministry also cites macroeconomic and social considerations as reasons to protect traditional olive cultivation. Olive growing is Spain’s largest agricultural activity by number of farms, encompassing almost a quarter of a million individual holdings, with a particularly high concentration in Andalusia.

Together with associated industries, the sector supports the economies of numerous rural communities. Its reliance on manual labor, while a major contributor to the higher costs of traditional cultivation, is also an important source of employment.

Because many communities depend heavily on traditional olive cultivation, the decline of these groves is considered a threat not only to employment and economic activity but also to the social fabric of rural areas.