Ecological, social and economic benefits of organic olive farming outweigh those of intensive and traditional practices

Olive farming has vastly intensified across the Mediterranean basin recently. This ongoing process has detrimental social and environmental outcomes, but it also represents a unique opportunity to study the impacts of intensification and identify solutions for sustainable management of this iconic and culturally important crop. This interdisciplinary study jointly explores the ecological, social, and economic consequences of olive farming intensification, to identify solutions for sustainable agriculture. During 2017-2019 we conducted ecological, social and economic surveys in 50 olive groves plots, each representing different intensification levels (super-intensive, intensive, organic, extensive, and traditional olive groves) and plots with natural vegetation as ecological control. Birds and plants were sampled to assess biodiversity under each intensity level. Landscape preference was assessed using an online survey (n = 299) targeting the general public, featuring representative images for the different intensity levels. Data on yield, revenue, profit, and costs in the olive groves was collected from farmers for two seasons (n = 44). Our results demonstrated a trade-off between economic and socio-ecological benefits. Intensive and super-intensive groves maximize the economic values at the expense of the socio-ecological values, whereas the opposite is true for traditional groves. However, within this gradient we found few opportunities to promote sustainable olive farming. Organic groves demonstrated an optimal solution, with an economic value similar to intensive plots, rich biodiversity and high appreciation by people. On the other hand, extensive olive farming represented a non-sustainable situation, in which socio-ecological values were similar or lower than organic groves, while yield and profit were the lowest found in this study. Traditional groves were the most appreciated landscape, hosting bird and plant communities similar to nearby plots with natural vegetation. Building on these results we highlight several policy directions that can help reconcile olive production, biodiversity conservation and social values to conserve this important cultural landscape sustainably.