Author: Marta Baena (UCO) | Editor: Miranda García (AEIDL)
The Association for the Development of Guadajoz and Campiña-East of Cordoba (ADEGUA), coordinator of the Betic System reference region, has organised a workshop within the framework of the MOVING project. The workshop, held in Priego de Córdoba (Andalucía), aimed at analysing future scenarios for the mountain olive grove of the Betic System, Spain. Local actors from this value chain as well as researchers have joined this meeting focused on creating a vision around this sustainable olive grove area by 2050.
Particularly, the case study analysed by ADEGUA within the MOVING project is the Ecological Extra Virgin Olive Oil. This value chain is significant for the area in which is produced as it has positive impacts at socio-economic and environmental levels.
The analysis has focused on some factors that strongly affect this mountain crop. For instance, public policies and the hyper-globalisation of markets. Despite this crop receives support from public authorities, it is still insufficient to make the production of mountain olive groves profitable. The high costs due to the super-intensive production system, which is becoming more popular nowadays, are turning the situation unsustainable.
Thereby, small producers linked to this mountain olive grove play an irrelevant position in the decision-making processes of the global olive oil market, which is characterised by a standardised production and it does not highlight the added value of this product. The mountain olive oil value chain contributes to soil conservation, rainwater retention, landscape creation, forest fires management, and population preservation in Andalusian mountain municipalities.
This workshop included a field visit to the El Valle del Conde, an olive grove property that is working on the resilience of this crop through regenerative practices.
An online meeting will be held on March 16 to conclude this foresight exercise in the Betic System region. Different types of actors connected to this value chain will reflect upon policy recommendations and actions to take in order to facilitate the sustainability and profitability of this olive grove for the coming decades.
You can read this news article in Spanish here.