Operational Group: Digitalization and transfer for a more efficient and sustainable traditional Andalusian olive grove

The new CAP's eco-regimes encourage practices that protect the soil and optimize water use in olive grove basins through the use of covers that protect the surface, increase biodiversity, and thus contribute to CO2 capture. Farmers can apply for these measures by covering a minimum area of at least 40% of the canopy's clear width. Maintenance work would be prohibited, which has drawn criticism, although some autonomous communities are considering allowing a minimum maintenance tillage of 10-15 cm to promote rapid mineralization, soil enrichment, and moisture retention.

The planned incentive for this practice is €165.17 per hectare, which, according to some estimates, could reach a maximum of €272.53 for woody crops on steep slopes. This is insufficient support. There is a long way to go to recognize the value these centuries-old agricultural systems provide to society through their ecosystem services, which, in most cases, are neither valued nor do they generate economic returns. The negative impact of the disappearance of these farms would have socioeconomic repercussions on the agri-food sector and the rural areas in which they are located.

And there doesn't seem to be a viable alternative to halt rural depopulation, empower women, and attract young people to a way of life that must be accompanied by the adoption of new technologies to help them overcome current challenges. The sector and the authorities that regulate it must work to find solutions that guarantee the sustainability and profitability of traditional high-mountain olive groves if we don't want the streets of many of our towns to disappear along with the olive trees.

Collaborative actions for the survival of traditional olive groves. HIDROLIVAR proposes leveraging ICTs as vehicles for knowledge transfer to implement collective initiative methodologies at the micro-watershed scale, a new approach to agriculture, at a scale larger than that of the individual owner or farm. Action is being taken on four different farms, whose actions impact those of their neighbors, in a consolidated gully affecting four owners in Obejo, to protect the soil. Three measures have been implemented by mutual agreement among the four owners, who are working collaboratively: 1) SOILPROTECT-type dams formed by self-constructing, lightweight, and cost-effective prefabricated modular elements in the main gully. A total of six dams have been installed in different sections of the gully to retain sediment by compensating for the slope. 2) Hedge planting along the edges of paths that run through farms as a barrier to prevent damage from concentrated water flow and to improve the landscape and biodiversity. 3) Mulching of pruning debris for soil protection and regeneration and carbon sequestration, by accumulating plant debris from several plots organized through collective initiatives. This allows for cost savings in this difficult task on plots with slopes exceeding 20%.

Collaborative actions for the survival of traditional olive groves. HIDROLIVAR proposes leveraging ICTs as vehicles for knowledge transfer to implement collective initiative methodologies at the micro-watershed scale, a new approach to agriculture, at a scale larger than that of the individual owner or farm. Action is being taken on four different farms, whose actions impact those of their neighbors, in a consolidated gully affecting four owners in Obejo, to protect the soil. Three measures have been implemented by mutual agreement among the four owners, who are working collaboratively: 1) SOILPROTECT-type dams formed by self-constructing, lightweight, and cost-effective prefabricated modular elements in the main gully. A total of six dams have been installed in different sections of the gully to retain sediment by compensating for the slope. 2) Hedge planting along the edges of paths that run through farms as a barrier to prevent damage from concentrated water flow and to improve the landscape and biodiversity. 3) Mulching of pruning debris for soil protection and regeneration and carbon sequestration, by accumulating plant debris from several plots organized through collective initiatives. This allows for cost savings in this difficult task on plots with slopes exceeding 20%.