Long-Term Feasibility of Sustainable Citrus-Farming Systems in the Region of Valencia, Spain

This paper studies the long-term feasibility of citrus crop, either grown organically or employing integrated production methods, in the Region of Valencia, Spain. The concept of sustainability in agriculture has become a subject of general interest, and obtaining high-quality and safe food standards is a priority of the European Union authorities, especially after the recent crises of the European agrifood system. Citrus production made of 43.3% of Valencia's agricultural production in 2000 (CAPA 2003a), with the Comunidad Valenciana being the primary exporter of citrus for fresh consumption (Peris and Julia 2005a). Production-cost studies of the three orange-production systems used in the region (conventional, IP, and organic) were conducted as the research framework. Costs for each of these systems using oranges cultivated with flow irrigation and oranges grown employing drip-irrigation systems were developed. The long-term feasibility of the alternative citrus-growing systems was then analyzed using dynamic evaluation methods. Finally, the research was completed with the assumption of an inflation rate in the economic evaluation of the different cropping practices to reflect the true impact of the evolution of agricultural market prices on farmers' income