Sustainability assessment of olive grove in Andalusia: A methodological proposal

Recently the olive sector has had important changes in Andalusia due to both the enlargement and the intensification of farming. The expansion of the olive grove in Andalusia is causing sustainability problems, not only from the socio-economic dimension (profit reduction) but environmental (erosion, water pollution or biodiversity losses). The main objective of this study is to develop a methodology to analyse the sustainability of the olive grove farms in Andalusia. This methodology will allow us to bear with the three dimensions of sustainability (economic, social and environmental) as well as to obtain a precise diagnosis of the olive grove through a selection of a set of indicators. This methodology will be applied in future research works in order to build a basis to help both decision-making processes and implementation of public policies