Abstract

LIMA-CUETO, F. Javier; BLANCO-SEPULVEDA, Rafael  and  GOMEZ-MORENO, M. Luisa. Soil erosion and environmental regulations in the european agrarian policy for olive groves (Olea europaea) of southern Spain. Agrociencia [online]. 2018, vol.52, n.3, pp.293-308. ISSN 2521-9766.

Soil erosion by water is one of the main environmental problems of mountainous Mediterranean agriculture. The Common Agricultural Policy in the EU attempts to favor soil conservation through regulations of cross-compliance, which should establish good agrarian and environmental conditions of land (GAEC) adapted to the environment where they are applied. The objective of this study was to assess the potential capacity to establish GAEC adapted to olive groves (Olea europaea) in mountainous areas, in southern Spain, through a method of soil erosion analysis that uses visual indicators. The hypothesis was that the analysis method did adapt to the conditions of the study zone and to the objectives of establishing GAEC. The study was carried out in 36 plots of 15 olive plantations with the same soil characteristics and in systems of ecological and conventional cultivation, with conventional tillage (CT) and no-tillage (NT). The ecological cultivation system with no-tillage was the most effective to reduce erosion, with 23.19 % of the surface affected compared to the conventional and ecological productive systems with tillage, with rates higher than 80 %. Tillage or its absence and the plant coverage were the most statistically significant erodibility factors, with goodness of fit of 0.90 in the regression equation, from which the GAEC adapted to the study area were established.

Keywords : cross-compliance; water erosion; olive grove; tillage; plant coverage.