THE OLIVE MONOCULTURE IN THE SOUTH OF SPAIN

Abstract

Olive trees have been cultivated for thousands of years in their preferred climate, the
Mediterranean, with Spain being the world’s biggest producer of table olives and olive
oil. The globalization of recent decades has intensified specialization in this crop in the
south of the country where a significant geographic expansion of the olive groves has
been accompanied by substantial growth in the total harvest, due to an increase in the
intensity and productivity of olive farming. These swift changes have had serious social
and environmental consequences many of which have been caused by poor management
of basic natural resources. At the same time the introduction of new plantation systems
and the variety of physiographical resources and economic structures on which the olive
groves are based has enabled us to identify significant agricultural and landscape
diversity. In this article we will be looking at the province of Jaén as an illustrative
example of these changes.