Economic and Environmental Assessment of Olive Agroforestry Practices in Northern Greece

Emmanouil Tziolas, Stefanos Ispikoudis, Konstantinos Mantzanas, Dimitrios Koutsoulis and Anastasia Pantera
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Emmanouil Tziolas: Department of Marine Fisheries, Fisheries Research Institute (FRI), Hellenic Agricultural Organization “DIMITRA”, Nea Peramos, 64007 Kavala, Greece
Stefanos Ispikoudis: Department of Forestry and Natural Environment Management, Agricultural University of Athens, 36100 Karpenissi, Greece
Konstantinos Mantzanas: Laboratory of Rangeland Ecology, School of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Dimitrios Koutsoulis: Independent Researcher, 63077 Chalkidiki, Greece
Anastasia Pantera: Department of Forestry and Natural Environment Management, Agricultural University of Athens, 36100 Karpenissi, Greece

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: Preservation and promotion of agroforestry systems entails the ideology for more ecosystem services, additional biodiversity benefits and climate change mitigation. Furthermore, farmland and forest landscapes and the consequent benefits to the environment from their combination, enhance the importance of agroforestry systems towards sustainable environmental policies. Nevertheless, traditional agroforestry systems face significant adaptation problems, especially in the EU, due to continuous economic reforms and strict agri-environmental measures. In this context our main goal is to assess the current managerial framework of two agroforestry systems and more specifically the olive agroforestry practices in Northern Greece. The economic and environmental implications of four different production plans are highlighted following the Life Cycle Costing and the Life Cycle Assessment protocols. The production plans include the simultaneous cultivation of annual crops, such as vetch and barley, along with olive groves. Potential environmental impacts are depicted in CO 2 equivalents, while the economic allocation of costs is divided in targeted categories (e.g., raw materials, labor, land rent, etc.). The results indicate significant deviations among the four production plans, with the combination of olive trees and barley being heavily dependent on fertilization. Furthermore, the open-spaced olive trees intercropped with a mixture of barley and commonly depicted the lowest CO 2 eq. emissions, though the economic cost was significantly higher than the other agroforestry system intercropped with barley only. The authors suggest that the formulation of a decision support system for agroforestry systems should be taken into account in order to preserve current agroforestry systems.

Keywords: agroforestry systems; olive growing systems; Life Cycle Assessment; Life Cycle Costing; Activity-Based Costing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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