S15 - Session P1 - Introduction of aromatic plants and beehives to enhance ecosystem services in traditional olive orchards

Authors: Ana Moreno-Delafuente *, Omar Antón, Ramón Bienes, Adrián Borrego, Alfredo Cuevas, Andrés García-Díaz, Dr. Blanca Sastre

The disproportionate tillage in olive groves, one of the most emblematic Mediterranean agricultural systems, has caused severe soil erosion and degradation, in addition to a simplification of the agroecosystem when managed as a monoculture, reducing the richness and abundance of associated plant, animal and soil microorganism species. Furthermore, the traditional olive orchards in Madrid region (Spain), located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, suffers from low profitability, which has sometimes led to a progressive land abandonment. To reverse this situation, the operational group Honey Olive Orchards (Olivares de Miel, in Spanish) within the 2014-2020 Rural Development Programme for the Comunidad de Madrid, proposed an agroecological alternative in traditional olive groves, such as the cultivation of aromatic plants between the lines of olive trees and the establishment of honey beehives nearby. The project general objective was to diversify the olive grove production in order not only to increase the farmer income, but also to enhance soil physico-chemical characteristics and prevent its erosion, as well as to increase biodiversity and the ecosystem services that these agrosystems provide to the society, such as pollination or pests biocontrol. Furthermore, the project aimed to evaluate the interest of intercropping innovation and landscape diversification for the olive oil, beekeeping and agritourism sectors in the region. The project was initially carried out in four olive orchards from different municipalities of the south and southeast of Madrid, where lavender, lavandin or rosemary were planted and small apiaries were installed nearby. There were two plots in each olive orchard, one in which aromatic plants grew between olive trees rows, and the control plot without intercropping of aromatic bushes. Project finishes in November 2022, so we will discuss the possible benefits of the cultivation of aromatic plants within olive groves based on the preliminary results from the ongoing experiments.