Durum wheat in olive orchard: more income for the farmers?

Summary

The present study arises from the difficult sustainability of organic olive orchards in Mediterranean areas that present usually a low productivity. Literature provides examples of increased olive productivity when associated to understorey crops but mainly cover crops. This study highlights that, (i) it is possible to grow field crops in an abandoned olive orchard without ploughing to avoid olive root damages, (ii) agroforestry can improve the olive orchard profitability by implementing a crop rotation based on durum wheat and legumes. Since they are yearly pruned, Olive trees increased progressively their productivity and the associated durum wheat provides an additional source of income to the farmer. Furthermore, if durum wheat varieties adapted to agroforestry conditions would be provided by breeders, they could reach higher yield when associated with olives and thus increasing the orchard sustainability.