{Tool} How olive farmer cooperatives enable climate action. Creator(s): Dietemann, Lauren and Pardavila, Africa. Issuing Organisation(s): FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, Innovarum. (2026)
![[thumbnail of video.php_y=https_%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch_v=EFqVNxBX8ZI]](/style/images/fileicons/video.png) |
Video (MP4)
- Published Version
- Spanish/Español
157B |
Document available online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFqVNxBX8ZI
Summary
In this video, farm manager Nuria shows how a cooperative structure enables individual farmers to implement climate-smart practices they couldn't afford or manage on their own, and how collective action can amplify environmental impact.
Climate change demands ambitious action - transitioning to organic farming, investing in sustainable infrastructure, and adopting new practices. For small-scale farmers, these changes can often seem impossible to achieve alone.
At Almazara de la Subbética in Priego de Córdoba, a cooperative of organic olive farmers has shown that working together makes climate-friendly farming not just possible, but economically viable.
Summary translation
En este vídeo, Nuria, la responsable de la finca, nos muestra cómo nuestra estructura cooperativa permite a los agricultores poner en práctica medidas climáticamente inteligentes que no podrían permitirse ni gestionar por su cuenta, y cómo la acción colectiva potencia nuestro impacto medioambiental.
El cambio climático exige medidas ambiciosas: pasar a la agricultura ecológica, invertir en infraestructuras sostenibles, adoptar nuevas prácticas. Para los pequeños agricultores, estos cambios suelen parecer imposibles de lograr por sí solos.
Aquí, en Almazara de la Subbética, en Priego de Córdoba, nuestra cooperativa de olivareros ecológicos ha demostrado que trabajar juntos hace que la agricultura respetuosa con el clima no solo sea posible, sino también económicamente viable.
| EPrint Type: | Practice tool |
|---|---|
| Teaser: | Experiences from southern Spain - How a cooperative structure enables individual farmers to implement financially viable climate-smart practices. |
| What problem does the tool address?: | Small-scale traditional olive growers in mountainous areas face several interlinked challenges: fragmented farms (average 5–10 ha) with limited individual bargaining power in the market; the administrative burden of organic certification (field logbooks, treatment prescriptions, machinery documentation) that can discourage farmers from registering; high costs of individual investment in machinery and inputs; limited access to up-to-date agronomic and climate-adaptation knowledge; and vulnerability to climate-related shocks (drought, hail) where individual farmers have little leverage with public administration. |
| What solution does the tool offer?: | The video presents the cooperative model of Almazaras de la Subbética (7,800+ olive-growing families, Andalusia, Spain) as a collective response to these problems: -Collective bargaining and representation: unifying thousands of farmers gives them stronger market position and more influence with public authorities during crises than individual farmers could achieve alone. -Shared services: agronomic advice, CAP aid processing, tax/labor advice, insurance, and warehousing are centralized, reducing the administrative load on individual farmers. -Collective organic certification: a single cooperative representative manages inspections with the certifying body, sparing many farmers from individual annual inspections and the associated paperwork—removing a key barrier to organic conversion. -Shared machinery: pooled equipment (forage choppers, collective sprayers) lowers the capital investment burden on individual farms. -Technical guidance and monitoring: a team of agronomists conducts field sampling and foliar analysis, issuing weekly information sheets so farmers can time treatments precisely. -Climate-adaptation practices: cover cropping, nest boxes, insect hotels, and amphibian breeding ponds are promoted across member farms to mitigate climate change effects. -Community knowledge exchange: annual meetings and training sessions foster mutual aid (e.g., farmers helping each other with harvests) and peer learning. -Sustainability protocol: an evolving framework covering water, energy, waste, biodiversity, and people guides continuous improvement across the cooperative. In short, the cooperative structure converts individual vulnerability and complexity into collective capacity—lowering barriers to organic certification, spreading costs, and strengthening farmers' voice and resilience. |
| Country: | Spain |
| Type of Practice Tool: | Video |
| Keywords: | climate change, climate change adaptation, climate-smart agriculture, resilience, olives, cooperative farming, agricultural econimics, costs |
| Agrovoc keywords: | Language Value URI English climate change http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_1666 English climate change adaptation http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_1374567058134 English climate-smart agriculture http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_1361789093890 English resilience http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_1374480530924 English olives http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_12926 English cooperative farming http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_1859 English agricultural economics http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_8672 English costs http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_1922 |
| Subjects: | Food systems > Community development Farming Systems > Farm economics Environmental aspects Crop husbandry > Production systems > Fruit and berries > Olive |
| Research affiliation: | European Union > Horizon Europe > OrganicClimateNET > created in project Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Knowledge exchange > Videos Spain > Other organizations Spain European Union > Organic Farm Knowledge |
| Horizon Europe or H2020 Grant Agreement Number: | 101136880 |
| Related Links: | https://organic-farmknowledge.org/tool/57893, https://organic-farmknowledge.org/tool/57894, https://organic-farmknowledge.org/tool/57661, https://organic-farmknowledge.org/tool/54376, https://organic-farmknowledge.org/tool/54463, https://organicclimatenet.eu/ |
| Project ID: | OFK |
| Deposited By: | Dietemann, Lauren |
| ID Code: | 57893 |
| Deposited On: | 15 Jul 2026 12:29 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Jul 2026 12:29 |
| Document Language: | English, German/Deutsch, Dutch/Nederlands, Estonian/Eesti, Finnish/Suomea, French/Francais, Italian/Italiano, Latvian/Lettish/Latviesu, Polish/Polski, Portuguese/Portugues, Romanian/Română, Spanish/Español |
| Status: | Published |
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