The spread of the cultivation of olive groves outside their traditional lands of the Mediterranean with the introduction of super-intensive plantation models threatens the competitiveness of traditional European olive-growing regions. Technological changes, professional management mechanisms, large capital investments and entry into global value chains are allowing new olive plantations to produce at very low cost. The responses are shaped by a formal context that is largely collective, but with very different impacts depending on the informal institutions that determine the economic development processes in each region. This work carries out a comparative analysis of four European olive-growing regions that are employing different strategies to adapt to the changes brought about by globalization. Approaching the topic from a strategic perspective, this work shows how the responses carried out in each territory determine the potential of long-term competition and the way in which endogenous development processes evolve in each socioeconomic context. The solutions range from a change of model in the productive activity supported by external investment to developing productive systems with strong territorial anchoring.

Social innovations have been the subject of much academic discussion in recent years and have been approached from multiple scientific perspectives. This work sets out to determine whether innovations carried out by Andalusian olive oil cooperatives can be described in terms of social innovation and if they could run a main role as rural development actors preserving the competitive capacity of farmers and the living conditions in rural Andalusia. Through an analysis of the available literature, the use of municipal statistical data and the conducting of in-depth interviews, we show how cooperatives have been proposed as a solution to the problems that international competition poses for the production activity of olives and olive oil. At present, the most innovative cooperatives are undergoing a slow process of incorporating innovations, above all organisational and management ones, which reach beyond the entities themselves, given the social character that they have in the region, where they are considered a public good. Despite the problems that olive oil cooperatives have historically had in competing in the market, they can contribute to maintaining the population in the rural environment and improving the quality of life in the region, justifying the need for government support.

Increasing demand for urban agriculture (UA) can be perceived as a global phenomenon. In some parts of the world its main function is to feed the rapidly growing population while in others it is more associated with lifestyle and environmental issues. Undeniably, UA provides opportunities for sustainable city development. UA can support all pillars of sustainable development: ecological, economic, and social. However, depending on existing circumstances certain pillars may be influenced more than others. In this paper we concentrate on urban allotments in Andalusia and take Baeza as an example of a city with an interesting approach to urban gardening. We attempt to answer the question how urban allotments in Baeza affect the city’s sustainable development and what remains to be done to make this influence more effective. Our study showed that allotment gardens in Baeza endorsed all three pillars of sustainable city development. However, developing broader community relations on the city scale, revival of declining local grocery market and dissemination of environmental initiatives which allotment gardens may also promote and facilitate was missing.

This work examines changes in the cultivation of olive groves in the region of Andalusia since the accession of Spain to the European Common Market (1986). The first phase is marked by the triumph of productivism in which some of the basic elements of this model (specialisation and intensification) are overwhelming, according to the statistical sources used for this research, although the behaviour in terms of corporate concentration can be considered unique. Also notable, as we will explain later, are other less desirable effects of the process, which can currently be considered environmentally unsustainable. As the weaknesses and contradictions of the model have become evident, in the recent years - as a result of the new stimuli provided by the Common Agricultural Policy - more attention is paid to the opportunities offered by rural development. For the moment, the results of this approach have been limited, although the 2015-2020 planning period could be decisive for its reorientation.

The consumption of olives and olive oil is very established in the Mediterranean. Also, the great gastronomic and health consideration of these products, as well as their relative scarcity and specificity makes them well considered and paid in the globalised markets, which have absorbed without difficulty the increase in production experienced in the last decades. In this context we witnessed the expansion and intensification of its production in its region of origin, but it is also being planted in areas which do not necessarily share the ideal thermopluviometric conditions for this crop. The purpose of this paper is to show, in a spatiotemporal point of view, the expansive dynamic of the olive tree. The main conclusion is this cycle has a very important potential growth ahead, but is not exempt of limitations and doubts, both for the new productive regions and the Mediterranean regions that are specialised in this millennial crop.