Paper short abstract:

Ancestral practices of iberian olive cultivation are being lost as intensive production is established, transforming the landscape and the human-environment relationship. This paper invites discussion about preserving the olive cultivation iberian identity and its sustainable productive character.

Paper long abstract:

The internationalization of the olive oil industry and the search for cheaper productions have led to a process of technological advance replacing the traditional methods of olive cultivation. This paper covers the scientific and historical technique of olive cultivation in Iberia, covering cases in Portugal and Spain from the perspective of the history of science and technology and its interface with environment and landscape studies in the early modern period. Its important fosters knowledge to understand the current consequences of super-intensive olive cultivation on the environment and society.

The changes in olive cultivation did not occur at the same time, scale, or typology. In the Corografia do Reino do Algarve (1577), the olive trees in the southern could not be cultivated as in the rest of Portugal as the soil was too dry. The solution was to graft them on the wild olives tree (Olea europaea L. var. sylvestris). The successful cultivation required a shift to farmer-controlled vegetative propagation. The rise of literature to disseminate the development of agronomic and botanical knowledge stands as an evidence in early modern period.

In current times, the main Portuguese varieties, 'Cobrançosa' and 'Galega Vulgar', are being replaced by the Spanish 'Arbequina', due to its “better performance” in super-intensive olive groves, that demand a lot of water. Since local varieties and practices giving way to global perspectives turned out to have negative effects on the ecosystems sustainability, this paper argues solutions can come from a deeper understanding local ancestral practices and historic olive varieties.