From Soil Responses to Adoption Barriers: Insights for Promoting Cover Crops in Mediterranean Orchard Systems

Cover crops in Mediterranean perennial cropping systems have been associated with several environmental benefits, such as a reduction in soil erosion, biodiversity, or an improvement in soil physicochemical properties. Thanks to these advantages, the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has introduced subsidies through a specific eco-scheme aimed at promoting the establishment of ground cover in these systems. For this reason, in the last few years, the use of cover crops has increased in southern Spain, mainly by means of spontaneous vegetation. However, more than 55% of the cropped area is still managed as bare soil (ESYRCE, 2023), due in great part to strong edaphoclimatic constraints in this region, which in many cases impede the effective establishment and longtime persistence of cover crops.

Thus, this work aims at a dual objective: First, to examine soil physicochemical properties and groundcover dynamics at six commercial farms representing three major perennial crops, almond, olive, and grapevine, at Granada, Seville and Cordoba (southern Spain) respectively under contrasting soil management practices, thus highlighting the diversity within the different ways of managing soil and their measurable impacts on soil quality. Second, to investigate farmers' attitudes related to the adoption of cover crops across the region (Andalusia) at these semiarid agricultural systems with the purpose of determining the principal barriers that impede its general implantation. A structured questionnaire was carried out, covering four aspects: 1) farmers' sociodemographic characteristics, 2) key attributes of the farms, 3) farmers' main concerns related to soil management, and 4) factors affecting the adoption or non-adoption of cover crops.

The resulting insights are expected to help develop improved training strategies, extension services, and policy measures that promote sustainable soil management by incorporating practical locally grounded experiences. These outcomes can contribute to ensure greater adoption of cover crops not only in the region but also can be transferred to other Mediterranean areas where perennial crops are similarly widespread under comparable biophysical and socioeconomic conditions.

Acknowledgement
This work was supported by "Improving soil cover assessment strategies in Mediterranean agricultural areas” ECOMED project (PR.AVA23.INV202301.035)

Reference
ESYRCE (2023). Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación. Available at: https://www.mapa.gob.es/es/estadistica/temas/estadisticas-agrarias/boletin20231_tcm30-690544.pdf.