Sustainability Comparison Between Organic and Conventional Systems at Farm and Field Scale: A Case Study in Olive Production Systems in Apulia Region

Dependence of conventional agricultural systems on chemical fertilizers and pesticides makes agricultural systems less stable and important drift polluters influencing to the regional and global sustainability. This problem made human being think about the alternative systems: agricultural systems that mimic natural systems and are friendly to the environment; those have higher economical efficiency concerning production level and costs. The objective of the present study was sustainability assessment and comparison of organic and conventional system with special focus environmental and economical performance. The case study consisted of two organic and conventional olive producing farms in the South of Italy. The method used for sustainability assessment was Environmental Accounting Information System (EAIS) that integrates together environmental (soil organic matter, soil erosion, genetic and landscape biodiversity, EPRIP, etc) and economical indicators (gross margin). Data used for assessment of EAIS indicators values were mainly collected from: farm economic-accounting systems, interviews, farm maps, area public organizations, bibliographical sources, farm nutrient accounting systems, observations and field assessments and chemical soil analyses. The indicator values measured into two farms were compared to theoretical or reference indicator values. Based on indicator assessment it was concluded that organic olive growing farm had better performance than conventional farm.