Economic sustainability of the oil high and super-high density cropping systems in Italy

The analysis of the best production models is important to determine the effects of different technical and economic choices on the farm’s profitability. The estimation of the production costs represents a key element for comparison among firms’ production costs, selling prices and used technologies. This model can be adapted by the farmers for the calculation of production costs and achieved economic margin. The present work shows a comparison between the production costs of different olive oil growing systems: high density system (HDS) and super high density system (SHDS) through the analysis of costs and incomes’ pattern of the olive oil sector in the Apulia region, the leading Italian region for olive oil production. In particular, a modular calculation scheme was used. This system is aimed at determining the efficiency benchmarks for olive production seeking to establish minimum levels of economy and to determine which are the best performing systems.