Vincent de Leijster

80 Chapter 4 4.4.5 Conclusion In this study we demonstrated that, under current economic conditions, compost application provided the highest long-term profitability of almond farms in Mediterranean Europe, and together with conventional tillage had the shortest payback time. No tillage and greenmanure provided lower net economic benefits over the project lifetime than conventional tillage. The long-term profitability was best explained by the differences in yields, and not by differences in operational costs. Thus, compost can be implemented without external financial support, whereas for no tillage and green manure public or private policies are required. Under the current conditions, payments for carbon sequestration and internalizing costs of erosion are not suitable options to compensate for the opportunity costs of implementing NT and GM. On the other hand, price premiums and public greening payments do provide the possibility to compensate for these opportunity costs. The required price premiums and public greening payments would however be 5-7 times the amount currently provided in agri-environmental schemes.