CIHEAM Press Review

The 2020 olive har­vest is in full swing through­out Spain, with the world’s largest olive oil pro­duc­ing coun­try expected to yield 1,633,000 tons, the sec­ond-high­est total in the past decade.

The per­sis­tent novel coro­n­avirus has cast its shadow on the upcom­ing har­vest­ing sea­son in Greece, spread­ing anx­i­ety among grow­ers and pro­duc­ers.
Apart from shak­ing up the agri­cul­tural sec­tor of the coun­try, the pan­demic has brought along travel restric­tions and local quar­an­tines, threat­en­ing the avail­abil­ity of for­eign work­ers at har­vest time.

In spite of extreme weather and low olive oil prices, 62 per­cent of respon­dents to the Olive Oil Times 2019 Harvest Survey reported above-aver­age to excel­lent yields.
An even larger number of pro­duc­ers — 85 per­cent — rated the qual­ity of the oil that they pro­duced either above aver­age or excel­lent.
With an aver­age rating of 68 out of 100 for quan­tity and 82 for qual­ity, pro­duc­ers widely acknowl­edged that 2019 was a better year than 2018 when the aver­age rating for quan­tity was 54 and 74 for qual­ity.

An Olive Oil Times survey reveals a season of growing uncertainties and challenges for olive oil producers.

It is an indus­try known for its hard­ships. But even the resilient olive tree and the stal­wart farm­ers used to the ever-chang­ing cir­cum­stances of nature are bend­ing under the stresses of the 2020 har­vest now under­way in the Northern Hemisphere.

The usual influx of seasonal workers who come to harvest apples, grapes and olives in Italy has been interrupted. Travel restrictions related to COVID-19 has politicians and farmers worried that key crops will not be picked in time.

“Catastrophique” is how the French olive growers’ association is describing the most recent olive season.
According to a report by AFIDOL (Association Française Interprofessionnelle de l’Olive), presented at their general assembly on June 16, the most recent olive crop is expected to reach 3,200 to 3,400 tons, compared to 5,600 last year. This year’s yield amounts to the same quantity harvested in 2000.