Liquid gold? Tough times in Europe’s olive oil industry
Climate change is hitting olive harvests - and small growers - across the Mediterranean. Plus: what I've been drinking this week
THE oil pooled on my plate is green-gold, its aroma fresh, the taste grassy and peppery. It’s early-harvest oil made from olives grown at altitude on the Peloponnese’s wild Mani peninsula, imported by Maltby and Greek. Proportionately more Greek oil is of extra-virgin quality than anywhere else in Europe, and this is about as good as it gets. Yet despite the quality of this essential, it’s from an industry now facing crisis in Greece and around the Mediterranean, thanks to climate change.
As any home cook or restaurateur will have noticed, olive oil has got a lot more expensive over the past year. The autumn 2023 harvest was disastrous in Greece, the world’s third-biggest producer. But in Spain, which makes almost half the world’s olive oil, the last two harvests have been poor: “probably two of the worst harvests in history,” says Andrés García, CEO of Terraverne, a small producer near Ronda, Andalucía.
In Extremadura, the western province that is Spain’s biggest oil producer after Andalucía, production slumped 40 per cent in 2022, says Alvaro Villareal, Virgen de la Estrella group of co-operatives. He says quality was affected too, with acidity levels much lower than normal. Overall, Spanish oil production in the past two years has dropped by a third on normal levels.
Several producers I’ve spoken to this winter are concerned for the future of the industry. The past two summers have been exceptionally hot and dry right across the Mediterranean. Parts of Spain have already been declared to be in drought this year.
“There are more unseasonal and unusual weather patterns, like late frost, a lot more hail than anyone remembers getting, bad heatwaves in the summer,” says Stefanos Kokotos, co-founder of Maltby and Greek.
These conditions hit olives in several ways. Olive trees are temperamental and a good harvest is usually followed the next year by a poor one. But while they can withstand dry summers in their native Mediterranean habitat, prolonged drought can be damaging: they need winter rain to maintain their life cycle.
Normally, growers prune in January-March – though not it if it is 25 degrees, as it was last March in Spain and southern Italy. Then, if the weather is too hot in the crucial flowering season in May, that can dramatically reduce the size of the crop.
“Temperatures during flowering have been very high, which has had a very important effect, especially on some varieties,” says Eduardo Pérez, Export Manager at Finca Hualdo, a premium producer near Toledo, in central Spain. Dry weather can also encourage insect pests.
Then, as last summer’s drought lengthened, farmers hoped for autumn rain. Francesco Mignogna, co-owner and Commercial Director of Mercanti di Calabria, a small family firm, says southern Italy’s drought was finally broken by a little rain in early October, just before when they would normally begin harvesting. As a result, they had to delay harvest until mid-November.
“Climate change is something we’re not taking seriously at governmental level,” says Mignona. “In years to come, this will definitely be an issue.”
The situation is especially tough for small producers in an industry where large players – especially Italian ones – hold sway. Mercanti di Calabria’s costs went up 30 per cent last year. In Andalucía, Andrés García warns, “people have to understand that our production costs stay the same whatever the size of the harvest. We can’t reduce what we pay for labour and energy.”
Meanwhile the big Puglian and Tuscan producers buy up olives and oil not only in Italy but in Greece – as well as from Spain, whether the oil ends up labelled as such or not.
“What you can see on the ground [in Greece] is that big traders come in, especially from Italy, buying up extra virgin, and that sets the price,” says Kokotos. Greek production is mostly small scale, as a result of the country’s mountainous topography, and Greece exports mostly in bulk, reflecting its weakness in marketing compared to Italy.
Mignogna points out that while Calabria makes 28 per cent of Italian oil, just three per cent of it is so labelled. He says these pressures in the supply chain are one factor in much higher charges from olive presses. Prices rose from €10-14 euro per 100kg of olives to €20 last year – not just because of higher electricity prices but because presses want to encourage small producers to sell them their olives, for them to sell the oil on to the big players.
There isn’t much that olive farmers can do to counteract the effects of climate change.
Some plantations are irrigated. Eduardo Pérez says “our 700 hectares were equipped with an irrigation system years ago so we’ve been able to manage the situation.” But while some newer plantations have drip irrigation, that isn’t sustainable for anything close to the whole industry, in regions already suffering water stress.
Some olive varieties are more durable and less prone to vintage variation than others – though may be less suitable for premium oils. Meanwhile in Calabria, Mignogna says he has abandoned the traditional practice of burning prunings in favour of chipping them and using them as a mulch to help hold in soil moisture around the trees – though the effect is marginal.
But rain is the only answer. For now, Europe’s olive farmers hold their breath and pray for a cooler and wetter year. If we don’t get it, their lives will get harder – and the oil on our plates will get more expensive yet.
What I’ve been drinking this week
Château Kefraya Les Bretèches 2019, Bekaa Valley - I’ve got a soft spot for Château Kefraya and indeed several other Lebanese wines after two memorable visits to the country. This is their entry-level red but it’s very tasty: garrigue notes and spicy fruit. I enjoyed with mezze at Chamisse restaurant in London (Vinum, £12.85.)
El Maestro Sierra Fino - from a small family bodega working quite traditionally, this is really an exemplary fino sherry, complex and long as well as crisp, with appetising yeasty and almond notes. Irresistible. (The Sourcing Table, Salusbury Wine Store, from £15.70/half bottle and elsewhere in bond.)
Le Clos des Cazaux Cuvée des Templiers 2018, Vacqueyras - I’ve written before about my fondness for the southern Rhône reds of Le Clos des Cazaux: this is my go-to Vacqueyras. From old Syrah and Grenache vines, this brims with spicy, dark fruit but has backbone too. The bottle age is just starting to show through (Waud Wines, £24; other vintages more widely available.)