Climate change: Greek olive oil: Liquid gold is becoming scarce

Dimitri Vasilogiannakopoulos pushes the branch onto the olive harvester. Three rotating rollers with long silicone rods practically comb the olives out of the branches, with a number of fruits falling in a high arc onto the green net under the machine. The nets are also under the neighboring trees, from which all vertically growing branches are cut out with a short chainsaw. This ensures that the crowns of the olive trees get air, which is important for flowering next spring. »Olives are self-pollinating, the wind ensures that the pollen is transferred from the male part of the flower to the female part. For this to happen, the wind has to come through the crown easily,” explains Vasilogiannakopoulos, who lives in the small village of Charakopio not far from the port town of Koroni on the Peloponnese peninsula.

Every year in November, the stocky farmer with his mottled gray hair tied into a ponytail climbs into the trees to harvest the region’s most important agricultural product. »This is the cradle of the Koroneiki olive. The small, hardy variety accounts for around 60 percent of olive cultivation in Greece and owes its name to the port city of Koroni – at least that’s what it is said,” reports Vasilogiannakopoulos. Together with his brother, he owns around 1,000 of the often gnarled, sometimes twisted olive trees. They are rarely large and sprawling and dominate the steep slopes of the Peloponnese and Crete, another important growing region in Greece. Koroneiki olive trees can tolerate temperatures down to minus seven degrees in winter and are frugal even in the hot Greek summer: they can cope with high temperatures and little rainfall. On top of that, the Koroneiki olive provides high-quality olive oil – extra virgin with significantly less than 0.5 percent acidity and lots of flavor.

The quality of the olives has not changed, but the quantity of fruit to be harvested has changed, explains the farmer. At the end of the working day, four bulging sacks stand under one of the harvested trees. “Not much, last year there were 20 bags,” explains Dimitri with a bitter expression. Today he harvested 80 trees with a few helpers. »This year the harvest is a real drama. We normally receive around 3000 liters of extra virgin olive oil, of which we sell around 2500 liters. This year it’s just 400 liters.« He frowns and continues: “That’s just enough for the consumption in our small restaurant and the consumption of our family.”

Then he looks at the clock and urges him to hurry. “We have an appointment,” he says and gets into the car. A little later we reach the mill in Akritochori, around 15 kilometers away, which shines in the reddish light of the evening sun. Only a few minutes of waiting pass until it’s our turn and the workers tip one bag after the other into the spacious hopper. A little later, the olives appear again on a conveyor belt that runs to the washing station. Thanks to modern blower and shaking technology, the last leaves say goodbye there before the partly green, partly brown and rarely black fruits go to the next stage: into one of eight grinders. The olives are pressed at a temperature below 27 degrees and processed into olive oil.

This is then sent to the centrifuge, which is at the other end of the hall. There the oil is separated from the remains of the pomace, the seeds and the pulp. A fresh smell reminiscent of grass and tree cuttings hangs in the air. However, Dimitri Vasilogiannakopoulos has little use for him. He looks at the stream of green oil, which passes through several fine sieves before being poured into the waiting plastic barrels a short time later. The four bags brought him around 45 liters of oil. Too little, but that was clear beforehand.

»The drama was already apparent in the summer. Many of our trees dropped their fruit in 47, 48 degree heat. Even our resilient olive trees can’t cope with such high temperatures over several weeks without rainfall,” he says. Yields in the entire Kalamata region including Koroni district are declining sharply. “Not as strong everywhere as around my village of Charakopio, but the fact that our olive mill only opens in the afternoon speaks volumes,” says the olive farmer. The mill owners are expecting 50 to 80 percent fewer olives this year, although the harvest will run until the end of January, perhaps a little longer. A number of farmers have postponed the harvest in order to let the fruits ripen a little more so that they produce more oil – even if this involves a risk: When the olives on the tree first change color from green to violet and then to brownish- Blacks change when they are fully ripe. Then they have to be harvested immediately, otherwise they will fall from the tree and spoil.

Usually only a few farmers take this risk. But this year everything is different. Many have not yet harvested their olive tree groves at the end of November. The mill owners also responded to this. They have adjusted their opening hours and only open around midday. “The missing fruit is the main reason for this,” says one of the workers in the mill, who manually empties the bags and sometimes large plastic baskets into the hopper. A colleague in front of the factory gate uses a forklift to maneuver the large plastic containers that are used in larger olive groves. But the yields there are also poor, says Manolis Yiannoulis from the Edoe National Olive Oil Association. »Usually low harvests in one producing country are offset by higher ones in other producing countries. This year, world market leader Spain is also falling short of expectations, as are Portugal, Tunisia and Greece – which is leading to a shortage of supply,” he analyzed at a press conference in Athens.

Producers around the Mediterranean blame the ongoing dryness for this. When it doesn’t rain, the trees adapt and bear less fruit, is farmers’ rule of thumb. Many small businesses in particular are helpless in the face of increasing drought. While irrigation pipes can occasionally be seen in larger groves with flat areas, this is not an alternative for small farmers with trees on mountain slopes because it would be too costly. Climate experts assume that the olive growing regions within Greece could shift in the medium term – from Crete and Peloponnese to regions such as Thrace or Macedonia. There the climate stress for the olive trees would be lower because the temperatures are significantly lower.

This would undoubtedly be a catastrophe for traditional growing regions like Kalamata. Adaptation programs are already underway there – partly funded by the European Union. For example, the branches resulting from harvesting and crown thinning are no longer burned as before, but are chopped up and spread under the trees to provide nutrients and store water.

Because the cost of fertilizers has risen due to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, organic fertilizers are increasingly being used. Some farmers are now considering switching completely to organic farming; demand for this is increasing in Europe. Then you can also benefit from the slightly higher prices. The farmers in the area around the Akritochori olive mill currently cost around nine euros per liter – unpackaged and in not yet certified organic quality. “That’s twice the price from last year,” says the operator of the mill, which is surrounded by a sturdy metal fence. This is intended to protect against theft of stored olives and olive oil on the premises. They are increasing. No surprise for Dimitri Vasilogiannakopoulos. He has already loaded his oil and waves goodbye to the mill employees.