The number of olive groves in Spain increased by 19,230 hectares last year. The Canary Islands and Castilla y Leon experienced the most growth.
Spain’s olive culÂtiÂvaÂtion land has expanded to over 2.7 milÂlion hectares, with almost 93 perÂcent dedÂiÂcated to olive oil proÂducÂtion, but this growth has not been uniÂform across the counÂtry, with the largest increases seen in the Canary Islands and Castile and León. The increase in overÂall olive grove surÂface area sugÂgests a potenÂtial rise in the numÂber of organic olive groves, which will be conÂfirmed in a sepÂaÂrate report next sumÂmer, as data from 2020 showed a 6.4‑percent increase in organic olive groves comÂpared to 2019.
The amount of land dedÂiÂcated to olive culÂtiÂvaÂtion in Spain conÂtinÂues to expand, accordÂing to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food’s most recent land use surÂvey.
Olive groves sprawl over 2,770,485 hectares – an area slightly larger than North Macedonia or Massachusetts – in the world’s largest olive oil-proÂducÂing counÂtry, a 0.7‑percent increase comÂpared with 2020. Of these groves, almost 93 perÂcent – 2,573,396 hectares – are dedÂiÂcated to olive oil proÂducÂtion.
However, the expanÂsion of Spain’s olive groves has not hapÂpened uniÂformly across the counÂtry.
See Also:Olive Oil Production in Spain Expected to Fall, Officials SayOlives are grown comÂmerÂcially in 15 of Spain’s 17 autonomous comÂmuÂniÂties (Asturias and Cantabria are the odd ones out). All but two of these comÂmuÂniÂties (the Basque Country and Galicia) saw the surÂface area of olive groves increase from 2020 to 2021.
The largest increases in olive grove culÂtiÂvaÂtion were seen in the Canary Islands and Castile and León, which expeÂriÂenced increases of nearly 15 perÂcent and 12 perÂcent, respecÂtively.
Meanwhile, Aragón and Catalonia expeÂriÂenced the smallÂest increase in olive groves of 0.1 perÂcent each.
Andalusia, the world’s largest olive oil-proÂducÂing region by a wide marÂgin, saw its olive groves increase by 0.6 perÂcent in 2021, risÂing to 1,673,071 hectares – an area slightly larger than Connecticut.
After Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha is Spain’s secÂond-largest olive growÂing region and expeÂriÂenced slightly more growth with olive grove surÂface area risÂing by 1.3 perÂcent to 449,388 hectares.
Extremadura, the third-largest olive growÂing region in Spain, expeÂriÂenced a far smaller increase in its olive groves, which grew by 0.3 perÂcent to reach 288,692 hectares.
Region | Olive Groves (ha) |
Andalusia | 1,673,071 |
Castilla-La Mancha | 449,388 |
Extremadura | 288,692 |
Catalonia | 114,350 |
Valencian Community | 95,695 |
Aragón | 60,332 |
Madrid | 29,621 |
Murcia | 29,032 |
Navarre | 9,922 |
Balearic Islands | 9,126 |
Castile and León | 6,986 |
La Rioja | 3,475 |
Canary Islands | 435 |
Basque Country | 322 |
Galicia | 38 |
Total | 2,770,485 |
The growth in overÂall olive grove surÂface area also sugÂgests that the numÂber of organic olive groves also increased in Spain.
However, this will not be conÂfirmed until the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food releases a sepÂaÂrate report on organic culÂtiÂvaÂtion next sumÂmer.
According to the report pubÂlished by the minÂistry earÂlier this year, there were 222,723 hectares of organic olive groves in Spain in 2020, a 6.4‑percent increase comÂpared with 2019.
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