Traditional Growers Unite to Defend Spain’s Historic Olive Groves

Summary

A new Traditional Olive Grove Association has been formed by Spanish olive grow­ers to pro­tect tra­di­tional farm­ing prac­tices and advo­cate for small and medium farm­ers in Andalusia. The Association aims to pro­mote the cul­tural, envi­ron­men­tal, and eco­nomic value of tra­di­tional olive groves, address issues such as water dis­tri­b­u­tion and access, and explore new income streams and mar­ket­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties to ensure the long-term via­bil­ity of tra­di­tional grow­ers.

A group of Spanish olive grow­ers has joined forces to defend and ele­vate tra­di­tional olive farm­ing.

Three dozen coop­er­a­tives rep­re­sent­ing about 15,000 farm­ers have signed the found­ing doc­u­ments of the new Traditional Olive Grove Association. The coop­er­a­tives are head­quar­tered in Jaén, Córdoba and Granada, the core of Spain’s olive oil pro­duc­tion in Andalusia.

Members say tra­di­tional orchards — increas­ingly over­shad­owed by super-inten­sive and high-den­sity groves — remain the foun­da­tion of olive-grow­ing cul­ture, bio­di­ver­sity and qual­ity.

“As olive grow­ers we felt the need to join forces to defend what the major­ity of olive coop­er­a­tives and farm­ers are,” José Gilabert, pres­i­dent of the San Vicente de Mogón coop­er­a­tive in Jaén and a dri­ving force behind the ini­tia­tive, told Olive Oil Times.

“For too long, the sec­tor has favored large farm­ers and large coop­er­a­tives, while the major­ity model is made up of small and medium farm­ers of tra­di­tional olive groves,” he said.

Andalusia’s olive-grow­ing area cov­ers roughly 1.5 mil­lion hectares. Much of it con­sists of rain­fed or lightly irri­gated groves planted at low den­si­ties of 80 to 120 trees per hectare.

More than 350,000 hectares are man­aged by fam­i­lies farm­ing plots of 1 to 5 hectares.

Small, frag­mented plots, lim­ited mech­a­niza­tion on steep ter­rain, irreg­u­lar yields and mod­est pro­duc­tiv­ity define tra­di­tional olive pro­duc­tion.

Growers say their long-term via­bil­ity depends on coop­er­a­tion and pub­lic recog­ni­tion.

According to the Association, these land­scapes pre­serve some of the most his­toric expres­sions of olive cul­ti­va­tion and olive oil her­itage.

The broader Andalusian land­scape is also a can­di­date for UNESCO’s World Heritage List for its ​“Sea of Olives” cul­tural value.

The Association aims to ensure tra­di­tional grow­ers have a stronger voice in Spanish and European pol­i­cy­mak­ing.

Gilabert said pres­sure to con­vert to super-high-den­sity sys­tems is ris­ing.

“There is a move­ment in a sin­gle direc­tion — inten­si­fi­ca­tion, con­cen­tra­tion, going big — which works for only a few and risks leav­ing con­trol of the busi­ness in very few hands,” he said.

At the sign­ing event, grow­ers empha­sized that their liveli­hoods must remain rooted in their land and com­mu­ni­ties.

They argued that new strate­gies are needed to high­light the cul­tural, envi­ron­men­tal and eco­nomic value of tra­di­tional farm­ing.

“To ensure a future for their model, tra­di­tional grow­ers need a strong united voice to defend their inter­ests,” Gilabert said. ​“They need to stop com­pet­ing in mis­ery and col­lab­o­rate for suc­cess.”

The Association points to the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy as a sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenge for tra­di­tional pro­duc­ers.

“Today sub­si­dies are not fairly dis­trib­uted. More is being given to those who have more,” Gilabert said.

He argued that highly prof­itable, indus­tri­al­ized groves should not receive the same level of sup­port as tra­di­tional ones. ​“Aid must go to those who really need it in exchange for good prac­tices.”

“Environmental sus­tain­abil­ity is a value tra­di­tional olive groves pro­vide — envi­ron­men­tal and social,” he added.

Since its found­ing, the Association has received numer­ous requests to join from grow­ers across Spain.

Irrigation is among the top issues they plan to address. The Association says unequal access to water places tra­di­tional groves at a clear dis­ad­van­tage.

Many small­hold­ers in moun­tain­ous or mar­ginal areas lack irri­ga­tion rights, while large estates often secure ample con­ces­sions.

“We need a fair dis­tri­b­u­tion of water by the author­i­ties, in our case the Guadalquivir River Basin Authority,” Gilabert said.

“There can­not be large exten­sions with his­tor­i­cal rights tak­ing most of the water. A tra­di­tional olive grove with access to water is a prof­itable grove.”

The Association also plans to pro­mote updated farm­ing prac­tices and new income streams.

“We should share dif­fer­en­ti­a­tion strate­gies,” Gilabert said, cit­ing exam­ples such as early-har­vest pro­duc­tion, sus­tain­able pack­ag­ing, inte­grated man­age­ment and organic farm­ing.

Marketing and oleo­tourism, he added, offer sig­nif­i­cant growth oppor­tu­ni­ties. ​“Those small islands of good man­age­ment that exist should expand.”

Gilabert empha­sized that inno­va­tion and tra­di­tion can coex­ist. ​“Traditional does not mean doing things as always. It means apply­ing new tech­nolo­gies to improve the entire process.”

He noted that small farm sizes and lim­ited gen­er­a­tional turnover make skills devel­op­ment crit­i­cal. Training pro­grams — includ­ing drone oper­a­tion for steep ter­rain — are help­ing keep young peo­ple in rural com­mu­ni­ties.

“Modern agron­omy is a tremen­dous source of employ­ment for our young peo­ple, from engi­neers to oleo­tourism and exports,” he said.

As pres­i­dent of the Aceite de Jaén PGI, Gilabert also stressed the impor­tance of European ori­gin and qual­ity cer­ti­fi­ca­tions. ​“The Jaén PGI helps bring value to good prac­tices and dif­fer­en­ti­ated prod­ucts under the com­mon umbrella brand Aceite de Jaén.”

Gilabert said the Association seeks coex­is­tence, not con­fronta­tion, with indus­trial pro­duc­ers.

“Both mod­els have to exist. We are not against any­one,” he said. ​“What we do not want is for that other part of the pro­duc­tion to be the one mark­ing our path and our price.”

“Differentiation,” he con­cluded, ​“is the key to the future.”