Spanish Group Seeks to Secure Future of Traditional Olive Groves

A new national association in Spain is seeking to increase technological and business innovation while preserving the cultural and environmental heritage of traditional olive growing.

OliveA Tradición y Progreso, launched earlier this year, aims to secure the future of traditional olive groves as growers face increasing economic pressure.

OliveA made its first public presentation at Enote’26 (Encuentro Nacional del Olivar Tradicional y del Ecológico – National Conference on Traditional and Organic Olive Groves) in Beas de Segura on May 13.

At the event, newly appointed president José Gilabert introduced the organization as a collective response to the economic difficulties facing Spain’s traditional olive growers.

Central to OliveA’s mission is the view that the value of traditional olive farming should be measured not only by profitability or efficiency, but also by its contribution to rural economies, landscapes and culture. The Junta de Andalucía, Andalusia’s regional government, at least partly shares that view.

Gilabert highlighted the sector’s role in sustaining rural populations, generating employment, conserving endangered landscapes and preserving the cultural heritage associated with olive growing. He argued that these environmental, social and cultural characteristics should be reflected in the market value of oils produced from traditional groves.

However, he said protecting traditional olive growing does not mean preserving existing practices unchanged. Instead, he advocated modernization, provided technological innovation does not undermine the characteristics that distinguish traditional cultivation.

Other projects presented at Enote’26 showcased technological innovations including agrivoltaics, drones for plant-health management, remote sensing and precision agriculture.

At OliveA’s second major public presentation, held in Córdoba on June 23, the organization outlined additional areas of focus.

These included improving agronomic practices, promoting more sustainable and organic production, reducing production costs, harvesting earlier to obtain higher-quality oils and finding solutions to Spain’s growing shortage of agricultural labor.

Nuria Yáñez, OliveA’s vice president, identified professionalization, technological and business innovation and increased cooperation among farmers, cooperatives and technical organizations as key to securing the future of traditional olive growing.

Public policy is another focus. OliveA is calling for traditional olive cultivation to receive greater and more specific consideration under national and European Union agricultural policy, including greater priority for vulnerable traditional groves within the Common Agricultural Policy.

The organization has also proposed developing a strategy to position olive oil from traditional groves as a differentiated quality product in the marketplace.

Since its creation, OliveA has distilled its mission into four principal areas: differentiated labeling, institutional recognition, tailored financial support and sustainable modernization.

The organization believes consumers should be able to identify olive oil from traditional groves, similar to how they can recognize products covered by the European Union’s Protected Designation of Origin system.

OliveA argues that differentiated labeling could help increase the value of oil produced using traditional methods in a market increasingly supplied by more intensive cultivation systems.

The organization is also seeking greater institutional recognition, arguing that traditional olive groves deserve a specific place in public policy and legislation because of their cultural, social and environmental benefits.

OliveA maintains that traditional olive cultivation is underrepresented in the current policy framework, where it is often assessed primarily according to conventional measures of agricultural productivity.

Its third proposal calls for financial support tailored to the particular challenges of traditional cultivation, including steep terrain, limited or impossible mechanization and lower yields.

The organization argues that general agricultural subsidies and the criteria used to award them do not adequately account for the higher costs and disadvantages associated with maintaining traditional olive groves.

Finally, OliveA considers sustainable modernization essential to the future of traditional olive farming. The organization argues that preservation and technological innovation are not mutually exclusive and supports investment in improvements that can increase economic viability without diminishing the qualities that make traditional groves culturally and environmentally valuable.

It also distinguishes modernization from homogenization, arguing that the diversity of traditional olive groves is itself central to many of their benefits, particularly those associated with the environment and biodiversity.

Speaking on the issue, Gilabert has contrasted tradition with stagnation, saying progress means incorporating “knowledge, technology and new tools.”