Climate Pressures Drive Search for New Olive Varieties Suited to Modern Groves

Summary

Climate change and labor short­ages are top con­cerns for olive oil pro­duc­ers world­wide, lead­ing researchers to focus on devel­op­ing new olive vari­eties suited to super-high-den­sity hedgerow sys­tems. AGR by De Prado has deliv­ered over eight mil­lion olive tree seedlings, with vari­eties like Lecciana, I‑15, and Sikitita show­ing promise for increased pro­duc­tiv­ity, drought tol­er­ance, and unique fla­vor pro­files, while also adapt­ing well to organic pro­duc­tion and mechan­i­cal har­vest­ing.

Each year, cli­mate change and labor short­ages rank among the top con­cerns of olive oil pro­duc­ers world­wide.

As many of the world’s most pro­duc­tive olive-grow­ing regions become hot­ter and drier and hir­ing suf­fi­cient labor remains a peren­nial chal­lenge, researchers and nurs­eries are increas­ingly focused on devel­op­ing new olive vari­eties to meet these pres­sures.

Andalusia-based AGR by De Prado has focused on vari­eties suited to super-high-den­sity hedgerow sys­tems, offer­ing either more dis­tinct fla­vor pro­files or improved tol­er­ance to heat and drought.

The nurs­ery and agri­cul­tural ser­vices divi­sion of olive oil pro­ducer De Prado has deliv­ered more than eight mil­lion olive tree seedlings from its two nurs­eries in Spain and Portugal. Most of these have been Arbequina, Arbosana, Lecciana, Coriana, I‑15, Sikitita, Sikitita‑2, Cacereña and Hojiblanca.

“Until about eight or ten years ago, the only vari­eties suit­able for mod­ern super-inten­sive hedgerow sys­tems were Arbequina and Arbosana,” Manuel López, AGR by De Prado’s direc­tor in Spain, told Olive Oil Times.

However, he said that ​“ambi­tious genetic improve­ment pro­grams” launched in the 1990s at the University of Córdoba in Andalusia and the University of Bari in Puglia aimed to boost pro­duc­tiv­ity and increase tol­er­ance to abi­otic stresses such as drought and cold.

Over the past three decades, this work has pro­duced more than 1,000 new vari­eties through tar­geted crosses using par­ent plants with spe­cific desired traits. Several of these are now emerg­ing as alter­na­tives to Arbequina and Arbosana.

“Now the chal­lenge is to prop­erly process all the infor­ma­tion pro­vided by the tri­als to sep­a­rate those that offer real value from those that offer noth­ing new,” López said.

Unlike annual crops such as corn, where per­for­mance can be assessed after a sin­gle sea­son, test­ing new olive vari­eties can take up to a decade, López explained.

“With woody crops like olives or almonds, you need three years just to see the first pro­duc­tion and then at least three or four more years to con­firm reli­a­bil­ity and con­sis­tency,” he said.

Trials must also be repli­cated across dif­fer­ent envi­ron­ments, López added, includ­ing areas with vary­ing water avail­abil­ity, tem­per­a­tures and soil types, to deter­mine where each vari­ety per­forms best.

While López does not believe a per­fect olive vari­ety exists, he said the eight main vari­eties cur­rently prop­a­gated by AGR by De Prado have shown the strongest demand.

“These eight are the ones that, after eval­u­a­tion, we see as hav­ing the most poten­tial right now,” he said. ​“There are many oth­ers avail­able, but there is still insuf­fi­cient data.”

According to López, the vari­eties being planted today are prov­ing to be prof­itable, pro­duc­tive and con­sis­tent, while also con­tribut­ing dis­tinc­tive char­ac­ter­is­tics to the result­ing oils.

Although there is no clear evi­dence that any of the new vari­eties out­per­form Arbequina and Arbosana in terms of yield per hectare, López said there are signs that the mar­ket is increas­ingly inter­ested in more robust fla­vor pro­files.

“Some mills are start­ing to say there is already too much Arbequina,” he said, not­ing con­cerns about oil sta­bil­ity. ​“Other vari­eties main­tain good sta­bil­ity through July, August or even September, which is inter­est­ing for mar­keters.”

López added that hedgerow sys­tems will need to pro­duce oils with a broader range of chem­i­cal and organolep­tic pro­files, includ­ing bit­ter­ness and spici­ness sim­i­lar to Picual or Hojiblanca.

In addi­tion to stronger fla­vors, López said many newer vari­eties show improved tol­er­ance to water stress and cold and adapt more effec­tively to organic pro­duc­tion.

Field tri­als have shown that Sikitita 1, I‑15 and Lecciana are more drought-tol­er­ant than Arbequina or Arbosana, con­tribut­ing to their rapid adop­tion.

“That’s why these vari­eties are now being planted heav­ily,” López said. ​“They are the first to sell out in nurs­eries.”

Lecciana has also per­formed well in organic sys­tems and colder areas, while Sikitita 1 has shown strong poten­tial in dry-farmed orchards.

Sikitita 2 has proven highly pro­duc­tive and eas­ier to prune due to uni­form branch­ing, help­ing reduce ris­ing prun­ing costs.

As a result, López said many grow­ers are diver­si­fy­ing plant­i­ngs to spread risk and extend milling sea­sons by com­bin­ing vari­eties with dif­fer­ent flow­er­ing and ripen­ing times.

Despite their advan­tages, López cau­tioned that each vari­ety also has weak­nesses.

Lecciana, for exam­ple, can pro­duce exces­sive woody growth under irri­ga­tion, increas­ing prun­ing demands, while I‑15 requires care­ful prun­ing to avoid dam­age dur­ing mechan­i­cal har­vest­ing.

“For each grower and each region, there is a most suit­able vari­ety,” López said. ​“There is no per­fect solu­tion for every­thing.”

AGR by De Prado is cur­rently eval­u­at­ing addi­tional vari­eties that could ripen ear­lier in October, allow­ing mills to begin pro­duc­tion sev­eral weeks sooner.

López said ris­ing pro­duc­tion costs, which can be roughly three times higher per hectare in tra­di­tional groves than in super-high-den­sity sys­tems, are accel­er­at­ing the shift away from tra­di­tional Picual orchards on steep ter­rain.

“Picual is a spec­tac­u­lar vari­ety that pro­duces excel­lent oil, but it can­not be planted in hedgerows,” he said. ​“Because of labor con­straints, many pro­duc­ers are tran­si­tion­ing to super-inten­sive sys­tems.”

He expects mod­ern orchards to con­tinue expand­ing wher­ever ter­rain allows mech­a­niza­tion, while tra­di­tional groves per­sist on mar­ginal land.

Like for­mer Deoleo chief exec­u­tive Ignacio Silva, López believes tra­di­tional vari­eties will remain essen­tial in niche mar­kets.

However, he noted that con­sumers out­side pro­ducer coun­tries often pre­fer milder oils, a trend he does not expect to change soon.

“From our exports to more than 25 coun­tries, we see that American and Asian con­sumers gen­er­ally pre­fer milder oils,” López said.

He con­cluded that the key lies in blend­ing oils to match con­sumer pref­er­ences, using a range of vari­eties to cre­ate bal­anced pro­files tai­lored to dif­fer­ent mar­kets.