Herzegovina's Olive Oil Renaissance

Summary

Herzegovinian olive grow­ers achieved an impres­sive eleven-fold increase in awards at a pres­ti­gious olive oil com­pe­ti­tion in New York, lead­ing to the estab­lish­ment of the Herzegovina Association of Olive Growers and Oilers and gain­ing mem­ber­ship in the International Olive Council in Madrid. With plans to expand olive groves and pro­mote local prod­ucts under the ​“Zlatne Kapi Herzegovina” brand, Herzegovina is poised to become a sig­nif­i­cant player in the Mediterranean olive oil indus­try, accord­ing to Professor Marko Ivanković.

Herzegovinian olive grow­ers have emerged at the world’s pre­mier olive oil com­pe­ti­tion in New York, show­cas­ing a remark­able eleven-fold increase in awards. This south­ern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, once a nascent olive oil pro­ducer, gar­nered an impres­sive 11 acco­lades this year, a sig­nif­i­cant leap from just one award last year.

“This suc­cess pro­vides a gen­uine impe­tus for greater col­lab­o­ra­tion among our olive grow­ers in their pur­suit of excep­tional extra vir­gin olive oils,” said Marko Ivanković, direc­tor of the Federal Agro-Mediterranean Institute (FAZ).

The Mostar-based insti­tute has been instru­men­tal in chart­ing the course for mod­ern olive cul­ti­va­tion in Herzegovina. Fifteen years ago, the region pos­sessed a mere 18 hectares of olive groves. Today, that fig­ure has surged to 521 hectares, encom­pass­ing 116,000 trees, with new plant­i­ngs accel­er­at­ing this growth.

FAZ serves as a hub for exper­tise, hous­ing a sen­sory analy­sis panel and a food health lab­o­ra­tory in Buna. In addi­tion to stan­dard physic­o­chem­i­cal analy­ses, the lab­o­ra­tory con­ducts cru­cial polyphe­nol test­ing of olive oils.

“Our analy­sis fees for local olive grow­ers are pro­mo­tional, equiv­a­lent to the price of a sin­gle liter of oil,” explains Ivanković. He empha­sizes that most Herzegovinian oils boast polyphe­nol lev­els exceed­ing 250 mg/kg, indi­cat­ing notable health-pro­mot­ing prop­er­ties.

A piv­otal moment arrived in April 2021 with the estab­lish­ment of the Herzegovina Association of Olive Growers and Oilers (HUUM). This uni­fy­ing body brings together olive grow­ers from diverse national (Croats, Serbs, and Bosniaks) and reli­gious (Catholics, Orthodox, and Muslims) back­grounds.

The syn­ergy between HUUM and FAZ yielded two sig­nif­i­cant achieve­ments last year: the acqui­si­tion of a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and the reg­is­tra­tion of the unique ​“Zlatne kapi Herzegovina” (Golden Drops of Herzegovina) trade­mark at the Intellectual Property Institute of BiH.

Adding to these mile­stones, Bosnia and Herzegovina gained mem­ber­ship in Madrid’s International Olive Council (IOC).

These advance­ments paved the way for indi­vid­ual HUUM mem­bers to par­tic­i­pate in the pres­ti­gious NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, the world’s pre­mier olive oil qual­ity con­test.

OPG Škegro, owned by renowned wine­maker and olive grower Mirko Škegro from Ljubuški (an eight-time Gold Award win­ner­for his Krš brand), was joined by sev­eral fel­low HUUM mem­bers. Five of them secured awards for their oils: OPG Murić (Bošnjak brand), the Orthodox Monastery Tvrdoš near Trebinje, and AgroHerc Agriculture (Mostar/Čapljina) (Narentas brand) all received gold medals.

Silvers were awarded to Pax Dol, the olive farm of the Franciscan School Sisters of Christ the King near Mostar, and Uljar Ramljak, owned by Slavko Ramljak from Tasovčić near Čapljina.

“It’s not gold, but sil­ver feels like gold to me,” remarked Sister Dajana Dujmović, direc­tor of Pax Dol, one of the region’s north­ern­most olive groves. Despite a sig­nif­i­cant hail­storm that halved their expected 33-ton har­vest and slightly low­ered the oil yield, Sister Dajana remains opti­mistic: ​“This year, we hope for a larger har­vest and even bet­ter oil.”

Podrumi Vukoje 1982 d.o.o. from Trebinje, owned by Radovan Raša Vukoje, also achieved remark­able suc­cess, secur­ing two Gold and three Silver Awards for its sin­gle-vari­etal oils. These pro­duc­ers brought home 11 awards for Bosnia and Herzegovina, mark­ing an extra­or­di­nary eleven-fold increase from the pre­vi­ous year.

“We antic­i­pate even more awards next year,” pre­dicts Marko Ivanković, empha­siz­ing the unstop­pable growth of olive cul­ti­va­tion and oil pro­duc­tion in Herzegovina. The strate­gic vision includes expand­ing olive groves to 1,000 hectares by 2030 and estab­lish­ing the ​“Olive Oil Roads of Herzegovina” to pro­mote local prod­ucts along­side their prized oils. This approach aligns with EU-rec­og­nized ter­ri­to­r­ial devel­op­ment strate­gies aimed at revi­tal­iz­ing rural com­mu­ni­ties.

Ivanković stresses the impor­tance of pro­mot­ing the ​“Zlatne Kapi Herzegovina” brand, seek­ing sup­port from local and fed­eral enti­ties. Plans include bill­board adver­tis­ing, social media engage­ment, and fea­tures in promi­nent pub­li­ca­tions such as Olive Oil Times and the Croatian mag­a­zine Maslina.

Professor Ivanković, a key fig­ure in Herzegovina’s olive oil trans­for­ma­tion, con­cludes that Bosnia and Herzegovina is increas­ingly solid­i­fy­ing its posi­tion as a ris­ing star in the Mediterranean olive oil land­scape.