World Olive Picking Championship Returns to Croatia’s Brač
Twelve international teams will gather on the Croatian island of Brač in October for a competition that turns traditional hand harvesting into an international event.
Twelve international teams will travel to Brač in October for the ninth World Olive Picking Championship, a competition that combines traditional olive harvesting with tourism and local culture.
The championship will take place from Oct. 8 to 11 in Postira, a small village on the northern coast of the Croatian island. Teams will represent Croatia, Ireland, Sweden, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Czech Republic and Poland, along with an international team of digital nomads.
The olive is the perfect symbol – deeply rooted in our land, yet capable of connecting people from all over the world.
The main competition will be held Oct. 9 in the St. Joseph olive grove above Postira. Each four-person team, comprising two women and two men, will have 45 minutes to harvest as many olives as possible by hand.
Mechanical harvesting equipment is prohibited. Instead, competitors use traditional jute aprons known locally as saketi, reflecting harvesting methods that have long been part of Croatia’s olive-growing heritage.
The ninth World Olive Picking Championship will bring teams from Europe and the United States to Brač to celebrate traditional harvesting and Croatian olive-growing culture.
The competition was launched in 2017 to introduce visitors to local agricultural traditions and promote Postira and Brač as agritourism destinations.
Since then, teams have arrived from countries with established olive-growing traditions as well as places where commercial olive cultivation is limited or nonexistent. Lithuania won the championship in 2024, while France won in 2025.
In 2019, the event received first prize in the Best Creative Tourism Experience category from the Creative Tourism Network in Madrid, where it competed against more than 160 events from around the world.
Competitors race against the clock to hand-pick as many olives as possible during the World Olive Picking Championship on the Croatian island of Brač.
“Our goal is not simply to bring visitors to Postira, but to give them the opportunity to experience our way of life, our people and our traditions first-hand,” said Ivana Jelinčić, director of the Tourist Board of the Municipality of Postira. “The olive is the perfect symbol – deeply rooted in our land, yet capable of connecting people from all over the world.”
The Croatian team traditionally includes public figures from the country, such as actors, athletes, television personalities, journalists, and artists, who compete under the same rules as the international teams.
After the competition, participants and visitors will gather for a traditional Dalmatian marenda, accompanied by local food and music. Organizers said the gathering is intended to showcase island life and the role olive culture continues to play in the community.
The championship is organized by the Tourist Board of the Municipality of Postira with support from the Municipality of Postira, the Postira Agricultural Cooperative and Aldura Sport.