In Spain, which produces half of global consumption, prices have tripled since 2021. “This has never happened before,” said the chairman of the Spanish olive growers, Pedro Barato. He compared the impact on the sector with the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on the banking industry. Barato warned that farmers would have to face climate change “in increasingly complex scenarios.”
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This is no easy task, as more than 90 percent of the world’s olive oil currently comes from the Mediterranean region. According to climate researchers, this region is warming much faster than average.
“Climate change is already a reality and we must adapt,” said Jaime Lillo, General Director of the International Olive Association (IOC) at the start of the congress in Madrid. The olive tree is one of the plants best adapted to drought. “But in extreme drought it activates protective mechanisms and no longer produces olives. Olives need a minimum of water.”
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Source: Nachrichten
