spainrico

Such a shame to see these old trees disappear

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...droidApp_Other

Retired in Euskadi

I don't like their suggestion of ..."having to move to more intensive systems of production.." Intensive systems usually finish up causing more problems than ever; environmentally unsustainable. Such is with mega dairy farms & intensive (indoor) pig production.
Ultimately it's the end price of the farmers' produce that is key, but unfortunately they cannot set it; it's usually the supermarkets that do that, namely "cheap" food for the consumer.
Long term, the public must be prepared to pay a price that is fair to the producers.

Stingychips

I’ll be keeping my olive farm in full production regardless

olivefarmer

It is a bit more complex than the article says.

intensive culture is obviously the most efficient. A lot of “ hill” farmers would love to change production technique or even grub their trees out and plant something else. Sadly for most that isn’t an option. All that is left is to plant even more trees and/or install solar panels to pump aquifers dry without permission. A lot of rural towns have their economy based on olives.

nb888

All cropping trees tend to get less productive as they get older whether it is apples, lemons, olives or whatever. Having this warm fuzzy view that we should retain "centuries old" olive trees just because they look nice for the tourists is a bind around the neck of farmers and not living in reality - obviously you will need to replace them at some point with younger more productive trees! It is unfortunate that some farmers cannot afford to do this but replacing the asset that generate the income should just be a cost of the business.

Personally I think part of the problem with "extra virgin" olive oil is an image and perception problem, if I can buy it in my local Lidl for £2.19 for 1 litre something has gone wrong with marketing what should be a premium product.

spainrico

Saw this on Money Saver Spain today

Olive oil branding 🫒
12 brands have been fined for selling lower-quality olive oil labelled as Extra Virgen or Virgen Olive Oil during 2019. Brands include El Corte Ingles, Hojiblanca, Hacendado (Mercadona) and others with fines ranging from 10,000€ to 40,000€, more info in Spanish here.