Olives have been cultivated around the Mediterranean for many thousands of years and have always been an important livelihood for the people living there. Olive trees grow both on the edge of the Sahara and in beautiful Tuscany. But traditional olive farming is giving way to industrial cultivation.

Olive trees can get very old

Such images are familiar to many Mediterranean vacationers: Ancient, gnarled olive trees with their cracked bark, the rustic trunks and the silvery shining leaves have shaped the image of the Mediterranean landscape like hardly any other plant. Olive trees can get very old, 600 to 700 years are not uncommon. Some specimens are known to be thousands of years old.

Centuries-old plantations are making way for new ones

Traditionally, olive trees are planted widely in groves, often together with other plants. In Tunisia, olives are usually associated with almond trees. However, not many trees can be found on such plantations, because olives need a lot of distance to other plants - especially if they are old trees. On a traditional plantation, a maximum of 200 olive trees grow per hectare, in dry areas it is significantly less. As a result, traditional cultivation does not allow for very high yields, which is why industrial plantations are increasingly cultivated today. The fruits have been harvested by hand since ancient times.

Fatal consequences for the environment

Up to 2000 olive trees are planted per hectare, which are also uprooted after 25 to 30 years at the latest. This new cultivation is having devastating consequences not only for the face of the Mediterranean landscape but also for the environment. Pesticides are increasingly being used on industrial plantations, and water consumption is extremely high - fatal in the rather dry regions of the Mediterranean, where the lack of water is even worse. The result is a devastation of southern Europe, i. H. the formation of deserts.

Olive cultivation in Germany

Many an olive lover has hopes that climate change will also make it possible to grow olives in Germany in the future. Well, this cannot be completely ruled out, but there is still a long way to go. At present - and also in the coming decades - optimal growth conditions for olives in Germany cannot be expected. Only in some wine-growing regions there are (experimental) olive groves, which, however, do not yield any significant economic yield.

tips and tricks

When buying olive oil, be sure to buy high-quality, organically produced oil with a certificate of origin. This usually comes from traditional cultivation. The seal of quality "Virgin Olive Oil" - actually the highest for olive oil - is not an indication of a high-quality product.

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Trees