While the olive sector seemed to be recovering a little, based on the best harvest forecasts for the 2024/2025 campaign, after the poor data of previous years and the crisis in olive oil sales due to the increase in prices, new dark clouds stalk the olive producers. A situation that, in the case of Castile-La Mancha – the second autonomous community in Spain with the largest area of olive groves, just behind Andalusia – can even be worrying because it is the main crop of the region, with more than 450,000 hectares, exceeding the vineyard in recent years.
Precisely, the black clouds emitted by DANA in recent weeks have particularly harmed the olive sector, which lost around 30% of the olive harvest in certain areas, according to data provided by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development of Castile-La Mancha, Julián Martínez Lizán. A problem that adds to the increasingly frequent theft of olives in certain territories and the fear of an increase in tariffs on olive oil by the next government of the United States, chaired by the recent winner electoral Donald Trump, who promised this measure in his country. one of the main importers of this product.
Nevertheless, producers face this new campaign which will begin with better expectations, since they estimate that the harvest will reach 140,000 tonnes, or between 24 and 29% more than the previous year, according to the forecasts of the two Cooperativas Agroalimentarias de Castilla. la Mancha and Asaja (Agrarian Association of Young Farmers). Some figures which increase especially in Ciudad Real and Toledo, the two provinces with the largest area of olive groves in the community, with more than 65,000 and 40,000 tons respectivelyto which are added 15,400 from Albacete, 6,600 from Cuenca and around 2,000 from Guadalajara.
An increase in production which will lead to a drop in prices, according to experts, although the final price will depend on supply and demand, in addition to a “very good” quality of the olive due to the abundant rains accumulated last spring. “There have been no major attacks of olive fly or other diseases,” specifies the spokesperson for the olive oil sector of Cooperativas Agroalimentarias, Gregorio Gómezwhich predicts that the 2024/2025 campaign will be that of “resumption, marked by a supply which, although slightly higher, will not be sufficient to cover the projected demand on the market”.
“Prices will drop compared to last year because there are more olives,” reports the president of Asaja in the province of Toledo and expert in the region’s olive sector, Blanca Corroto. He nevertheless wishes to point out that “we must get used to paying the right price for what it costs to produce certain products, such as olive oil. We are used to good and cheap food, and this can no longer be the case, because the costs of production – diesel, plant protection products, fertilizers, machinery, etc. – have become more expensive and this affects the final price.
In this sense, he calls for “a change in mentality” of the consumer: “I have not seen the television news or the newspapers open up about the increase in prices of other products, such as alcohol and leisure , but this happened with the olive. “, complains Corroto, who assures that “in Spain we produce quality products, but at the same time many foreign products enter that do not present any food safety and, for this reason, I ask consumers to pay attention to the labels to know where they are made because ultimately you are what you eat.
Civil Guard agents from a Rock Team check thefts in the countryside
Concerning the thefts which occur during the olive harvest campaign, the head of the Cooperatives recalls that “it is a problem which has lasted for a long time”. Gregorio Gómez points out that every year they ask the Spanish government delegation in Castile-La Mancha to strengthen security for the next campaign, to which they are committed with more troops from the Civil Guard and the patrols of the anti-theft teams in the countryside (ROCA) of the Armed Institute in certain territories.
Traceability control
“In this task, not only must the organs and security forces of the State have a responsibility, but we must all participate in it, and there is a will for this to happen,” underlines Gómez, who asks the The entire olive sector, if producers as well as cooperatives and oil mills, greater surveillance of their facilities and their harvest to control the traceability of olives and oil.
On the Asaja side, Blanca Corroto warns against “fear” of many olive growers in the Montes de Toledo region due to thefts committed during the last campaigns. “These types of episodes increase when olive prices are higher, as is the case,” explains the agricultural representative, who believes that “Civil Guard troops are never enough to monitor everywhere.”
“We, from Asaja Castilla-La Mancha, have been asking for many years for a guide, as exists in other autonomous communities, so that whoever is going to unload the olives to the oil mills and other collection points has with them the necessary documentation that guarantees the origin and traceability of the fruit”, explains Corroto. To do this, he affirms, “in addition to greater safety both in the field and during crushing in cooperatives, the responsibility of whoever buys this olive because, if he respected the regulations, there would not be so many thefts.”
To try to find a solution to this situation, The delegate of the Spanish government in Castilla-La Mancha, Milagros Tolón, and the sub-delegate in the province of Toledo, Carlos Ángel Devia, met last Monday with the mayors of the Montes de Toledo region. -Gálvez, Guadamur, Polán, Navahermosa and Noez- due to the concern of these municipalities for the safety of agricultural operations before the olive harvest campaign, the peak of which will begin in a few weeks.
One of the people present at the said meeting was the mayor of Guadamur, Sagrario Gutiérrezwho also believes that the number of Civil Guard troops “is not sufficient” to cover a territory as vast as the Mountains of Toledo. “More officers are needed to increase not only surveillance, but also the feeling of security, because – according to reports – in recent months thefts have increased in the countryside and in urban centers, with attacks even against houses when they are indoors. , crimes that often end up with criminals back on the streets.
