Defending centuries-old olive trees means protecting the future

The Spanish confederation of environmental groups Ecologistas en Acción, aligned with social environmentalism (a movement that believes environmental problems stem from an increasingly globalized model of production and consumption—also responsible for many social issues), denounces the inexorable disappearance of centuries-old olive groves in the Andalusian municipality of Priego de Córdoba, uprooted to be replaced by new plantations: trees that are 100, 200, even 300 years old are now considered useless.

To counter this immense loss, the environmentalist confederation highlights several points in favor of traditional olive cultivation (it’s hard not to agree with them).

First of all, traditional olive groves are dry-farmed and produce without wasting water for irrigation—now a scarce resource in the Mediterranean—thriving instead on rainwater and adapting to weather conditions. They are reservoirs of biodiversity: the trunks of these ancient olive trees provide shelter for insects, birds and mammals, offering refuge and breeding sites, while cracks and cavities trap and preserve seeds and fungal spores that enrich the fields year after year.

These centuries-old olives help maintain soil stability, and in sloping areas they ensure soil fertility, especially when combined with no-till practices and maintaining ground cover. Moreover, a type of “pasture” ecosystem has formed, where the key animal of the Mediterranean environment—the wild rabbit—coexists with these long-lived olive trees without causing significant damage.

The presence of the Iberian lynx and the Spanish imperial eagle has already been confirmed in the region; these species, along with the golden eagle, Bonelli’s eagle, the Eurasian eagle-owl and the European wildcat, are emblematic of the rich Mediterranean ecosystem. All of them depend on the availability of prey, especially within these olive-pasture landscapes.

In their statement, Ecologistas en Acción notes how sad it is that the heart of the Priego de Córdoba PDO (olive oil made from the Hojiblanca, Picual and Picuda cultivars) does not defend its traditional olive groves—groves that have not only won numerous awards but have also been the subject of countless studies on oil quality and on the profitability of traditional mountain olive farming (for example, the MOVING project).

Cooperatives and mills are not encouraging farmers to preserve the olive trees of their parents and grandparents—groves that helped them overcome many hardships and that, despite producing some of the best oils in the world, are now being used to improve other, lower-quality oils, without producers receiving higher compensation.

This precious landscape, made of pasture and olives, is falling under the blows of bulldozers in pursuit of a supposed modernization that may, in time, prove to be an unattainable dream.

“We must all call on the authorities, the denomination of origin, cooperatives and mills,” the Spanish environmentalists appeal, “to support the olive groves of the Subbética of Córdoba and waste no more time, because every day more centuries-old olive trees of our agroecological heritage are being destroyed.”