Jaime Lillo, from the Olive Oil Council: “There is a lack of olive oil and the challenge is for the crop to adapt to climate change”

Climate change is making it difficult for olive oil, which is being sold as a luxury product, to once again reach a reasonable price.

Warming “is going faster than we expected” and that impacts a crop, the olive grove, accustomed to harsh conditions, says Jaime Lillo, 49, the first Spanish executive director of the International Olive Council (IOC), an intergovernmental organization created by the United Nations in 1959 and based in Spain.

Its members - among them, the European Union - represent 96% of world production and are immersed in developing mechanisms to adapt to the new scenario.

“The tree survives, but at the cost of less production,” says Lillo, who maintains that all types of production are possible, even intensive high-production, but warns that “if the traditional olive grove doesn't make ends meet, it will become or it will disappear.”

In Spain, the main olive oil producing country in the world, drought and untimely heat waves in the middle of spring are behind the drop in production by half.

Ask

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What is happening?

Answer

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We are observing the consequences of climate change, which is going faster than we expected.

In particular, the olive tree has been affected by increases in temperature during the flowering season, because the tree throws away part of the flower to optimize and defend itself, which causes there to be less fruit later.

Added to this is the lack of water due to the drought.

There is a notable difference between olive trees that have some irrigation support and those that do not.

P.

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It is surprising that a tree adapted for centuries to a harsh climate is having such a hard time.

R.

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The olive tree has an extraordinary capacity to adapt, but it needs time, and it is in it.

There are olive trees that grow on the border of the desert, it is impressive to see them in Tunisia or Algeria, and some live for thousands of years without irrigation, accustomed to periods of drought.

Currently, we find that production levels are not as desired, despite new plantations, irrigation or the application of technologies.

That is why we are collaborating with the main research projects in Spain, Morocco or Turkey, subjecting different varieties of olive trees to extreme weather scenarios to see how they respond.

This way we can facilitate its adaptation, because we are facing campaigns like the last ones in which climate change is faster and the tree survives, but at the cost of less production.

P.

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Productivity improves with irrigation, but is it sustainable to spend more water?

R.

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It depends on what we compare it with, because we need much less than a cotton, alfalfa or soy plantation.

I do not agree that an irrigated olive grove or an intensive one [with more trees and high production] are not sustainable.

Of course, we must preserve traditional olive groves, which also have an important environmental function, like mountain groves, which cannot be modernized, but we must not close the door to innovation either.

The reality is that we need more oil.

Q.

What will the olive grove of the future be like?

R.

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We will continue to see olive trees and with different types of management because they all fit, although there will surely be regions where it stops being considered and will move to others.

We are going to need traditional olive groves that have the capacity to differentiate themselves, to value that landscape that houses a large amount of biodiversity and also the ecological ones, but they have to do the math, otherwise it will be abandoned or transformed.

P.

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What advantages does the vegetal cover have around the olive trees, without leaving the soil bare?

R.

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You hold the ground better.

Before, everything was cleaned to avoid competition from other plants for water and to stop insect pests that can transmit diseases to the crop.

But we have seen that in this way soil is lost, there is greater erosion and the land does not fix as much carbon from the atmosphere.

Its benefit is greater than its cost.

Jaime Lillo, president of the International Oil Council, on January 23 in Madrid.

Andrea Comas

P.

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Are there reluctance on the part of farmers towards adaptation measures?

R.

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There are pioneer farmers who are experimenting with new formulas, who grow vegetative covers under their olive trees, are in the SEO/BirdLife Living Olive Groves program and implement measures to increase biodiversity on their farms.

You walk through there and see a forest full of life with insects, amphibians, birds.

But since we are in a process of change, there are also those who are more attached to their customs.

We want to explain to you what practices are best and how you can increase the capacity of the olive grove soil to capture more carbon dioxide [the main greenhouse gas] from the atmosphere.

We have an average estimate that indicates that per liter of olive oil, with everything that production entails, 10.6 kilos of CO2 are taken from the atmosphere.

P.

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Should chemicals be reduced?

R.

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We aspire to production with fewer chemicals, of course, with a greater part of organic production, but they are necessary in the right measure, used sustainably in certain doses and times.

Before it was just let's produce more and now it is to produce sustainably, but with the knowledge we have.

P.

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The world likes olive oil.

A.

Before these last two campaigns, so short of production, we were on a path of sustained expansion.

This happens because there are more and more people who want to live healthily, especially after the pandemic, and they are discovering olive oil.

Added to this is greater concern for the planet, sustainability and climate change.

Consumption has increased in, let's say, non-traditional countries, such as the United States, Canada, Brazil, Japan or Australia.

And there is a lack of oil, which is why adapting to climate change is a priority and must be faced.

It is the main concern of the sector and governments.

P.

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Will oil return to reasonable prices?

R.

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The ideal would be to aspire to a certain stability of reasonable prices and not to become a luxury product, but without good production it is impossible.

In the short term, I don't think we'll see a drop, because it's not going to be a great campaign.

Q.

You are responsible for the regulations that guide the olive oil trade. What is the difference between an extra virgin, a virgin and a refined one?

A.

When you use refined olive oil, we are talking about an oil that has undergone treatments that have lost part of the properties of an extra virgin olive oil.

The first thing that is extracted in the oil mill is an extra virgin and virgin oil, which are authentic olive juices, with flavor, smell, monosaturated fatty acids such as oleic acid and a part of polyphenol, which are antioxidant and anti-inflammatory substances.

This is unique in the world of vegetable oils.

Once that oil is extracted, there is more production, but it requires a refining treatment with higher temperature or more pressure.

In this process, the flavor and smell are lost and it becomes a neutral oil and loses the polyphenols, but it maintains the fatty acid composition, it is still a good oil compared to others.

A little virgin olive oil is added to give it aroma and flavor and it is marketed as refined olive oil.

And, if we follow the process, we find olive pomace oil, which is very interesting and has a lower price.

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