Last week we visited the new harvest of the centenarian olive trees. This kind of harvest is the same as the one made at the youngest olive trees. However, it has had some inconveniences. But this kind of harvesting is what made the essence of our company.

The difficulties of the harvesting are mainly based at two motives:

–    Type of plantation.

–    They have various trunks at the base.

There are three types of olive trees’ plantations:

–    Traditional (with a separation of 7x7m between the olive trees)

–    Intensive (with a separation of 6x3m)

–    Superintensive (rows of trees very close as they were a hedge)

The way of harvesting varies from one plantation to another. The easiest and most profitable is the superintensive. And the most expensive is the traditional system, and it is also from where fewer olives are obtained from a hectare.

Our youngest olive trees are located in 7x7m and the centenarian ones are being separated 12 and 13 m from one another in an irregular way.

Picking up the olives from a traditional plantation:

To pick up the olives we place a cloth underneath the olive trees. We use vibrating machines to move the branches to make the olives fall inside the cloth.

When the clothes are full of olives we recollect them as they were fishing nets. Pouring them out to the trunk shovel leaving the olives there.

At the end of the workday, we take them all to the olive mill where we grind them immediately to elaborate Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Picking up in the Centenarian Olive Trees:

The difficulty when the olives are picked up from the centenarian olive trees is due to the fact  that each length of cloth cover just one olive tree.

When the olive trees are placed inside a grid with less separation, the lengths of clothes are being placed as a row covering bigger surfaces. Additionally, they are placed from one row to the next.

This cannot be made with the centenarian olive trees due to the lengths of clothes. They have to be taken from one olive tree to another one in an irregular way. Therefore, the process would be slower.

Variety of trees

Another inconvenient at the time to choose the olive is that every olive tree is different. Many of them have some trunks at the base and this aspect is a difficulty for the vibrating machine. This machine should be moving around the olive tree to shake the trunk and, as a consequence, the olives fall.

In summary

The harvesting of the centenarian olive trees is more expensive due to the fact that the process to pick up the olives is longer. This year we have picked up an average of 8000kg a day with the youngest olive trees.  Normally, we harvest around 3000kg with the centenarian olive trees.

Do you know how many liters of our Premium Olive Oil have been made from those 3000kg? Would you like to know more curiosities of the olive trees and their harvesting? Let us a comment! We cannot wait to know your opinion.