Article on Olive Crops- By: Yael Davidov
Right now there are problems with olive crops in the world affecting mostly the areas of California, Turkey, and Greece. Most of these problems, but not all, are due to the change in climate and weather and the small range of temperatures that olive trees can endure. So far the olive trees has been grown mostly in the Mediterranean area and California because they require hot temperatures, and relatively dry air yet at the same time, a great deal of water in the ground in order to develop good fruit.
In California many olive crops have been destroyed due to irregular rain storms, winds, and frost. This was damaging to the trees because prior weather patterns had been hot and relatively dry. However, the global rises in temperatures has affected them greatly. Also, a region in northern California called Mendocino, has seen a recent and unusual freeze that did not kill the olive trees but did damage their yields. The exact impact of the freeze has not been fully evaluated, but it is in the process of being assessed. In the meantime, the county’s commissioner of agriculture Dave Bengston, urges the farmers not to prune the branches that appear dead in the hope that they might recover.
The small hope for the Californian region is its microclimates! These are areas where for some reason the climate is unlike that of a neighboring region. The crops in some of these areas have shown an average yield if not a better crop than the ones of the previous years.
Large fires recently took place in Greece, though this perhaps was not a direct effect of climate change, it is nonetheless of importance and might be indirectly a result of the climatic change. In the Peloponnesian area of Greece 454,000 acres of olive trees, and not to mention the livelihood of many people, have been lost in this massive fire. While it is believed that the total annual production of olive oil will not be greatly damaged, only about four percent, on a local scale about 50% of the people are now dealing with economic stress and instability. These are people whose entire lives since they were young have revolved around the growing of the tree and the production of the oil its fruits provide. The country’s leaders of course are putting forth a great amount of effort in order to provide support and money to these people, but the future is problematic because the trees take about seven to ten years after they are planted before they begin to yield fruits, and the government simply cannot afford to sustain all these people for that duration.
In Turkey too, the olives have had difficulties this year due to a drought that hurt the trees to a point where a seventy five percent decrease of products this year is expected. We, especially living here in Israel, a country who depends a lot on agriculture, should be able to understand the importance of a crop not only for eating but for those who depend on it for income and therefore should be very active in trying to help fight this issues such as global warming (at least that part for which humans are responsible) seeing the devastating impact it can have on people.
I think it is pretty clear that the environment has a big effect on agriculture, and while you might still have olives available to you in ten years to buy at the supermarket, one must realize the impact that the failure of this crop can have in human terms. Since so much of the world is dependent on agriculture of rice, or potatoes, or wheat or any other of the staple foods, it is surprising that the fight for a better earth is not greater and more urgent than it currently is at this time.
