Olive Oil

Each year, olives are harvested between the first week of October to the last week of November when the fruits are purple. Traditionally, the fruit are harvested using rakes to remove the olives from the branches and they fall onto nets for collection. However, hand picking is slowly disappearing as each operator only produces about 10 kg to 20 kg per hour compared to the 30 kg to 50 kg per hour of machines. Once the trees are harvested, the fruit are cleaned and pitted and malaxified (heating the paste at a regulated temperature for a long period of time to better separate the oil). One the oil is made, it is filtrated, bottled, and shopped off into the global market.

There are five steps in the process of olive oil production, with each step having its own structural and operational requirements, marketing policies, and economic scale. These steps include: 1) olive tree cultivation; 2) tree harvesting and processing; 3) oil storage, bottle, and distribution; 4) sealing bottled oil; and 5) the use of oil in culinary preparations. The longest and most strenuous processes are the first two steps as it takes decades to grow an olive tree, and the labour involved in harvesting is intensive.

In a 2012 report by the European Union, the average olive farmer in Italy makes about 33 percent to 51 percent below the national average of agricultural (European Commission, 2012). In a comparison between different olive farms, one third of farms make less than 5000 Euros per family work unit per year, and ten percent of farms make over 30,000 Euros per year. Farms that rely on family labour cannot afford to hire employees as the cost of labour would result in a deficit in profit. These inequalities reflect the exploitation of small-scale olive farmers as they are unable to keep up with the production that larger farms can afford.

The olive oil industry has a high percentage of illegitimate products being sold to consumers. In 2019, 69% of olive oils sold in North America are fake, whether it is diluted with cheaper oils or being labeled as “extra virgin” when actually it is not. The smaller farmers and producers are more likely to sell real olive oil, but with a competitive market, it makes it challenging for them to profit when larger corporations are selling cheaper, fake oils. With better regulations in more objective methods of testing olive oils, it can improve the power imbalance that exists.

Drolet, M. (2019, February 21). Consumers are being warned to be on the lookout for fake olive oil. Global News. Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/4979292/consumers-warned-fake-olive-oil/

European Commission (2012). EU Olive Oil Farms Report. European Union.

Meneley, A. (2007). Like an Extra Virgin. American Anthropologist, 109(4), 678–687. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27563819

Peri, C. (Ed.). (2014). The Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Handbook. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.