Hoping for a great olive harvest
The 2018-2019 harvest was particularly poor, hurt by adverse weather, a root fungus, and some especially nasty olive flies. Italian farmers protested in the street for government assistance, and some of our farmers in Greece didn’t have any olives on the trees at all! We were lucky to have farmers in Crete, which generally always has some good product, even if the quality this year wasn’t as good as it has been in the past. Only Spain had a good crop last year.
Harvests have always been hit and miss, often coming in cycles of 3, with a great one followed by an OK, one followed by a bad one followed by a great one, etc. If that pattern holds, we could expect a good 2019-2020! However, climate change is certainly a contributing factor to the increased variability of harvests. How much? We don’t know.
There are already some positive signs in Crete, and some of the Greek islands, where the trees have lots of buds and flowers. When you have quantity in an olive harvest, you often have quality as well. So there’s a good chance we’re going to be able to deliver some great extra virgin olive oils to Amfora customers from the 2019-2020 harvest!
For supermarket products, however, a poor harvest can have a bad impact on the quality of the oils available on the shelves the year after. As extra virgin olive oil prices rise, the big brands tend to adulterate and dilute their oils more to keep the same profit. So we can expect supermarket oils to be especially unhealthy in 2020. An even better reason to start using Amfora!
We’re all worried about the impact of our consumption on the environment. We can help make you feel better there too – we transport our oils in bulk with the lower carbon footprint than the rest of the industry, and Amfora is a zero waste business. Nothing for you to throw away, everything gets re-used.
If you want to know more about how we get you the best and freshest olive oils in town, while consuming sustainably and in harmony with the environment, get in touch! We’re going to report more on the world of olive oil in our messaging, so watch this space.
