Planting Systems for Modern Olive Growing: Strengths and Weaknesses

Abstract

The objective of fully mechanizing olive harvesting has been pursued since the 1970s to cope with labor shortages and increasing production costs. Only in the last twenty years, after adopting super-intensive planting systems and developing appropriate straddle machines, a solution seems to have been found. The spread of super-intensive plantings, however, raises serious environmental and social concerns, mainly because of the small number of cultivars that are currently used (basically 2), compared to over 100 cultivars today cultivated on a large scale across the world. Olive growing, indeed, insists on over 11 million hectares. Despite its being located mostly in the Mediterranean countries, the numerous olive growing districts are characterized by deep differences in climate and soil and in the frequency and nature of environmental stress. To date, the olive has coped with biotic and abiotic stress thanks to the great cultivar diversity. Pending that new technologies supporting plant breeding will provide a wider number of cultivars suitable for super-intensive systems, in the short term, new growing models must be developed. New olive orchards will need to exploit cultivars currently present in various olive-growing areas and favor increasing productions that are environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable. As in fruit growing, we should focus on “pedestrian olive orchards”, based on trees with small canopies and whose top can be easily reached by people from the ground and by machines (from the side of the top) that can carry out, in a targeted way, pesticide treatments, pruning and harvesting.

Estimating Productivity, Detecting Biotic Disturbances, and Assessing the Health State of Traditional Olive Groves, Using Nondestructive Phenotypic Techniques

“…obs.). Therefore, an attempt was made to find traditional olive groves with clear features of cultivation practices of the past, obtaining a glimpse into the state of olive groves in the Mediterranean basin, as well as of Lesvos terraced groves, of previous decades [92]. These practices involved forming the trees' shape to a great height and crown area, in order to overcome environmental stress and to produce larger biennial crops, by being able to accumulate water and nutrients in their large trunk and branches, and their extensive canopy and root system.…”

“…These practices involved forming the trees' shape to a great height and crown area, in order to overcome environmental stress and to produce larger biennial crops, by being able to accumulate water and nutrients in their large trunk and branches, and their extensive canopy and root system. Modern cultivation practices are substantially differentiated in terms of techniques (irrigation, fertilization, mechanical harvesting, pruning) [92] and shape of trees, aiming at low-growing irrigated trees, with a specific leaf area that produces a constant crop annually [30].…”

Crop Diversification and Resilience of Drought-Resistant Species in Semi-arid Areas: An Economic and Environmental Analysis

“…The olive farming sector has to face a growing competition on the international olive oil market [31]. Nowadays the Italian sector is mainly represented by traditional olive orchards (80%), with less than 200 trees/ha, where production costs are higher than revenues, due to low productivity and low level of mechanization for pruning and harvesting operations [32,33]. Moreover, in Apulia, a disease denoted "Olive Quick Decline Syndrome" (OQDS) destroyed, in the last ten years, about 40% of the regional olive orchards.…”

“…Affected areas have been reported in other European Countries: Corsica (2015), France (2015), Balearic Islands (2016), Spain (2017), Portugal (2019) [36]. The regeneration strategies concern the replanting of X. fastidiosa-resistant olive tree cultivars [37,38], through the adoption of intensive and superintensive olive-growing models, since they increase yield and reduce the operating costs [33] with an enhancement of level of income. In alternative, a substitution of olive orchard with other crops, similar in soil, climate and technical requirements, have been taken in consideration in developing plans [39] Globally, almond (Prunus dulcis) cultivation is experiencing a period of renewed interest mainly due to a strong interest in the health properties of the fruits.…”

Short Gun Approaches for Alternate Bearing Control in Olive- A Review

“…During December end and January, olive trees can be pruned. Lo Bianco et al (2021) found that heavy pruning of olive cultivar Frantoio made it more likely to produce fruit. Pruning thorough use of chemicals i-e. Hexaconazole treatment is also a way to increase fruit set in a way that is both safe and effective.…”