SPATA, Greece (AP) – In an olive grove on the outskirts of Athens, grower Konstantinos Markou pushes aside new shoots to expose tree stumps. The specimen is said to be about 150 years old. 15 It was cut down by robbers who wanted to turn their neighbors’ land into gold.
The price of olive oil has soared, due in part to a two-year drought in Spain, creating an opportunity for criminals across the Mediterranean. Olive-growing centers in Greece, Spain and Italy are experiencing an increase in warehouse break-ins, dilution of premium oils with inferior products and falsification of shipping data. And perhaps worst of all, gangs use chainsaws to steal heavily piled branches or entire trees from unguarded groves.
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“Olive thieves sometimes produce more oil than the owners themselves. Seriously,” Markou said before heading out to patrol his orchards at night.
The crime means lower olive yields for growers already battling high production costs and climate change that has brought warmer winters, widespread flooding and more intense forest fires. In the southern Italian region of Puglia, producers are petitioning police to create an agricultural department. Greek farmers want the reinstatement of local police departments, which were phased out in 2010. In Spain, a company has developed an olive-like tracking device to catch thieves.
Olive tree theft is on the rise in Greece, prompting calls for more local police.
The olive groves on the outskirts of Athens, now located on the plains surrounding Athens International Airport, are part of a tradition dating back to ancient times. Some trees are hundreds of years old.
Most thefts occur at branches. Once an entire tree is felled, thieves typically cut it down and load it into a pickup truck, sell the wood to lumberyards and firewood dealers, and transport the olives to refineries.
“[The robbers]look for branches that are heavy and cut them,” said Neiros Papachristou, whose family has run an olive mill and nearby orchard for four generations. “So not only do they steal our olives, but they also seriously harm the trees. It takes four to five years for them to recover.”
The theft has led some growers to harvest early, which means accepting lower yields to avoid long-term damage to the trees. Among them was Christos, one of the farmers who was tossing crops into stainless steel loading bins, untying bags and overturning tall wicker baskets from the bed of a pickup truck at Papachristou’s factory.・Includes Bekas.
Bekas, who owns 5,000 olive trees, was attacked by thieves several times before deciding to harvest early. As a result, producing one kilogram of oil now requires more than 2.5 times as many olives by weight as last year, he said.
“And all this happened after we spent the night guarding the fields,” he said. “The situation is frightening.”
The global olive oil market, which has been growing for decades, has been disrupted by a nearly two-year drought in Spain, which typically accounts for about 40% of global supply. Global production of this crop is expected to fall to 2.5 million tons from 3.4 million tons last year.
The benchmark price for extra virgin oil in Spain, Greece and Italy reached 9 euros ($4.35 per pound) in September, more than tripling from 2019 levels.
That leads to higher prices for consumers. In Greece, the price of a liter bottle of extra virgin oil has increased from $8 to $9 last year to $15 this year.
Spanish police announced in October that they had recovered 91 tonnes of olives stolen in recent weeks. In February, six people were arrested on suspicion of stealing eight tons of olive oil in a series of warehouse break-ins over several weeks in southern Greece.
Farmers around the port city of Bari in southwestern Italy say thieves are becoming increasingly brazen, stealing tractors and expensive equipment along with their olives.
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Last month, the local agricultural association requested police assistance after reports that 100 olive trees were knocked down or seriously damaged in a single incident. The association’s leader, Gennaro Scicolo, called the economic damage “huge” and said “farmers must be protected.”
“This is a serious crime,” Greek grower Markou said of cutting down the tree. “You’re killing your history here.”
