Producers Divided on 2025 Olive Harvest Amid Climate and Market Strains

Summary

The 2025 olive har­vest showed strong qual­ity but incon­sis­tent yields due to extreme heat, ris­ing costs, and unsta­ble mar­kets. Despite these chal­lenges, global pro­duc­tion slightly increased from the pre­vi­ous year, with some regions see­ing bet­ter qual­ity oil but lower quan­ti­ties. Producers remain opti­mistic about the future, invest­ing in inno­va­tion and qual­ity despite eco­nomic pres­sures and envi­ron­men­tal chal­lenges.

The 2025 olive har­vest deliv­ered strong qual­ity but incon­sis­tent yields, accord­ing to the annual Olive Oil Times Harvest Survey of olive oil pro­duc­ers world­wide.

Many respon­dents reported excel­lent oil, yet vol­umes lagged under the weight of extreme heat, ris­ing costs and unsta­ble mar­kets.

In a year marked by broad cli­matic volatil­ity, global pro­duc­tion ulti­mately trended slightly higher than the pre­vi­ous cam­paign but remained well below five-year aver­ages in sev­eral Mediterranean regions.

On a 0 – 100 scale, pro­duc­ers rated the 2025 sea­son at 67. They were evenly divided on whether the sea­son was bet­ter or worse than 2024, under­scor­ing the frag­mented nature of this year’s cam­paign.

The divide reflected not only local weather pat­terns but also regional posi­tions in their alter­nate-bear­ing cycle, with some return­ing from an ​“off” year and oth­ers enter­ing one.

“We are a com­pany ded­i­cated to the deep-rooted tra­di­tion of the olive tree,” said Diana Maiola of Domus Pacis in Italy. ​“In the end, it is all about the trees.”

Solid Quality, Mixed Yields

Producers rated over­all qual­ity at 8.0 and quan­tity at 6.3 on a 1 – 10 scale. The pat­tern was famil­iar across many regions: less oil, but very good oil.

This aligns with early assess­ments from national boards in Spain, Greece, and Italy, which all reported higher aver­age qual­ity indices than in recent drought-affected cam­paigns.

“I am very pleased with the qual­ity of my olive oil, espe­cially the polyphe­nol count,” said Mili Kus of Olivo Monte Cucco d.o.o. in Croatia.

Italy, Turkey and parts of the United States saw uneven yields, while Spain, New Zealand, Australia, Croatia and Greece reported com­par­a­tively strong cam­paigns, par­tic­u­larly in terms of qual­ity. Spain’s Andalusia region — still recov­er­ing from a multi-year drought — showed one of the most notable rebounds, sup­ported by late spring rains.

In Greece, pro­duc­ers in Crete and the Peloponnese described the sea­son as ​“sur­pris­ingly sta­ble” after early fears of heat-related losses.

“We har­vested early as we’re organic — the yield was low, but we had a good crop,” said Edward of A Macchia D’Olio in Italy.

Heat, Weather Extremes and Olive Fruit Fly Define the Year

Producers cited a clus­ter of envi­ron­men­tal pres­sures shap­ing the sea­son.

In sev­eral Mediterranean regions, day­time tem­per­a­tures dur­ing flow­er­ing exceeded 40 °C (104 °F), reduc­ing fruit set and accel­er­at­ing water stress.

Extended heat waves, erratic pre­cip­i­ta­tion and ris­ing pest pres­sure were among the dom­i­nant forces shap­ing the sea­son.

At the same time, ele­vated humid­ity in parts of Italy, Slovenia and the west­ern Balkans fueled renewed out­breaks of the olive fruit fly, which had been sub­dued in recent dry years.

“We had a promis­ing flow­er­ing, but a 105-degree week dur­ing this cru­cial time made for poor yield this year,” said Angela Partridge of The Partridge Family Olive Co. in the United States.

In North Africa, timely rains helped sta­bi­lize the sea­son. ​“Here in Morocco, with some rain the pro­duc­tion will be the high­est ever,” said Youssef of Olive Yssen. Tunisia, by con­trast, remained below its long-term aver­age after wide­spread spring drought, though some coastal regions reported encour­ag­ing late-sea­son recov­ery.

For many, adap­ta­tion has become rou­tine. ​“There are five major chal­lenges shap­ing the future of arti­sanal olive oil,” said Stefano and Laurence Zenezini-Deprez of Azienda Agricola Cultura Viva in Italy. ​“Climate change is deeply embed­ded in all of them.”

Labor and Cost Pressures Challenge Sustainability

Economic pres­sures con­tin­ued to squeeze pro­duc­ers, espe­cially those oper­at­ing tra­di­tional or hand-har­vested groves. Labor short­ages remained a top con­cern for 41 per­cent of respon­dents, and many cited ris­ing milling, pack­ag­ing and elec­tric­ity costs.

EU data for 2025 con­firm that agri­cul­tural labor costs rose an aver­age of 7 – 12 per­cent across south­ern Europe, with sev­eral pro­duc­ers report­ing even sharper increases in sea­sonal-har­vest wages.

“Big con­cern regard­ing the lack of man­power for tra­di­tion­al/non-irri­gated groves,” said Ana Cardoso of Monte do Camelo Lda in Portugal.

“Cannot take a price reduc­tion — cost of elec­tric­ity will go up because of net-zero,” said Ron Baker of Woodside Farm in Australia.

“It’s never so bad that it couldn’t get worse,” added Miran of Ronkaldo in Slovenia.

Higher Prices, Uncertain Demand

While many pro­duc­ers reported higher prices than last year, they also expressed uncer­tainty about long-term demand, mar­ket sta­bil­ity and con­sumer under­stand­ing.

Wholesale prices across Spain, Italy and Greece remained his­tor­i­cally ele­vated for much of 2025, though some mar­kets showed signs of eas­ing as the new har­vest reached bot­tlers.

“There needs to be more pro­tec­tion and def­i­n­i­tion around true extra vir­gin olive oil,” said Steffen Rind Helsbro of Masseria Carrassa.

“The basic mar­ket price doesn’t even cover the yearly cost,” said Elisabeth Tsapekis, a pro­ducer in Greece’s Lakonia region.

“Consumers still don’t appre­ci­ate pre­mium EVOO vs bulk oil,” said Geoffrey Peters of Showa Farm in the United States.

Passion vs. Profit: The Small Producer’s Challenge

Many small-scale grow­ers described deep per­sonal con­nec­tions to their groves despite mount­ing eco­nomic strain. Several noted that while pro­duc­tion costs con­tinue to rise, direct-to-con­sumer sales and tourism remain essen­tial life­lines, keep­ing fam­ily oper­a­tions viable.

“I am a very small grower — more seri­ous hobby than any­thing,” wrote D’Aun Goble of D’Oliva Oliva Oil in the United States. ​“This year I made an amaz­ing oil sold mostly to friends and fam­ily.”

“Our work is rooted in our land and our fam­ily,” said Michele Librandi of Tenute Librandi Pasquale Società Agricola in Calabria. Many pro­duc­ers echoed this sen­ti­ment, empha­siz­ing that gen­er­a­tional knowl­edge and cul­tural stew­ard­ship remain cen­tral even as con­di­tions grow more demand­ing.

Looking Forward: Optimism Against the Odds

On a 0 – 100 scale, pro­duc­ers rated their con­fi­dence in the future of their busi­ness at 76, reflect­ing a resilient out­look sup­ported by inno­va­tion, adap­ta­tion and con­tin­ued invest­ment in qual­ity.

Many pointed to improved irri­ga­tion man­age­ment and new tech­nolo­gies such as pre­dic­tive pest mod­el­ing and more effi­cient mills as rea­sons for cau­tious opti­mism.

Despite the pres­sures, many pro­duc­ers reaf­firmed their com­mit­ment to their land, their craft and the long-term future of extra vir­gin olive oil. As one Mediterranean grower noted, ​“We may be har­vest­ing less, but we are har­vest­ing smarter.”