Cultivating Olive Oil Culture Through the Recognition of Heritage Trees

Academics, pro­duc­ers and advo­cates of the olive oil sec­tor have come together in the Americas to help pre­serve the two con­ti­nents’ rich his­tory of olive cul­ti­va­tion and pro­mote its cul­tural impor­tance.

Three cen­te­nary olive trees were rec­og­nized at the first annual International Contest for the Enhancement of Heritage Olives in America, which was hosted vir­tu­ally by Sudoliva in mid-December.

A 400-year-old Arauca tree in La Rioja, Argentina, another quadri­cen­ten­nial tree in Ilo, Peru and a much younger but no less sig­nif­i­cant cen­te­nary tree in Chimalhuacán, Mexico won the top hon­ors. In all, 24 trees from seven coun­tries were nom­i­nated.

“We are doing this so we can iden­tify all the her­itage trees,” Gianfranco Vargas, the founder of Sudoliva, told Olive Oil Times. ​“Not nec­es­sar­ily based on the fact that they are the old­est, but what the impor­tance, the her­itage, is for the whole of soci­ety — for its his­tory and cul­ture.”

While Vargas orig­i­nally founded Sudoliva three years ago as an olive oil qual­ity com­pe­ti­tion, the Peruvian researcher and pro­duc­tion con­sul­tant always sought to iden­tify and cel­e­brate her­itage olive trees.

“We did the first con­test in Lima with the olive tree that San Martín de Porres planted [being rec­og­nized],” he said. At the fol­low­ing edi­tion of the con­test another cen­te­nary tree from Arica, Chile was awarded. In 2019, the Olivo de la Reina de La Frontera, located near Bagé, Rio Grande do Sul, was rec­og­nized.

However, just before the third edi­tion of the con­test could take place the Covid-19 pan­demic took hold across the Americas with dev­as­tat­ing con­se­quences. As a result, the qual­ity por­tion of the con­test was can­celed and Sudoliva quickly focussed its empha­sis on her­itage olive trees.

“If the objec­tive is to value the olive trees rather than hold an olive oil con­test, the most impor­tant thing was to hold a con­test that helps us iden­tify all the her­itage olive trees in the Americas,” Vargas said.

Vargas and his col­leagues at Sudoliva see this new ver­sion of the con­test as a way to build an olive oil cul­ture in North and South America that is sim­i­lar to what one finds in south­ern Europe.

Identifying and rec­og­niz­ing these her­itage olive trees is the first step in this process. Once the trees have been iden­ti­fied, Vargas believes they can be used to pro­mote oleo­tur­ismo– olive oil tourism – and can add value to the oils pro­duced from their olives.

“In other words, the trees ful­fill a social, cul­tural and his­tor­i­cal func­tion,” Vargas said.

To illus­trate his point, Vargas points to the cen­te­nary tree in Chimalhuacán, a steadily grow­ing city just north­east of Mexico’s sprawl­ing cap­i­tal. The local author­i­ties there nom­i­nated the tree in the con­test in an effort to help pro­tect it.

“They want to recover it because in this area there has been urban growth, but the trees have not been cut down,” Vargas said. ​“The houses have been built and these neigh­bor­hoods, which are mar­ginal neigh­bor­hoods, have grown in the mid­dle of the olive trees.”

“Many of these peo­ple who are of low eco­nomic resources har­vest these olive trees that are extremely large,” he added. ​“They sell the olives and work in the grove.”

With this for­mal recog­ni­tion, Vargas believes the tree will cre­ate more value for the local com­mu­nity. Along with the other two win­ners and 21 con­tes­tants, the tree will soon be fea­tured on a new web­site and asso­ci­ated social media feeds.

In the case of Chimalhuacán, the award will also draw atten­tion to the city’s olive fes­ti­val.

“There is a very impor­tant social and cul­tural fac­tor in how olive grow­ing has been main­tained and how it has con­tin­ued with these neigh­bor­hoods, for these peo­ple in Chimalhuacán,” Vargas said.

Along with help­ing to put these New World olive oil des­ti­na­tions on the map, the com­pe­ti­tion also serves as a sort of cen­sus, with local gov­ern­ments and mem­bers of the olive oil sec­tor work­ing to iden­tify cen­te­nary trees and nom­i­nate them for the com­ing con­tests.

“The idea is that the con­test, through tech­nol­ogy, uses all the resources to be able to iden­tify, cat­a­log and map these her­itage olive trees in the Americas,” he said.

In the case of some of the quadri­cen­ten­nial trees in Argentina, the con­test can also help local author­i­ties pre­serve the trees and stem the spread of dis­eases that might oth­er­wise have gone unde­tected.

“For exam­ple, the Arauco olive tree [in Aimogasta] appar­ently has Xylella fas­tidiosa, which is wor­ri­some for all of us, and in a way that is also what we want to man­age,” Vargas said. ​“There are many trees that are between life and death and the only way to pro­tect them is by giv­ing them value.”

As this new iter­a­tion of the Sudoliva con­test evolves, Vargas said it will also become a forum for train­ing olive farm­ers and oil pro­duc­ers on how to effec­tively host tourists and tast­ings.

He hopes to be able to expand upon this part of the con­test at the next edi­tion, which will take place in-per­son in Aimogasta, which is home to Argentina’s old­est olive tree (one of the award win­ners this year).

“Next year we are going to do it in Argentina. We have tried to make it in Aimogasta, to give it value, to give it more impor­tance there in San Juan,” Vargas said.

“There are many more olive trees. We are talk­ing about 24 out of thou­sands,” he added. ​“Every year, we hope that many more will be added and that we will shape the route.”