The harvest season usually starts at the end of October and ends towards the end of December-beginning of January. According to the data of the olive branch in the Plant Council, the consumption of olive oil in Israel is estimated at about 25 thousand tons per year. About 9,000 tons of this quantity is sold in the marketing chains, about 5,000 tons are sold in the institutional market, and the rest – in direct sales from the local producers to consumers in the visitor centers, fabric shops, etc.
Olive oil production in Israel consists of private olive groves (which are not irrigated), which produce an average of 30-50 kg of oil per acre, as well as irrigated orchards, which are irrigated and treated more intensively and yield an average of 150-200 kg of olive oil per acre.
Last year, due to climate problems, only about 12,000 tons of olive oil were produced, while this year (2022), due to the cold winter data, a high harvest of about 18,000 tons is expected. The import of olive oil to Israel is about 10,000 tons per year. The scope of the olive oil industry in Israel is estimated at about NIS 500 million. The absolute majority of the local production is marketed in Israel (the majority not through the marketing chains). Only a small amount of Israeli olive oil is exported abroad (a number ranging from 100-300 tons).
Olive scented care
Olea Essence –
The fabric house of the Golan, Katzrin
“A few weeks ago we started the harvest, and in January we are supposed to finish. I lead a technological harvest, which is based less on manpower, and this is a very exciting time,” says Avner Talmon, the owner (with his wife Samdar) of the Golan Cloth House in Katsrin. The Talmons’ plantations are spread around the Sea of Galilee.
“I started building the Beit Habad building in 2004, and we started operations after about two years. But because of the Second Lebanon War, the real activity started in 2010,” Talmon adds. “Beit Hebed produces olive oil only from the olives I grow. My agriculture is regenerative agriculture, which focuses on the health and regeneration of soils. I don’t spray anything.”
Our oil: “I produce about 100 tons a year, use 11 varieties for years and make blends, mixtures of varieties. Before the corona virus, we had four stores throughout the country. The stores were closed, and now we sell online all over the country and the world. We also have distributors in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.
“Also, in addition to the olive oil itself, we focus on the production of 60 natural, organic and olive oil-based skin care products (creams, lotions, etc.). We develop, make formulations, manufacture and also export. Our products are under the Olea Essence brand. We have Also a very large visitor center that is visited by about 100,000 people a year.”
The challenges: “There is no great difficulty – growing olives is not as difficult as growing mangoes or citrus fruits. But the industry is very problematic, because the oil itself is in tremendous competition. There is an import of low-quality olive oil, and as a result the local farmers cannot make a profit.”
for the soul
Netai Kena, Moshav Bnei Ram
“I was a farmer for many years in the vegetable field. 15 years ago I decided that I wanted to light Hanukkah candles from my own oil, and with my wife Nirit I planted a 20 dunam olive grove on our farm in Moshav Bnei Ram. For us, producing oil is a celebration, and the harvest symbolizes the beginning of the celebration,” says Azaria honest
Our oil: “This year we have a lot of olives, but we still don’t know exactly how much oil there will be. Last year we produced 1,800 liters, but they broke into the mill and stole about 700 liters. We don’t have our own mill – we use another mill. There was a thought to open one, but the price is very expensive. Also, since in addition to taking care of the plantation, I also work in other things outside the farm, I don’t have time to run a fabric shop.
“We sell the olive oil, branded as ‘honest vegetable oil,’ at our house. It passes by word of mouth, among friends. You can’t really make a living from the amount we produce, but it’s fun for us to come to our friends and bring them a bottle of olive oil. This cultivation is for the soul. For us, it’s really a therapy for the soul. People who taste the oil say it’s very tasty. We have three varieties: Cortina, Piquel and Barnea. We usually mix Barnea with Cortina, because Cortina has a very spicy taste.”
Netai Kena (Photo: Nirit Kena)The challenges: “The big problem is the harvest. My orchard is built on a manual harvester, not a mechanized one, and it takes a lot of workers to take the olives off the trees.”
Netai Kena (Photo: Nirit Kena)continue the dream
Her sister’s farm, Shiloh
“From our point of view, the harvest season is a time full of work and the aromas of soil and fresh olive oil,” says Yedidia Meman, the agricultural manager of the Ahia farm in the settlement of Shiloh in the Mata Binyamin Regional Council. “With the coming of winter, we sample the olive groves to know the optimal time for harvesting. When the olives begin to change their color from green to purple, we start harvesting with a shaker, which hugs the trunk of the tree and transmits vibrations to it, and these cause the fruit to fall onto the net spread under the tree. Immediately At the end of the harvest, the olives are taken to the canvas house, washed and the oil extraction process begins.”
Her brother’s farm (photo: Yedidia Maman)Meman adds: “The origin of the brand is in a single house and farm that the late Yossi Shuker and his wife Ronit founded on Givat Ahya east of Shiloh. They were called ‘crazy’, but they insisted, held on, and the settlement grew. The farm was established in 2004, Yossi planted hundreds of olive trees in several orchards in the Shiloh area. In the early years, he would take the olives to different textile mills. After that, he imported machinery from Italy and established the first Hebrew textile house in Binyamin, in the settlement of Ahia.
Her brother’s farm (photo: Yedidia Maman)The company he founded was called ‘Ahya Farm’. One day, while washing the oil production machines, Yossi was tragically injured and died a few years later. In order to move Ahya’s farm forward, some young residents of the settlement neighboring Ali planted about 400 dunams of olive vineyards in the fertile valley lands, and established a sophisticated textile mill and the Eretz Zeit company with the aim of developing Hebrew agriculture. The company’s products are marketed under the brand Mesk Ahya as a continuation of the work of the Shukar family. The farm is an agricultural company that grows 350 dunams of olive trees and 350 dunams of vines, operates a textile mill and produces olive oil and wine.”
Our oil: “Each season, about 1,200 tons of olives pass through the modern Beth Bet. Ahya’s farm produces about 800 tons of Israeli olive oil a year, which is marketed on the farm’s online site, in various health and wine stores, and in boutique wineries throughout the country. The range of varieties is wide, such as Arabkina, Suri, Piquel, Korneiki, and from them olive oil with various flavors and aromas is produced.”
The challenges: “The olive tree is an alternating tree, which means that one year it brings a lot of harvest and the following year a little – which makes growing it economically and professionally challenging. On the other hand, the olive tree is a very strong tree that can survive even in difficult conditions and for years.”
Not just honey
Yad Mordechai olive oil, Kibbutz Yad Mordechai
“The harvest season sums up a long period of growing and treating the tree until the olive oils are received from the farm. The olives from which we extract the oil are grown throughout Israel, from the north of the Golan Heights to the Negev. When there is a shortage, we supplement the purchase of quality olive oils from the Andalusia region of Spain or Crete and Greece,” she says Tamar Tsioni, food technologist and olive oil expert by Yad Mordechai. “In 2004, the Yad Mordechai-Strauss apiary began producing and marketing extra virgin olive oil. The factory, which until then produced only honey, was expanded, and an advanced olive oil laboratory was established. Our oil is marketed all over the country in all marketing chains, mini markets, supermarkets and grocery stores.”
Yad Mordechai Hayogev Fabric House (Photo: Eden Halfa Fishlovitz)Our oil: “Yad Mordechai specializes in creating blends, a combination of olive varieties with three flavor strengths: delicate, classic and strong. Since 2004 and until today, in each harvest, more than ten different olive varieties are extracted – each of them has its own taste, aroma and signature properties. When we We receive the oils from the various varieties, we create a mixture of a precise blend for the unique taste of Yad Mordechai olive oil, adapted to the Israeli palate. In 2018, an excellent virgin olive oil spray without added gas was also added to the range. The spray contains the same olive oil in a way that allows it to be used in a controlled amount and measured”.
The challenges: “The industry is characterized by regulatory uncertainty. Also, the changing weather affects the quantity and quality of the crops, and there is also the phenomenon of alternation (where in one year the tree produces a high yield and the following year a very low yield), and we must prepare accordingly in terms of stocks and olive oil procurement “.
without mixtures
Karma, the farm of the Hebrew Shepherd
“The most important thing in the process done at Beit Habed is to determine the right date in terms of the olive, the time of harvest. Because we are on the border of the Judean desert, we start the harvest season early, in early September, and finish at the beginning of November,” says Boaz Ido, the owner of Beit Habed Karma, which is located in the Hebrew Shepherd Farm within the settlement of Kfar Adumim. “The fabric house is able to receive 750 kg of olives per hour. From the moment of harvesting, within 40-60 minutes, the olives turn into oil. All year round it excites us to see the olive trees in the middle of the desert blossoming and bearing fruit. Karma’s vineyards were planted in 1979 by the first settlers in Kfar Adumim. Due to many difficulties, the vineyards managed to survive only for ten years. The Eretz Berashit tourist site (of which Ido is also the owner – AS) decided to rehabilitate the vineyards, and since 2013 we have also been engaged in agriculture, restoration and renewal of olive trees. In the vineyard, they irrigate, prune and mow about 150 dunams of olive trees. The amount of olive oil produced per year varies According to the harvest. This is about 20,000 liters. This year we will probably reach more.”
Beit Hebad Karma (Photo: Yaniv Negev)Our oil: “Six types of olives are grown at the farm: Manzanillo, Picuel, Fisholin, Cortina, Barnea and Askal. Unlike most cloth fabrics, we do not make mixtures, we do not make blends. We are a varietal fabric house – we have all the varieties and that’s what we specialize in. Olive oil It is sold at several points of sale at Shaar Binyamin, in Jerusalem, in Tel Aviv, in Ma’ale Adumim and more, and through the Beit Habed website.
The challenges: “We face the natural difficulties of agriculture, but we get along great with them and even love them.”