• Agrivoltaics^[1] in olive oil farming refers to the dual use of agricultural land for both olive cultivation and solar energy production through the installation of photovoltaic (PV) panels above or between olive trees.
• Harvesting methods^[2]
• Bacciatura: Hitting the olive tree branches with sticks to make olives fall on sheets spread on the ground.
• Brucatura: Picking olives directly from the branches by hand, one by one, without letting them fall to the ground.
• Hand-harvesting: Plucking olives from the tree using handheld tools. It is ideal for small-scale olive oil production/allowing high-quality table olives; their collection from the tree is gentle. (Tools used: rakes, combs, buckets, nets).
• Mechanical harvesting: Using portable vibration tools or machines that clamp the tree trunk and shake the olives off the tree. It is ideal for large-scale production. (Tools used: branch shakers, tree-trunk shakers).
• Natural fall harvesting: Olives fall on the ground naturally and are harvested.
• Olive tree cultivars^[3]
• Dual-purpose varieties: Suitable for both table use and oil production.
• Oil-producing varieties: Specific olive tree cultivars primarily grown for olive oil extraction.
• Table olive: The product that is:

1. prepared from the sound fruits of varieties of the cultivated olive tree (olea europaea) that are chosen for their production of olives whose volume, shape, flesh-to-stone ratio, fine flesh, taste, firmness, and ease of detachment from the stone make them particularly suitable for processing.

Image 1 – Olives & olive oil vessel – Source: Freepik.com

• Treated to remove its bitterness and preserved by natural fermentation or by heat treatment, with or without the addition of preservatives.
• Olive tree subspecies per wider area:
• Olea europaea subsp. Cerasiformis (Madeira)
• Olea europaea subsp. Cuspidata (from South Africa throughout East Africa, Arabia to Southwest China)
• Olea europaea subsp. Europaea (Mediterranean Basin)
• Olea europaea subsp. Guanchica (Canaries)
• Olea europaea subsp. Maroccana (Morocco)
• Olea europaea subsp. Laperrinei (Algeria, Sudan, Niger)

The following image is a visual representation of the distribution of olive tree subspecies across the world:

Image 2 – Distribution of the olive tree subspecies – Source: Julca et al. (2023)

• Orchard management^[4]: The planning, establishment, and maintenance of an olive grove to maximize yield, fruit quality, and longevity of the trees while minimizing disease, pests, and input costs. It involves a mix of agronomic, ecological, and economic practices.
• Post-harvest handling^[5]: A series of operations and treatments that are applied to the olives straight after their collection from the tree and before they are processed into table olives or olive oil. It includes:

Image 3 – Olive’s sorting – Source: Freepik.com

• Cleaning: Removing dirt and foreign materials.
• Collection/sorting: Removing leaves, twigs, and diseased olives.
• Processing preparations:

1. For olive oil production: crushing and extraction within 24 hours after harvesting.
2. For table olives: debitter or submerge in brine.

• Storage: Keep olives for a maximum of 48 hours in well-ventilated warehouses.
• Transport: Rapid transportation to the mill using shallow crates to enhance the breathability and ventilation of the olives.
• Ripeness stages^[6]

Image 4 – Different types of olives – Source: Freepik.com

• Green: Bright green color, firm fruit, used for green table olives.
• Overripe: Wrinkled black skin, very soft texture, used for low-grade olive oil or animal feed.
• Purple to black: Dark flesh, soft texture, used for black table olives.
• Veraison: Reddish to purple color-flesh still green, mature, ideal for extra virgin olive oil.
• Yellow green^[7]: Pale green to yellowish, slightly mature, ideal for early harvest oil.