Compartimos el enlace al interesante podcast documental “Spain – ‘liquid gold’ under pressure” sobre el panorama actual de los olivares en España, emitido recientemente por el BBC World Service con la participación, entre otros entrevistados, de Raúl de la Rosa Navarro investigador del Departamento de Mejora Genética Vegetal del Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible del CSIC.

Spain is the world’s largest producer of olive oil. But successive, brutal droughts have led to plummeting production, whilst prices have reached record highs. For 2024 / 2025, the weather’s been better – Spain’s predicted to increase the quantity of olives harvested. Even so, this remains a stressed industry. Climate change hasn’t gone away – as we saw so devastatingly last year in Valencia. And in some areas of Spain, the scarcity of water has persisted, with predictions of a near 90% drop in olive production. Critics say super-intensive farming – the rise of the olive ‘mega-farm’ – may also further threaten depleted water resources. Meanwhile, the soaring price of the olives that produce ‘liquid gold’ means rural law enforcement is taken up with cases of theft by criminal gangs targeting this precious commodity.