In Greece the olive harvest starts in mid-September for green table olives and early harvest oils and can run into March, while on Corfu fruit was traditionally gathered from nets as it fell naturally until June. The date depends on the cultivar, altitude, the season's rainfall and above all on what each grower is after, quantity or quality. In autumn 2021 Wikifarmer spoke to 22 olive growers from Crete to Thrace, and their experience, presented below in full, shows a clear shift towards ever earlier harvesting.
When growers harvest in each region
| Region | Cultivar | Harvest starts | Harvesting method |
| Chania, Crete | Tsounati, Koroneiki | Around 20 September | Battery hook harvesters |
| Makri, Alexandroupoli | Makri | Mid-October | Trunk shakers, hook harvesters |
| Ofrynio, Kavala | Chalkidikis (table) | Late September | By hand |
| Arkalochori, Heraklion | Koroneiki | Late October | Nets and crates |
| Messara, Crete | Koroneiki | 20 October | Pneumatic harvesters |
| Apollona, Rhodes | Koroneiki, Rodou | November | Hook harvesters |
| Plomari, Lesvos | Kolovi | November | Hand-held hook harvesters |
| Stylida, Phthiotis | Amfissis | September for table, second half of October for oil | By hand, hook harvesters |
| Stylida, Phthiotis (cooperative) | Konservolia (table) | After the first September rains | By hand, combs, harvesters |
| Itea, Phocis | Amfissis | End of September | Hook harvesters |
| Messolonghi | Koroneiki, Koutsourelia, Kalamon | Start of October | Hand-held harvesters |
| Trikeri, Magnesia | Piliou | Late August to September | Finger harvester on 12 V battery |
| Paliampela, Vonitsa | Koroneiki | Late October | Section by section |
| Schimatari, Boeotia | Megaritiki, Evias | Second half of October | Pneumatic harvesters |
| Lixouri, Kefalonia | Koroneiki, Korfolia, Ntopia | Mid-October | By hand, plastic rakes |
| Troizina, Argolis | Manaki, Koroneiki | 10 to 20 October | Pneumatic harvesters |
| Astros, Kynouria | Chondrolia Kynourias (table) | Around the end of September | By hand |
| Krokees, Laconia | Koroneiki, Smyrtolia, Kalamon | Mid-October | Hook harvesters |
| Gytheio, Laconia | Koroneiki, Kalamon | Early November | Hook harvesters |
| Filiatra, Messinia | Koroneiki | Around 20 September | Pneumatic harvesters |
| Lampaina, Messinia | Koroneiki | End of October | Finger harvester with generator |
| Agios Matthaios, Corfu | Lianolia, Koroneiki | Traditionally November to June | Trunk shaker |
Source: Wikifarmer interviews with the growers, autumn 2021. Dates refer to a normal season and shift with rainfall and temperature.
What the growers have in common
Almost every grower describes a move towards earlier harvesting. In Makri the harvest has shifted to mid-October over the last 10 to 15 years, in Lampaina in Messinia, where nobody used to start before 6 December, the grower now begins at the end of October, and in Schimatari a delay of two weeks is enough to raise acidity by 0.2%. As the grower from Plomari stresses, the most common mistake is to leave olives on the tree long after they ripen in the belief that they will give more oil, a myth also covered in 6 mistakes that decrease olive oil quality.
The signal to start comes from micro oil extractions and oil content analysis, the first purple colouring on the fruit and, in rain-fed groves, the first autumn rains. On rain, the growers agree that harvesting waits. Panagiotis Danatzis from Itea harvests only when there has been no rain for 2 to 3 days before and none is forecast after, while Manos Kokkinelis harvests after the first rains but not in wet weather, as explained in detail in when to harvest olives after rain.
For transport, almost all of them insist on crates instead of sacks and on milling within a few hours or by the next day at the latest, with harvesting tools and machines ranging from hand rakes to trunk shakers. After harvest several growers spray copper to protect the wounds, and most prune between January and March, with a few in mild areas pruning straight after harvest.
From the 2027/28 season Greek growers will also have to file a mandatory olive harvest declaration, based on the data in the olive registry.
Growers' experience from across Greece
Eftychios Androulakis made the Tsounati cultivar famous in Chania
Despite the common belief that Tsounati cannot produce high-quality olive oil, and always with his father's support, Eftychios Androulakis managed to create Pamako and win over the national and international market. According to the grower, the monovarietal oil from Tsounati and the blend of 60% Tsounati and 40% Koroneiki are now prescribed as a food supplement in Belgium, thanks to phenolic content that reaches 1,800 mg/kg. In an organic grove on a steep slope at 500 to 700 metres, Mr Androulakis cultivates 10,000 Koroneiki trees and 4,000 Tsounati trees aged 300 to 1,000 years, which reach 15 and even 20 metres in height.
Workers climb into the tall Tsounati trees and harvest them with battery hook harvesters.
Harvesting both cultivars usually starts on 20 September, but the severe dry spell of summer 2021 was expected to push the start back to 5 October that year. At that point the olives have a green-yellow skin. Results from small oil extractions of 100 ml, which give data on oil content and organoleptic characteristics at different moments, point to the exact harvest date.
Because of the extreme height of the Tsounati trees and the terrain, harvesting is tricky, with workers in many cases climbing the trees on ropes. To protect the quality of the product and the environment, Mr Androulakis uses only battery-powered vibrating hook harvesters. Two weeks after the harvest ends, he spreads compost of his own production on the field. Pruning follows two months later, with as few branches as possible removed from the Tsounati trees.
Besides meticulous cultivation, the excellent quality of Pamako is also the result of constant experimentation at the mill with oil expert Mr Michalis Marakos. Alongside olive growing, Mr Androulakis modifies the machinery at the mill, and his latest invention, a new system for washing and drying olives that lowers fruit temperature by 2 to 3 degrees, was going through the patent process at the time of the interview.
An ideal microclimate creates the high-quality Cyclops olive oil in Makri
The family grove of 12,000 centuries-old trees of the Makri cultivar lies close to the sea near Alexandroupoli, in one of the northernmost parts of Greece where olives grow. Having added a private olive mill to the family business in 1982 and applying integrated management practices, the producers of Cyclops (Kyklopas in Greek) have made an extra virgin olive oil that reached the world's top ten in quality rankings. Organic farming is applied on 2,000 trees, and yield fluctuates strongly because of alternate bearing.
"For the last 10 to 15 years we have been starting the harvest earlier, in mid-October, to give extra value to the final product. We see more and more olive producers in the area following that trend," they told the Wikifarmer team. Oil content analysis of the fruit gives the harvest signal. Vibrating trunk shakers and nets are used, as well as vibrating hook harvesters. "The olives have to be stored temporarily in crates holding 20 kg, since they ensure better airflow around the fruit," the grower says.
Gloves protect the precious Chalkidiki olives of Michalis Nikos in Ofrynio
An irrigated grove of 3,500 trees of the indigenous Chalkidikis cultivar, also called Chondrolia Chalkidikis, produces the exceptional olive oil Εnnέα and almond-sized fruit. The grower sorts the fruit by size and uses the smallest, 200 olives per kilogram and above, for early harvest oil (agoureleo), while the larger ones are sold as table olives. Mr Nikos does not thin the fruit and instead reduces excess flowers mechanically early in the season, in April and May. He sometimes sprays products to improve fruit set. Thanks to proper pruning and irrigation, the trees produce steadily every year without dramatic alternate bearing.
Chalkidiki table olives are picked strictly by hand, with gloves, so that the sensitive fruit is not bruised.
Harvesting takes place in mid-autumn, in late September and October, and is done strictly by hand. Workers wear gloves or protective tape on their fingernails so as not to damage the sensitive olives. The trees are pruned later, from 25 February to 10 March. "Because of irrigation, the trees grow strongly and vigorously, which we need to control every year with good pruning. We also remove the suckers and water shoots in July," the grower says.
Love and respect for the tree make the Seven Olea olive oil in Arkalochori
The extra virgin olive oil Seven Olea, which carries a health claim, is produced from 370 Koroneiki trees in Arkalochori, Crete. The trees are 50, 30 and 20 years old and grow organically in a rain-fed grove. Harvest takes place from late October to early November, after the first rains but not in wet weather, so that the branches gain elasticity and do not get injured or broken.
"In general, the ideal time for harvesting is when the fruit has reached a ripeness index of 2. At that point we achieve maximum oil content and high phenolic concentration. Visually, this stage is reached when purple covers less than 50% of the fruit skin," says the grower, Manos Kokkinelis. "Our goal is to produce a high-quality product by doing what we love most," he continues. According to Mr Kokkinelis, when deciding the harvest time every grower should take into account the location of the grove, such as its altitude.
It is also essential to check whether the crop is at risk from extreme weather or a pest or disease outbreak, in which case the harvest should start there. If two people pick each tree, they should start from the same spot and move in a circle in opposite directions, so as not to step on the fallen fruit. Under no circumstances should plastic or jute sacks be used.
Instead, olives should be gathered in plastic crates, where airflow is better. Finding a good olive mill matters a great deal, as extraction can dramatically affect the quality of the final product, with quality losses of up to 50%. Finally, Mr Kokkinelis stressed the importance of continuous training for olive growers, the need to join forces in producer cooperatives, and the value that good agricultural practices and the standardisation of olive oil add to the final product.
Well-studied techniques are the secret of Markos Kelly's ἔ.thoς of Crete in Messara
In almost the southernmost part of Greece, the family of Markos Kelly produces an olive oil sold from Scandinavia to Britain, with plans for Japan and the USA at the time of the interview. The 3.5-hectare Koroneiki grove lies at the foot of the Asterousia mountains at 250 to 300 metres. A sixth-generation olive grower who constantly seeks to expand his knowledge, Mr Kelly pursues quality over quantity and "locks" fruity aromas into his oil by harvesting on 20 October with pneumatic harvesters.
The first purple colouring on the skin, together with micro oil extractions, gives the harvest signal in Messara.
The first purple colouring on the fruit skin and micro oil extractions, which give data on oil content, phenols and organoleptic characteristics, provide a double and reliable harvest signal. "It is still quite common to see people collecting olives from the trees in January, even in March. This can dramatically reduce both fruit quality and the next season's yield. Small, fragmented holdings and the lack of workers delay the harvest," the grower says. After harvest, using only crates to move the fruit to the mill, extraction starts within 5 hours.
Gianna Leventi harvests from the start of November in Apollona on Rhodes
The 2,000 Koroneiki and Rodou trees behind Rodian Olive Oil Products, aged 20 to 80 years, are grown conventionally and without irrigation. Strong alternate bearing is a common problem on the island, says grower Gianna Leventi. The harvest starts in November and lasts until January, using only vibrating hook harvesters.
The late-maturing Kolovi cultivar produces a rich olive oil on the steep groves of Plomari
Each cultivar on the island has its own ripening time, but Kolovi is the latest, explains grower Apostolos Toumanis, who cultivates 4,000 trees of it. "It is a common mistake to leave the olives on the trees long after they ripen in the belief that they will produce more oil. That way product quality falls and next year's crop is also put at risk," he says.
On the steep groves of Plomari, the fruit falls onto nets laid across the terraces.
To produce green oil rich in polyphenols and aromas, Mr Toumanis starts harvesting in November, and in years when the trees are not heavily loaded the harvest may start a little later. As with most tasks, harvesting on the island is difficult because of the steep terrain, and the only suitable equipment is the hand-held vibrating hook harvester. Pruning takes place from 10 to 15 March or later. Working mainly with hand saws and secateurs and removing as few branches as possible, Mr Toumanis treats pruning as delicate work, while heavier pruning with chainsaws is done every 3 to 4 years to lower the trees.
Hand harvesting produces the "golden" Amfora Icons olive oil in Stylida
With a century of experience, olive growing is a family tradition for Mr Giorgos Balatsos. His grove of 10,000 Amfissis trees, 100 to 600 years old, lies on Mount Othrys, and the fruit is used both as table olives and for oil. The trees are highly tolerant of drought and temperature swings, and despite moderate productivity the fruit is of high quality and rich in sugars. To secure this quality and create a premium oil, Mr Balatsos harvests 2,000 of his trees by hand in the second half of October.
The Amfissis groves behind Amfora Icons spread over the slopes of Mount Othrys.
"We pick the olives between ripeness stages three and five, when the skin changes from yellow to light purple. We harvest at that point because we want a high concentration of polyphenols and a rich flavour," the grower explains. Table olives, by contrast, are picked green in September, by hand and with vibrating hook harvesters. Depending on conditions and the weather forecast, the trees are pruned in January and February to avoid frost damage.
The Stylida Olive Producers Cooperative exports 90% of its Konservolia table olives
The cooperative's 750 members produce green and black Konservolia olives under an integrated management system. Most of the groves are on steep slopes of up to 20 degrees, which makes harvesting tedious and tractor-drawn machinery almost impossible to use. Growers start picking green olives after the first September rains, by hand, with combs or with vibrating harvesters, while the more sensitive black olives are picked later, only by hand. No fruit thinning is needed, and most growers prune in March.
Panagiotis Danatzis calls for an end to outdated techniques and beliefs in Itea
The olive trees of Panagiotis Danatzis are part of the largest continuous traditional olive grove in the Balkans, protected by UNESCO. The grower decided to use the Amfissis table olive cultivar to produce a premium olive oil, "Socrates." "We know we will get little oil, but the quality of the product rewards us. We need 12 to 13 kg of olives to extract 1 kg of olive oil," says Mr Danatzis. Most growers in the area are used to harvesting at the end of February.
Harvesting Amfissis olives with a vibrating hook harvester in Itea for Socrates olive oil.
When Mr Danatzis started harvesting at the end of September, seven years before the interview, everyone thought he was crazy. "For me it was easy to apply correct techniques and fresh ideas from the start, because I had no previous experience. I understand that for older farmers the move to early harvest is still unthinkable or at least harder. But Greek olive oil has to invest in quality, since we cannot compete with countries like Spain or Turkey on quantity," he says.
To keep the olives healthy and protect the quality of the oil, the harvest takes place only when conditions allow, with no rain for 2 to 3 days before and after. In the region, from ancient times until about 20 years before the interview, most people knocked the olives down with wooden sticks, and more and more growers, like Mr Danatzis, have moved to mechanised harvesting with vibrating hook harvesters.
Panagiotis Papachristos thins Kalamon to 50 kg of olives per tree in Messolonghi
The Kakkavos estate, in a semi-mountainous grove on a slope, has 7,000 Koroneiki, Koutsourelia and Kalamon trees. Half of the trees are irrigated and all are farmed organically. To get larger table olives of high quality, the grower thins the fruit on the Kalamon trees, aiming at a final crop of 50 kg per tree. For green oil Mr Papachristos keeps to the family tradition and harvests at the start of October, while table olives are harvested from the end of the same month. In both cases he uses hand-held vibrating machines, and when the harvest ends a copper spray protects the trees from fungal infection, he explains.
At the Kakkavos estate both green oil and table olives are harvested with hand-held vibrating machines.
Early harvest and an ideal microclimate shape the Aladanon olive oil of Aris Sarigiannis in Trikeri
The organic grove of 3,500 Piliou trees lies on rocky, dry land covered with rockrose. The exceptional microclimate of the area seems to account for the distinctive character of Aladanon, explains Mr Sarigiannis. Interestingly, the polyphenol content of this farm's oil, above 450 mg/kg, is much higher than that of another grove he farms with exactly the same techniques and cultivar in a different field. "When the olive turns black, we lose the precious polyphenols," says the grower, who chooses to harvest early.
The organic Piliou grove behind Aladanon grows on rocky, dry land near the sea.
Before the dry spell and heatwave of summer 2021, Mr Sarigiannis planned to harvest at the end of August, but with the new conditions he decided to start in October, later than usual. For both oil and table olives he uses a 12 V battery finger harvester, and he has noticed that it causes no measurable damage to the skin of table olives. After harvest, the olives are placed in crates in a cool, shaded place, and extraction usually starts the same day or the next morning. Knowing that pruning during or straight after harvest puts his trees at risk in winter, Mr Sarigiannis waits until March to remove at least the suckers.
Experimenting with harvest timing keeps upgrading Nikolas Stogiannos's Agalis olive oil in Paliampela
In Paliampela, only 750 metres from the sea, stand the 4,000 young, rain-fed Koroneiki trees that produce Agalis. The harvest starts at the end of October or the beginning of November, from the part of the grove on rocky, sloping ground. Despite their low oil content of 11%, the olives at this stage, with yellowish skin, give the final product a rich and distinctive taste.
The harvest then moves to the part of the grove where the grower is most worried about a disease outbreak or where the yield is highest, which secures a large part of the crop. At the end of the season he makes a blend from oil extracted from 50% yellow and 50% black fruit.
"By combining early harvest oil with oil from riper olives, we get a final product with aromas, a mild flavour and a satisfying phenolic content that our customers prefer," the grower says. Troubled by the lack of available skilled workers, Mr Stogiannos planned to test a new tractor-mounted harvester for the first time in 2021. Pruning takes place in February, while the prolonged droughts of recent years worry him, and he is considering converting the grove to irrigation.
Marina Korlou and Kostas Tasias harvest in mid-October in Schimatari to keep acidity low
The excellent quality of Aulis olive oil is the result of continuous hard work by the two growers, Marina Korlou and Kostas Tasias. Their grove in Schimatari has 200 Megaritiki and Evias trees aged 40 to 50 years. Aiming at an oil with very low acidity, rich in phenols, aromas and flavour, the two young growers harvest in the second half of October, although unexpected early rains at the end of September 2021 let them start a little earlier that year.
"Harvesting on time, or earlier, is essential for oil quality, since even a two-week delay can raise acidity by 0.2%," explains Mr Tasias. The olives are picked with pneumatic harvesters and placed in crates, and extraction starts on the afternoon of the harvest day or the following morning. Finally, the growers said that because late frosts have become more common in recent years, they now prune later, and heavy snow at the end of February 2021 pushed pruning into March.
Eleni Skafida produces Ellia's Organics with biodynamic practices in Lixouri
Continuing the family tradition, the young grower cultivates 100 Koroneiki, Korfolia and Ntopia trees, 50 years old, with strictly organic methods, and as Ms Skafida mentioned, they suffer from strong alternate bearing. The harvest starts in mid-October, as in most groves on the island, and lasts about a month. "Ideally we would like to harvest 2 to 3 weeks earlier, but the oil content of the fruit is still too low for our needs," the grower explains. The whole process is slow and done by hand, by milking and with hand-held plastic rakes, and in some cases she cuts branches laden with olives and runs them through a separator on the ground. The family prunes the trees in February.
Earlier harvesting means a stronger fruit detachment force for Thanos Katsigras in Troizina
With a 9-hectare grove of Manaki and Koroneiki trees scattered around Troizina, Mr Katsigras produces the organic olive oil Theseus. Some of the trees are irrigated and some are not. Aiming at high-quality oil, he harvests early, from 10 to 20 October for Manaki and around 5 to 10 November for the later Koroneiki. The prolonged drought of 2021, however, seemed set to delay ripening that year, as the fruit on the rain-fed trees was dehydrated.
"We are waiting for the rain. Then it will be easier to decide the exact date we start harvesting," the grower said. For all its benefits for quality and flavour, early harvesting also brings a problem. The high detachment force of unripe olives makes harvesting harder and forces the grower to raise the vibration of his pneumatic harvesters, which strips many leaves, something that worries him. After harvest, Mr Katsigras sprays his trees with copper and prunes them later, in January.
Antonia Xenou finds that the olives ripen earlier every year in Astros
The 300 Chondrolia Kynourias trees produce huge, high-quality olives that reach the market under the Olivitsa brand. According to the grower, the trees need a lot of water, so installing irrigation was the only option. Alternate bearing is not severe, but in years with a heavy crop Ms Xenou thins the fruit early. "Traditionally we started harvesting in mid-October.
But in recent years the olives have been ripening earlier and earlier, moving the harvest to around the end of September," the grower said at the time of the interview. Ms Xenou prefers to harvest by hand, the traditional way, to avoid damaging the olives, and the table olives are processed in special barrels without acids or chemical preservatives. Every February she prunes the trees lightly, and every two years more severely.
Eythymios Christakos adds value to his product by farming organically in Krokees
Mr Christakos decided to convert his 3,000 olive trees from conventional to organic farming. The grove, over 600 years old, has three cultivars, Koroneiki, Smyrtolia and Kalamon, with Kalamon used for both table olives and oil. For early harvest oil rich in polyphenols, harvesting starts in mid-October, based on micro oil extractions.
For a milder oil he uses fruit harvested in mid-November, and in both cases he picks with vibrating hook harvesters. To get bigger, better-shaped table olives, Mr Christakos thins the fruit on the Kalamon trees. He prunes straight after the harvest, and although he recognises that combining the two tasks is not the most suitable practice, he believes that the mild winters of the area allow it.
Helianna Zafeirakou and Dimitris Tsitos saw yields rise after harvesting early in Gytheio
The couple's love for the taste of green oil convinced them to try an early harvest on a third of their trees, and consumers loved the result. The grove behind it lies a few metres from the sea in the southern Peloponnese, with 800 Koroneiki and 200 Kalamon trees over a century old, grown organically and without irrigation.
The young couple uses no chemical fertiliser or tillage, applying instead compost from the leaves and chipped branches produced by pruning, a practice that improves the soil's water availability. "It was surprising to see trees that had produced no olives for years start yielding again," says Mr Tsitos. The harvest usually starts in the first days of November on the Koroneiki trees, while the fruit is still green.
Kalamon comes next, and the harvest ends with the last black Koroneiki olives. Like most growers today, the family uses vibrating hook harvesters. At the time of the interview, until they could buy crates, they collected the olives in jute sacks and emptied them into containers on arrival at the mill. Finally, they prune straight after harvest because, as they say, it is more convenient.
The local microclimate brings earlier ripening for Vasilis Kitsos in Filiatra
Despite long experience with the crop, Mr Kitsos decided to follow the modern trend and harvest early. The Messinian Farm has over 4,000 Koroneiki trees, most of them irrigated, on the plain and on hills, with an average age of 70 years and the oldest trees 200 years old. To produce the precious green oil, and helped by the area's microclimate, the harvest starts when the olive skin changes from green to yellow, around 20 September. He uses pneumatic harvesters and, as a complementary method, cuts some fruit-laden branches and passes them through a machine on the ground that separates olives from leaves and stems. To protect the trees from fungal infection after harvest, he sprays copper.
Athanasios Theodoropoulos gets phenol-rich oil even from dehydrated olives in Lampaina
Most growers see no reason to harvest olives that look wrinkled and dehydrated, but Mr Theodoropoulos disagrees, and the exceptional quality of his Lezi olive oil bears him out. The family grove numbers almost 2,000 Koroneiki trees. More than 1,700 of them are on the mountain, aged 60 to 80 years, with several centuries-old trees, while the rest are on the irrigated plain. Although he is a third-generation olive grower, he had never seen anyone in the area harvest before 6 December.
After the long drought of 2021, olives on the mountain trees looked wrinkled but could still give high-quality oil.
Things changed radically four years before the interview. An exceptionally early season, combined with the growing belief that "the sooner, the better," led Mr Theodoropoulos to harvest on 20 October. The oil quantity was slightly lower, but the improvement in quality was astonishing, and while most growers laughed at him at first, the results soon convinced them to follow. Since then, the harvest has always started at the end of October on the plain.
Fifteen days later, after the first autumn rains, he moves on to the rain-fed trees on the mountain, in both cases with a finger harvester powered by a generator. The lack of rain from February to October 2021 stressed the mountain trees. "The olives might look wrinkled, but they can still give high-quality oil," the grower says. The steep slope makes crates hard to use, so he gathers the olives in jute sacks, and extraction takes place within a day of harvest.
The Governor olive oil from Lianolia set a world record for phenols in Agios Matthaios on Corfu
On Corfu, 65% of all plants are olive trees. The island's grove of the indigenous Lianolia cultivar is among the oldest of its size in the world, with trees 400 to 1,500 years old. Despite the long tradition, the methods used have seen little specialisation or improvement. Most growers lay nets on the ground in November and collect over-ripe fruit as it falls naturally until June, and until recently people also believed that malaxation temperature should be very high.
To harvest trees 15 to 20 metres tall, the family applies a trunk shaker to the largest branches.
Having seen olive growing decline, Spyros Dafnis decided to travel abroad and bring back new knowledge to apply in his grove. "The first year the result was still disappointing, and we realised that we needed more effort to be as precise as possible. After two years, a chemical analysis of our olive oil surprised everyone. The Governor stood out at the Olympia Awards 2016, breaking a world record for total phenol content at 2,377 mg/kg, with 980 mg/kg oleocanthal," explains Mr Dafnis.
The family grove now numbers 10,000 Lianolia and almost 2,500 Koroneiki trees. "The trees look more like a forest. Many were abandoned for years and reach 15 to 20 metres. We are trying to lower them by pruning, but that takes a long time. To harvest such tall trees we use a trunk shaker and apply the vibration to the largest branches.
"Unusually high temperatures, even in October, over the past two years are one of our biggest problems. Last year we experimented with harvesting and extracting late in the afternoon or very early in the morning to protect quality, and this year we are also considering a refrigerated truck to move the olives from the field to the mill. Extraction takes place within 2 to 4 hours of harvest in our own mill in the heart of the grove," says Mr Dafnis.
A note on the interviews
The interviews were carried out in autumn 2021 and reflect the growers' own practices and views, with dates referring to that season. Their choices, such as pruning straight after harvest or using sacks, are not Wikifarmer recommendations for every grove, and each grower should consult a local agronomist for their own case. More on each cultivar mentioned can be found in the guide to Greek olive varieties and how to choose one, and on what fruit fly damage does to oil in what changes in the oil when the fruit has been attacked.
