Getting everything out of olives

A cycle story

What if olive cultivation not only provided delicious fruits and excellent oils, but also valuable by-products that enabled a sustainable economy? The cooperative OLIVARERA LOS PEDROCHES S.C.A. near Córdoba posed this question to itself, led by its enterprising company director, Juan Antonio Caballero Jiménez. And so, for more than 20 years, the largest organic olive farm, covering 8,000 hectares, has been growing near Córdoba – a trailblazer for other olive growers. For a long time now, Andalusia has also been concerned with sustainable production that gives what the magnificent olive trees need back to the land and the soil. And conserving resources.

This is backed by creative ideas and a slightly different view of everyday life. At OLIVARERA LOS PEDROCHES, for example, the remains of the pressed olives are composted and returned to the olive groves as high-quality compost – the best possible fertiliser for the trees. And the olive stones are also valuable: the cooperative uses them as heating material. Two kilos of olive stones are equivalent to about one litre of diesel. It’s fantastic when everything interlocks perfectly like this.