Olives in Austria: The experiment that could change European olive oil | DW News

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:01]Will olive trees soon disappear from the Mediterranean? They give us what the world wants, olive oil, and demand is growing. Global consumption has roughly doubled since the 1990s. The trees mainly grow here around the Mediterranean, but every year, heat and drought are getting worse.

[00:00:21]>> Olive trees suffer under these extreme weather conditions.

[00:00:27]So, does the olive tree need a new home?

[00:00:30]Farther north?

[00:00:32]Maybe even Austria?

[00:00:35]>> You have to be an optimist to try something like this. Sounds crazy. Or is it a smart climate solution?

[00:00:43]One person who knows a thing or two about growing plants under extreme conditions is Marcus Frink. The physicist has spent years researching how to grow food in space. for astronauts on the ISS or future habitats.

[00:00:58]Today he's bringing unusual crops to Austria.

[00:01:02]He's the co-founder of Agro Rebels.

[00:01:05]Their idea is simple. Climate change is already here. We may not stop it, but we can adapt. And that means questioning old habits. So olive farming in Austria, why not?

[00:01:18]>> I honestly never imagined you could harvest olives in central Europe.

[00:01:24]Will it work? Like agro rebels, Matias Velitz believes olives could find a new home. He's preparing his trees for spring, pruning branches, thinning the canopy, all to help them bear fruit.

[00:01:38]His family has always farmed fruits and vegetables, but for Matias, olives are an investment in the future. He has nearly 100 trees, now 7 years old. They produced their first harvest in 2024, just over a kilo. The thing is, olive trees take 5 to 7 years to bear fruit.

[00:01:58]So turning Austria into an olive growing country is still a way off.

[00:02:06]Olive trees and the Mediterranean go back thousands of years. Over time, they've adapted perfectly to this climate. Some can live for up to 4,000 years. They thrive in rocky soil with mild winters, hot summers, and rain in spring and autumn.

[00:02:23]Here, a single tree can yield between 15 and 200 kilos depending on age, location, and care. On average, it's about 30 kilos. Spain is the world's top olive oil producer with over 1 million tons per year. Then come Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Tunisia.

[00:02:43]But today they're also being grown in places like South Africa, China, and Pakistan.

[00:02:48]Local demand and shifting weather patterns like in Pakistan are pushing olive farming into new regions. And at the same time, climate change is putting more pressure on the Mediterranean itself.

[00:03:06]The hardest time is July and August when the olives are forming oil.

[00:03:14]That's when we run out of water.

[00:03:17]I even drilled down 80 m and found nothing.

[00:03:25]Mileno Zagarat has been growing olives for 20 years. His family tends about a thousand trees on nearly 5 hectares in Pol in southern Croatia. Then came 2022.

[00:03:36]No rain, extreme heat. They had to buy water to keep the trees alive.

[00:03:43]My family and I managed to bring in 1 million lers of water, around 700 to 800 L for each tree just to save the harvest in October.

[00:04:03]And if climate forecasts are right, years like this could become the norm.

[00:04:08]Every year, temperatures keep rising and records keep getting broken. According to the EU's Capernacus program, Europe is the fastest warming continent on Earth.

[00:04:22]Olive oil has a reputation as a healthy fat. It's rich in unsaturated fats that can help lower cholesterol, reduce inflammation, and help protect heart health.

[00:04:35]As part of the Mediterranean diet, it can even prevent or help manage diabetes. So, it's no surprise demand keeps growing. More and more people are cooking with olive oil. And new markets are emerging. In India, for example, a healthconscious middle class is driving demand for imported olive oil. So, what can people around the Mediterranean who rely on olive trees do?

[00:05:01]Croatian researcher Tatiana Clayo is looking for answers.

[00:05:06]We need to find something that is genetically adapted to severe weather changing. The main solution lies in all varieties trees that we can find all over the Mediterranean related to olive growing. Of course, >> this olive tree is 1,500 years old, and it may hold important clues. For centuries, it survived everything nature could throw at it. Older varieties often have much greater genetic diversity than modern high yield trees, and that could make them more resilient. Heat resistant trees, whether ancient or newly cultivated, for example, from Tunisia, could also play a role.

[00:05:51]But developing those trees takes time.

[00:05:57]>> We don't have the perfect variety. It doesn't exist because you have different uh zones, you have a different climate, different uh soil. So you need to have several perfect varieties to have it uh all cover up.

[00:06:17]So are new growing regions the future like Austria?

[00:06:23]>> This started as an experiment and if you don't believe in it there's no point in experimenting. There are about 300 to 400 olive varieties. I focused on those from colder parts of southern Europe.

[00:06:37]In the end only 30 varieties were left and at first even the rebels were skeptical.

[00:06:43]I wasn't even sure the olives would ripen here or if we'd find varieties that mature early enough to produce fruit.

[00:06:51]>> But slowly the experiment is paying off.

[00:06:54]Today more than 7,000 olive trees are growing in Austria and another 2,000 are planned for 2026.

[00:07:01]And that's not all.

[00:07:04]>> Together with Vienna's Boku University, we're developing a truly Austrian olive variety.

[00:07:10]olive trees and olive oil made in Austria. And one day that could really pay off because olive oil has become expensive. After extreme heat waves across the Mediterranean, harvests collapsed in 2023. Spain, the world's largest producer, harvested only about half its usual amount. Prices doubled.

[00:07:30]In Germany, olive oil was 45% more expensive in 2024 than the year before, and they still haven't returned to previous levels. Demand for highquality olive oil is still strong. Now Austria just has to prove it can deliver.

[00:07:46]But if Austria's experiment works, does that mean the Mediterranean loses out?

[00:07:52]Researcher Tatiana Clayo says the future will be challenging, especially for farmers. But she believes the answer lies in the olive tree itself.

[00:08:03]The beauty of olive tree it's very very resistant and I believe it will resist for so many many many many years to come and to adapt to climate change.

[00:08:17]>> Optimists in the Mediterranean pioneers in Austria and a tree tough enough to withstand a changing world.