As easy as one, two, tree: Spanish olives being grown in a new home

Wine maker Csaba Torok, who grows olives on Hungary's warm southern slopes near Lake Balaton, believes his trees from southern Europe have found a successful new home as Europe's climate gets warmer.

Torok, 55, got his first three small olive trees from Spain around 2008. Two froze to death the first winter but one survived, prompting Torok to buy around 200 more over the years to plant in his vineyard on Hegymagas, a volcanic butte formation with sunny slopes, ample rain and rich soil.

"I see these trees as an integral part of the future landscape here," Torok said, as he harvested the olives with friends, noting the local microclimate increasingly suits the trees.

He takes his hand-picked olive crop to neighbouring Slovenia, where his virgin olive oil is made and which he sells for $12.35 per 0.1 liters.

As southern Europe is hit by more frequent droughts and scorching heatwaves, the areas where olive groves can flourish appear to be shifting northwards, he said.

Hungary's winters have become palpably milder over the past few years. Europe is the fastest warming continent in the world, the European Environment Agency said last month, and faces a greater risk of drought in the south.

Spain, which usually supplies around 40 per cent of the world's olive oil, has suffered poor olive harvests in the past two years due to heatwaves and a prolonged drought, doubling olive oil prices to record levels.

Last week, the Spanish farm ministry said the first estimates for this year's harvest indicated a recovery, with 2024-25 olive production forecast at 1,262,300 tonnes, up 48 per cent from the previous harvest.

In southern Hungary, near the city of Pecs, Gabor Stix has been experimenting with an olive grove for years, cultivating trees for sale. Stix expects all his trees grown this year to be sold by March.

"Olive trees love this climate... one would think Hungary is not suitable for olive production but it is," he said.

Even north of Hungary, in Slovakia, people have been buying olive trees for their gardens to have a "Mediterranean feeling". In the village of Iza, garden centre owner Istvan Vass has imported 25 truckloads of olive trees from Spain this year, selling them for $328-547 each.

As buyers arrived to choose trees, Vass warned during the first winter the trees might suffer damage from sub-zero temperatures but covering them helps. "There are lots of olive trees planted outside in the gardens and they cope really well," he said.

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