Interaceituna has undertaken and continues to develop a range of studies in order to optimise every process involved in table olive production, adapting to changing times and European standards. We believe in the future. We believe in quality. And we believe in new technology.

• Contracts between the CSIC and Interaceituna:
  
  - Application of objective parameters to express the nutritional value of table olives
  
  - Estudy of the market life of Seville-style green olives and black oxidised olives  

• Research, properties and healthy attributes

• "In defence of the table olive"

MECHANISED HARVESTING:

Spain is the world's leading olive producer, with close to 40% of global output (COI, 2008).

The considerable mismatch seen over recent years between rising production costs and a fall in the price received by producers is leading to a situation in which many olive growers are finding it difficult to survive, given the decline in the returns on their operations.

The harvesting of the olives has a particular impact on the cost of table olive tree cultivation, making up some 50% of overall costs. The table olive harvest also accounts for around 60% of the entire manpower required in cultivation.

The first of the lines of research examining Mechanised Harvesting undertaken during 2008 involved the fine-tuning of a methodology for the application to trees of products to stimulate the abscission of the fruit, specifying the dosage, method and periods of application, in order to achieve optimum efficiency in harvesting.

One further line of work involved the development of a system allowing olives to be transported from the field to the preparation plants using low-concentration refrigerated lye. This system prevents, or greatly reduces, the occurrence of damaged fruit (oxidation in the impact areas caused during mechanised harvesting which give rise to a number of spots, reducing the commercial value of the end product) as a result of the excessive waiting times between harvesting and processing of the olives.

In furtherance of this same line of work, during 2008 the Refrigeration Institute, run by the Advanced Scientific Research Council (CSIC) undertook a study with the aim of evaluating the reaction of the olive to a number of refrigeration systems and temperatures to be employed for transportation of olives from the field to the industrial plant.
In addition, as part of the previous study research group AGR 126 "Rural Technology and Mechanisation" at the University of Cordoba undertook a technical evaluation, in table olive plantation conditions, of the operational parameters for a number of trunk vibrators such as those typically used for the harvesting of olives for oil production. The different varieties and forms of table olive plantations and trees meant that the trunk vibrators tested, although they were machines which in principle operated in very similar ways, produced a wide range of results in terms of both the percentage of olives harvested and the damage caused to the bark at the points where the trunk is gripped.

The objectives set in 2009 for the study "Development of an Integrated Handling System for Mechanically Harvested Table Olives" comprise:

1.    Transfer of the methodology on integrated handling of mechanically harvested table olives for green olive preparation:

•    Performance of agents to encourage fruit abscission.

•    Validation on an industrial scale under field conditions of the prototype for transportation of mechanically harvested olives to the preparation plants.

•    Evaluation of various liquid mediums, low-concentration lyes and water (with or without added antioxidants) in performance and reduction in damaged fruit.

2.    Further work on commercial trunk vibrator field trials, using different types of plantation and tree, in order to establish the most appropriate vibration parameters for harvesting the fruit.

3.    Design and testing of new plastic gripping materials to reduce the pressure applied to the trunk and so avoid damage to the bark of the olive tree, and sustainable handling of production on plantations harvested by vibration.

4.    Preparation of a technical data sheet to facilitate selection of the most appropriate trunk vibrator characteristics for different types of plantation and tractor.

In order to achieve the above objectives, concerted efforts are being dedicated by the following working groups:

     •    Agrarian Production, IFAPA “Alameda del Obispo Centre”, Cordoba

     •    Fats Institute, Seville, and Refrigeration Institute, Madrid, run by the Advanced Scientific Research Council (CSIC)

     •    Rural Technology and Mechanisation, University of Cordoba.


"VARIETAL IDENTIFICATION OF PREPARED TABLE OLIVES" RESEARCH PROJECT:

This project, begun by the Interprofessional Table Olive Organisation during 2009, involves fine-tuning the methodology for varietal identification of prepared table olives by means of molecular DNA markers.