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them to table olive or dual-purpose varieties. By 1984,only 3.72 million olive treeswere cultivated, many ininadequate conditions.

The early 1990s signalleda radical about-turn in thisstate of affairs as oliveacreage started to expandwithout interruption fromthe existing level of just un-der 30,000 ha. This expan-sion was due not only to en-hanced profitability drivenby olive oil prices and infor-mation campaigns about thehealth benefits of olive oilconsumption, but also tosupport measures passed bythe Argentinean govern-ment, notably the Tax Defer-ral Acts for industrial, agri-cultural, livestock andtouristic undertakings (Act22.021 in La Rioja, Act22702 in Catamarca and Act22973 in San Juan). Thislegislation was applied inagriculture from the start ofthe 1990s until 2008 andstimulated the developmentof new olive orchards in theNorthwest provinces of SanJuan, La Rioja and Catamar-ca (Fig. 1). Many of the newinvestors came from outsidethe agricultural/livestock in-

HISTORY OF OLIVEGROWING INARGENTINA

The origins of olive grow-ing in Argentina can betraced to the Spanish coloni-sation when the first or-chards were planted in Arau-co (La Rioja). A 400-year-old specimen survives to thisday as testimony to that peri-od (Photo 1). However, itwas not until the late 19thcentury that olive cultivationstarted to develop to copewith demand from the influx

of Italian and Spanish immi-grants which supplies fromthe existing Argentineanmarket were unable to meet.In 1953 there were estimatedto be 7.5 million olive treesin the country, some ofwhich were planted near ur-ban areas (Photo 2). Olivegrowing started to decline in1960 as it came up againstcompetition from sunflowerand corn oil (theoreticallyhealthier and cheaper). Farmprofitability decreased andolive orchards were aban-doned or grafted to convert

Olive growing in the arid valleys of Northwest Argentina(provinces of Catamarca, La Rioja and San Juan)

M. Gómez del Campo, A. Morales-Sillero, F. Vita Serman, M.C. Rousseaux & P.S. Searles

OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010 23

Photo 1. This 400-year-old olive tree (variety ‘Arauco’) is a NationalHistorical Monument. A symbol of the identity of the Arauco people,

it continues to stand erect after being saved in the 17th century from beingfelled as ordered by King Carlos III of Spain, who feared that the prosperityof olive growing in the area might eventually exceed olive production inSpain. Legend has it that this one plant is the source of the resurgence

of olive growing not only in Argentina but also in Chile and Peru,where offshoots were taken.

E C O NOM I C S , S C I E N C E A ND T E C HNO LOG Y

dustry because the legisla-tion allowed Argentineancompanies to defer tax pay-ments for 17 years in thecase of olive cultivation. Thedeferred payments were lat-er settled in equal annual in-stalments over a period offive consecutive years, at nointerest.

The figures speak forthemselves. At the outset ofthe 1990s Mendoza, SanJuan and Córdoba (Table 1)were the main olive produc-ing provinces, accountingfor 80% of the country’s29,600 ha of olive trees,concentrated primarily in thedepartments of Pocito, Raw-son, Rivadavia and Zonda inSan Juan, Junín, Maipú,Lavalle and Lujan de Cuyoin Mendoza and Cruz del Ejein Córdoba. The orchardswere traditional, 5–15 ha insize on average and planted

on a 10 x 10 m layout. Thetrees were pruned to severalscaffold branches and floodirrigated. ‘Arauco’ was thechief variety grown owing toits high crop yield, largefruit size and dual-purposecharacteristics (Photo 2).Domestic production wasestimated to be 30,000 t oftable olives and 8,000 t ofolive oil (Fig. 2), which

went primarily to a marketled by product price as op-posed to quality. In somecases the oils had defects(fusty and muddy sedimentdefects) because of theshortage of modern process-ing facilities and the lack ofsuitable storage. In 1998,Argentina grew 71,000 ha ofolive trees, 70% of whichwere varieties for oil pro-

24 OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010

Photo 2. A traditional, 70-year-old orchard of ‘Arauco’ olive trees in the townof Anillaco (La Rioja), planted on a 10 x 10 m layout and flood irrigated.

Source: Argentine Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing and Food(SAGPyA)

Figure 1. Map of Argentinahighlighting the provinces of

Catamarca, La Rioja and San Juan.

Province Prior Tax deferral Totalarea area area

Mendoza 13700 300 14000Córdoba 5000 470 5470San Juan 4800 13800 18600La Rioja 2900 27000 29900Buenos Aires 1800 0 1800Catamarca 1400 30000 31400Total 29600 71570 101170

TABLE 1Expected olive growing area (ha) in Argentinaafter the application of the Tax Deferral Acts

E CONOM I C S , S C I E N C E A ND T E C HNO LOG Y

national Olive Council(IOC) for the period2002–07, it ranks ninth inthe world table olive produc-tion league (4%) while re-maining a minor player inworld olive oil production(<1%).

Currently, the olive grow-ing map of Argentina mainlycovers the provinces ofCatamarca, La Rioja, SanJuan and Mendoza (Fig. 3)where the most importantolive growing areas are ValleCentral, Pomán and Tino-gasta in Catamarca;Chilecito, Aimogasta and LaRioja Capital in La Rioja;and Valle del Tulum, Jáchaland Ullum-Zonda in SanJuan. Olives are also grownin the provinces of Córdobaand Buenos Aires, and newcrop expansion projectshave recently arisen in RíoNegro, San Luis andNeuquén.

duction and 30% for tableproduction. By 2008, thisarea had expanded to 90,100ha (more than 90% under ir-rigation), split roughly60%/40% between oil-olivesand table olives. This croparea has positioned Argenti-na in 13th place in the worldolive acreage ranking, butmany of the new orchardswere planted in areas wherelittle was known about theagricultural or processingperformance of the olive va-rieties imported from Eu-rope. As a result, some of thearea planted with olives toqualify for the tax deferralmeasures did not bear cropsdue to frost damage orsoil and plant health prob-lems, and some varietieswere switched to increaseproduction.

The orchards plantedsince the enactment of thetax laws are between a mini-mum of 100 and 150 ha, al-

though some are over 1,000ha. Planting densities arehigher, ranging from 250 to330 olive trees/ha. The or-chards were planted withstock from other producingcountries and were oftenmonovarietal, with one ortwo polliniser varieties.They also apply more ad-vanced soil managementpractices such as localisedirrigation and fertigation.This combination of factorshas stimulated higher yieldsof 10–12 t/ha compared with5–6 t/ha in traditionalgroves, which has resulted inhigher domestic production.In 2007/08, Argentina pro-duced 100,000 t of tableolives and 27,000 t of oliveoil (Fig. 2) and its commer-cial strategy placed growingpriority on quality. Nowa-days, Argentina is SouthAmerica’s leading producerof table olives and olive oil.According to the averagefigures released by the Inter-

OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010 25

Figure 2. Changes in olive oil and table olive production in Argentinabetween 1990/91 and 2009/10 The numbers for the last two crop years are

provisional. Data are from the IOC (Source: IOC, 2009).

San Juan19500

Mendoza17500 Catamarca

24500

La Rioja20500

Córdoba5000

Buenos Aires2500

Río Negro600

Figure 3. Distribution of the olivegrowing area (ha) in Argentina

(SAGPyA, Argentine Secretariat forAgriculture, Livestock, Fisheries

& Food, 2009)

1990-91

1991-92

1992-93

1993-94

1994-95

1995-96

1996-97

1997-98

1998-99

1999-00

2000-01

2001-02

2002-03

2003-04

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

Produc

tion(t)

100

80

60

40

20

0

Aceite Aceitunas de mesa


DESCRIPTIONOF VALLEYS

The topography of thisregion is characterised by aseries of depressions or val-leys running lengthwiseparallel to the Andes, sepa-rated by a chain of moun-tains misleadingly calledthe Sierras Pampeanas orPampean Ranges becausethey are not geographicallyrelated to the humid pampasregion (Fig. 4). Movingfrom East to West, the firstvalley is the Valle Centralde Catamarca, demarcatedby the Sierra de Ancasti delAlto to the East (elevationof 1,573 m) and the Sierradel Ambato to the West(4,405 m) (Photo 3); thenext valleys are the Bolsóndel Pipanaco (where theAimogasta and Pomán olivegrowing areas are located),with the Sierra del Ambatoto the East and the Sierra deVelasco to the West (4,029m), the valley of La RiojaCapital, lying at the foot ofthe Sierra de Velasco (Photo4), the valley of Chilecito,lying between Sierra Velas-co to the East and Sierra deFamatina to the West (6,097m), and lastly the valley ofTulum in San Juan lying atthe foot of the Sierra delTontal in the Andeanfoothills. This includes thepiedmont area of CañadaOnda–El Acequión wherenew orchard development iscurrently at its height.

Not all the valleys lie atthe same altitude. The ValleCentral de Catamarca andthe valley of La Rioja Capi-tal lie between 400 and 450 mwhereas the valley of Tulúmis at 650 m, the olive farmsin Pomán and Aimogasta inBolsón de Pipanaco lie at800 m, the valley of

Chilecito is at 950 m, andthe Tinogasta area in Cata-marca at 1,100 m. These dif-ferences in altitude causemajor climatic differencesdespite the fact that the val-leys are at the same latitude.

These valleys are depres-sions which gradually filled

26 OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010

Photo 3. Olive orchards in the Valle Central de Catamarca withthe Sierra de Ambato in the background (4,405 m). The farms are big

(average size 300 ha) and windbreaks face EW.

Figure 4. Topographical map of the provinces of Catamarca, La Riojaand San Juan showing the Pampean Ranges running parallel to the Andes

and the intervening valleys.


for livestock. Agriculture inthe provinces of San Juanand Mendoza is centred ongrapes for wine production.Although stone fruit, seedfruit and vegetable growingunderwent heavy expansionin these two provinces, olivegrowing has now becomethe second agricultural ac-tivity in San Juan.

DETERMINANTS OFOLIVE CULTIVATION

Soil characteristics

Alluvial sediments includ-ing conglomerates, coarse,medium and fine sands andloess loams were the materi-al from which the soils of themountain valleys developed.Owing to this origin, oliveorchard soils can vary ingrain size depending on thedistance from the mountainsand water courses: the fur-ther away they are fromboth, the finer they are (Lu-cas Moretti, personal com-munication). The soils be-long to the Entisol andAridisol orders and show lit-tle evidence of development.Generally, the plots are onflat land; the soils are deep(> 2m), often with a loam,sandy loam, silty clay loamor silty clay texture, low or-ganic matter content (< 1%)and a neutral or slightly ba-sic pH (between 7.2 and8.5). Coarse textured soilshave a low cation exchange

up with sediment throughweathering of the rocks fromthe surrounding mountains;consequently, most of thesoils are alluvial. Plots in thecentral parts of the valleysare almost on the level whilethose on the mountain sidesare on constant, moderateslopes. A characteristic fea-ture of these mountainranges is that their easternslopes are gentler and theirwestern slopes are moreabrupt. The slope of thefoothills permits masses ofcold air to move towards thebottom of the valleys. This isparticularly important incolder areas, specifically SanJuan and Mendoza.

The native vegetation ismade up of species of xero-phytes such as Cactaceae andthorn scrub. The region haslong been used for goat graz-ing although some of the val-leys were too arid for large-scale grazing and even nowstill have large tracts of vir-

gin mountains. The construc-tion of the railway led to de-forestation in some areas.

Before the appearance ofthe large olive plantationsprompted by the tax deferrallaws, crops such as grape,olive, date (brought byLebanese and Syrian immi-grants in the early 20th cen-tury), pomegranate, aloe,other fruit trees such aspeach, almond and quinceand all kinds of vegetableswere grown in oases in thesevalleys. Nowadays, the mainagricultural activities are ir-rigated in the provinces ofLa Rioja and Catamarcawhere olive, grape, walnutand jojoba are cultivated,and to a lesser extent otherfruit trees, vegetables andherbs. Dry farming is con-fined to the areas where rain-fall is above 300 mm a year(La Rioja Capital and ValleCentral de Catamarca) and ismainly associated with pas-tureland and cereal growing

OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010 27

Photo 4. Olive orchard in the valley of La Rioja Capital withthe Sierra de Velasco (4 029 m) in the background.


capacity owing to their lowclay content. In some lowerparts of San Juan olive grow-ing encounters problems be-cause of shallow groundwa-ter levels and salt accumula-tion. Due to their coarsegrain size and the absence ofcalcareous horizons, pied-mont soils do not have prob-lems of water logging.

Temperature and olivephenology

As can be seen from themap in Fig. 4, the region ofArgentina where olive grow-ing has basically developedlies between latitudes 28 and32ºS; hence, it is closer tothe equator than the tradi-tional olive growing regionsof the Mediterranean Basin(30–45ºN). However, the to-pography of Argentina’smountain valleys is the cleardeterminant of their climate,which is of the arid basin-and-range type (http://www.ambiente .gov.ar /apl ica-ciones/mapoteca) as op-posed to being subtropical,which is what might be ex-pected. The PampeanRanges and the Andes(3,000–6,900 m above sealevel) are natural barriersthat isolate the region fromthe influence of the humidwinds from the Atlantic andPacific, which release theirmoisture on the mountaincrests and are dry by thetime they reach the valleys.

Moreover, the NS orientationof the ranges allows the entryof masses of cold air fromthe South. Nevertheless, it isthe snowfalls in the upperreaches of the Andes thatlead to warm, dry winds likethe Zonda, which affects allthe valleys in the foothills toa varying extent. As alreadyexplained, climatic charac-teristics differ according tothe altitude of the valleys.

Table 2 provides data on thechief climatic variables fromfour meteorological stationsin Argentina, located in Cata-marca, La Rioja Capital,Chilecito and San Juan, aswell as three stations in majorolive growing regions ofSpain: Seville, the epicentreof table olive production(60,000 ha) where ‘Manzanil-la de Sevilla’ variety is grownprimarily; Úbeda, at the heartof the ‘Picual’ area (800,000ha); and Toledo, the coldestregion where the variety culti-vated is ‘Cornicabra’(200,000 ha). Figure 5 plotsthe changes through the yearin mean temperature, ETo andprecipitation at the Catamar-ca, San Juan, Seville and Tole-do meteorological stations.

In general, the mean annu-al temperatures are milder inthe mountain valleys of Ar-gentina than in the olivegrowing regions of Spain.The combination of thesetemperature conditions andthe low ambient humidity

leads to high atmospheric de-mand, which reaches valuesabove 1,500 mm at all themeteorological stations. TheValle Central de Catamarcais the warmest, followed byLa Rioja Capital where ab-solute maximum tempera-tures in the vicinity of 45 oCare recorded in summer.

The mild year-long tem-peratures modify the rate ofvegetative growth of thetrees relative to that of theMediterranean Basin. In thevalleys of La Rioja Capitaland Central Catamarcawhere winters are shorter,the growth season runs fromearly spring to late autumn.This permits active vegeta-tive growth to the extentwhere some shoots mayreach 1 m in length when theolive trees receive abundantirrigation and fertilisation,which causes problems ofexcessive vigour (Photo 5).

In springtime, the mildtemperatures cause earlierflowering in olive and alsomove forward the other phe-nological stages (Fig. 6). As aresult, fatty acid synthesis isconcentrated in summer andearly autumn, particularly inthe Valle Central de Catamar-ca and La Rioja Capitalwhere temperatures are highduring this period (Table 2).In contrast, oil synthesis oc-curs in the autumn in Spain,when temperatures are lower.In all probability the high

28 OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010


temperatures are the reasonfor the reduction in oil syn-thesis that occurs in the ma-jority of the varieties grownin Northwest Argentina be-cause more moderate temper-atures are typically needed topromote oil synthesis in olive(Salas et al., 2000; Bongi,2004). For example, the ‘Ar-bequina’ variety in NW Ar-gentina often does not give anoil yield of more than 12%.Furthermore, in some vari-eties the high temperaturesalso appear to be the cause ofthe low oleic acid content ofthe oils and conversely oftheir high linoleic acid con-tent. In the specific case ofthe ‘Arbequina’ variety, andto a lesser extent of ‘Arauco’,the oil may not comply withIOC limits owing to its lowoleic acid content (below55%). Commercially, this iscorrected by blending ‘Arbe-quina’ oil with oils from oth-er high-oleic varieties (e.g.‘Coratina’ and ‘Picual’). Pre-liminary trial results suggestthat the temperatures reachedduring the months when oilsynthesis is at a height (Feb-ruary–March) have the great-est impact on oil contentwhile the temperaturesreached near the stone hard-ening stage may best explainthe variations in fatty acidcomposition (García-Inza,Castro and Rousseaux, un-published data).

The temperature at har-vest can also affect oil quali-

OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010 29

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

ETo

(mm

/day

)

CatamarcaSan JuanSevillaToledo

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Rainf

all(m

m/d

ay)

CatamarcaSan JuanToledoSevilla

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

J-Jl F-Ag Mar-S Ap-O My-N Jn-D Jl-J Ag-F S-Mar O-Ap N-My D-Jn



Tmea

n(ºC

)

CatamarcaSan JuanSevillaToledo

Figure 5. Monthly values of mean temperatures, ETo and rainfallat meteorological stations in Argentina (Catamarca and San Juan)

and Spain (Seville and Toledo).


ty. Mean temperatures of25ºC and mean maximumtemperatures of 31 ºC arereached in March (late sum-

mer, early autumn) when thefirst varieties are harvestedin Catamarca. This meansthat the olives may start to

ferment if they are notprocessed as soon as they arepicked.

30 OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010

Station Variables Spring Summer Autumn Winter AnnualCatamarca Tmean (ºC) 23.1 27.3 20.8 13.8 21.328.36 S Tmax (ºC) 30.2 33.7 27.2 21.4 28.165.46 W Tmin (ºC) 16.0 20.9 14.5 6.1 14.4454 m Rainfall (mm) 79 211 94 13 397

ETo (mm) 480 544 343 252 1,619Chilling hours 287

La Rioja Capital Tmean (ºC) 22.8 27.5 20.5 13.4 21.029.23 S Tmax (ºC) 30.2 34.3 26.6 20.7 28.066.49 W Tmin (ºC) 15.3 20.7 14.4 6.1 14.1429 m Rainfall (mm) 64 222 117 12 415


Chilecito (La Rioja) Tmean (ºC) 19.8 25.3 18.4 10.5 18.529.14 S Tmax (ºC) 27.9 32.6 25.4 18.7 26.267.26 W Tmin (ºC) 11.6 18.0 11.5 2.2 10.8945 m Rainfall (mm) 18 110 29 7 164


San Juan Tmean (ºC) 19.0 26.0 18.1 9.6 18.231.33 S Tmax (ºC) 27.5 33.8 25.3 17.7 26.168.25 W Tmin (ºC) 10.6 18.1 10.9 1.5 10.3598 m Rainfall (mm) 14 45 22 6 87


Seville Tmean (ºC) 17.0 26.3 19.7 11.9 18.737.22 N Tmax (ºC) 23.2 34.0 26.0 17.1 25.16.00 W Tmin (ºC) 10.6 18.3 13.5 6.6 12.28 m Rainfall (mm) 134 20 167 233 554


Úbeda (Jaén) Tmean (ºC) 15.1 24.7 16.2 8.2 16.037.56 N Tmax (ºC) 20.8 31.1 20.8 12.3 21.33.18 W Tmin (ºC) 8.8 18.3 11.9 4.1 10.8358 m Rainfall (mm) 153 32 123 187 495


Toledo Tmean (ºC) 13.6 24.6 15.8 7.3 15.339.53 N Tmax (ºC) 19.7 31.9 21.7 12.1 21.34.03 W Tmin (ºC) 7.5 17.3 10.0 2.5 9.3516 m Rainfall (mm) 110 49 100 100 359

ETo (mm) 324 556 238 107 1,225Chilling hours 1,022

TABLE 2Mean climatic data from meteorogical stations located in olive growing regions of Argentina and Spain


hours, respectively. Giventhat the olive tree needs lowwinter temperatures to stim-ulate flower buds to emergefrom winter rest, the lack ofchilling in these valleys ap-pears to be the reason whysome high chill requirementvarieties such as ‘Empeltre’,‘Frantoio’ and ‘Leccino’ donot flower. However, flow-ering is not affected in vari-eties with lower chillrequirements such as ‘Man-zanilla’, ‘Coratina’, ‘Arau-co’ and ‘Arbequina’ (DeMelo-Abreu et al., 2004; Ay-bar, 2010). Mean minimumwinter temperatures can belower in the mountain val-leys than in Spain, due to in-coming cold fronts from theSouth which cause severefrost (Photo 6). Because itlies geographically furthestto the south Tulum valley isaffected the most by the ar-rival of polar air masses. Ac-cording to the agroclimatic

Mean winter temperaturesare also higher than in Spain.For instance, while 501chilling hours are recordedin Seville using the method

of Mota, the warmest valleysof Argentina such as theValle Central de Catamarcaand La Rioja Capital recordonly 287 and 330 chilling

OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010 31

“Arbequina”

“Manzanillade Sevilla”

Seville

F RSH

Catamarca SH RF

Chilecito

SHF RSan Juan

SHF RÚbeda

Toledo

J F M A My Jn Jl Ag S O N DJl Ag S O N D J F M A My Jn

F HSH

SHF R

ChilecitoSH HF

Catamarca

SHF HSan Juan

SHF HSeville

F SH H

J F M A My Jn Jl Ag S O N DJl Ag S O N D J F M A My Jn

Figure 6. Mean date of flowering (F), stone hardening (SH) and harvesting (H)of the ‘Arbequina’ and ‘Manzanilla de Sevilla' varieties at locations in

Argentina (Chilecito, Catamarca and San Juan), shown in red, and Spain(Toledo, Úbeda and Seville), shown in green.

Photo 5. Mild temperatures coupled with high irrigation rates (>1,200 mm) and fertilisation lead to greater tree growth thanin the Mediterranean Basin. The olives shown are 11-year old ‘Arbequina’ trees in the Valle Central de Catamarca, planted

on an 8 x 4 m layout (left) and 10-year-old ‘Barnea’ trees in Chilecito (La Rioja) planted on a 6 x 4 m layout (right).Shoots grew to a length of more than 1 m per year.


data for the locality of Me-dia Agua over the last 25years, mean absolute tem-peratures below -7ºC wererecorded in 45% of the win-ters. This has a heavy impacton olive orchard yields, as isborne out by the low cropproduction of 2007/08 and2009/10 when temperaturesreached -10 ºC and -10.5 ºC,respectively.

Figure 6 shows the aver-age dates for flowering,stone hardening and harvest-ing of ‘Arbequina’ and‘Manzanilla de Sevilla’, thetwo most widespread vari-eties in the mountain val-leys. The correspondingdates for locations in Spainare also given. The pheno-logical stages of ‘Manzanillade Sevilla’ are only specifiedfor Seville, because neitherÚbeda nor Toledo is a majorgrowing area of this variety.

Although there is normal-ly a difference of six monthsbetween the northern andsouthern hemispheres, flow-ering is a month earlier inthe mountain valleys owingto the high spring tempera-tures. Stone hardening takesaround two months, as inSpain; a further two–threemonths are needed beforeharvesting ‘Manzanilla deSevilla’, or four months inthe case of ‘Arbequina’. Thefact that ‘Arbequina’ is har-vested so early in Toledo(before 15 November) is not

due to earlier ripening but tothe risk of autumn frostsdetrimental to oil quality.Harvesting of ‘Arbequina’begins in late March in theValle Central de Catamarca,followed by La Rioja andends in May in San Juan andChilecito. In Spain harvestdoes not start until Novem-ber. Harvesting of ‘Man-zanilla de Sevilla’ begins inmid-February in Argentina,and seven months later (Sep-tember) in Spain.

Rainfall and irrigationwater

Two aspects of rainfall inthe mountain valleys shouldbe highlighted: the low levelof rainfall and the differencein distribution comparedwith the MediterraneanBasin (Table 2 and Fig. 5).

Mean annual rainfall is be-low 500 mm; the valleys re-ceiving the least rainfall arethe Bolsón de Pipanaco(where Aimogasta andPomán are located) and theTulúm valley, with less than100 mm. More than half ofthe rainfall occurs in sum-mer and in many cases is tor-rential. This rainfall does notusually heighten the risk ofdisease owing to the low rel-ative ambient humidity andthe rapid percolation into thesoil profile. This contrastswith the MediterraneanBasin where summer is thedriest season.

The low rainfall and highatmospheric demand inthese valleys therefore makeit necessary to irrigate inten-sive olive orchards. The irri-gation water used in com-mercial orchards in the

32 OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010

Photo 6. ‘Picual’ olive trees in the valley of Chilecito (La Rioja)damaged by frosts in May 2008 (-6ºC for 8 h).


ity of the oil owing to severeoxidation of frost-damagedfruit cells if the olives havenot yet been harvested. Low-ering irrigation and fertilisa-tion rates in the autumn canreduce vegetative damage bypromoting lignification. Ad-ditionally, windbreaks (Pho-to 7) of the evergreen speciesCasuarina equisetifolia fromAustralia (Photo 8) are usedto protect crops from thesewinds. Other species such asthe deciduous Populus nigralose their leaves and do notprovide protection for the or-chards in winter. Casuarinais quite a hardy species andposes few health risks (i.e.diseases or insects) to olivetrees. Windbreaks are usual-ly oriented EW to stop thepassage of the South wind,but this is never done whenthe orchards lie on slopes,because this prevents airdrainage. Despite the incom-ing polar air, many frosts areradiation frosts and a slopeof more than 1% permits airdrainage to the lowest lyingareas. Furthermore, latefrosts are quite common atthe beginning of spring andcause significant damage toflowering, leading to lowercrop production.

The Zonda wind occursmainly in winter and springand affects the valleys clos-est to the Andes; conse-quently, the Tulúm valley inSan Juan is the most heavilyaffected. It occurs when a

provinces of Catamarca andLa Rioja comes mainly fromthe aquifers. The water ispumped from a depth of80–300 m and rechargecomes from the PampeanRanges where rainfall ishigher. However, there aresigns that annual rechargeis often less than orchardwater consumption (>1,000mm/ha). Well water has anelectrical conductivity (EC)ranging between approxi-mately 0.5 and 2.0 dS/m anda high carbonate content aswell in some cases. How-ever, the level of salinitydoes not tend to lower cropyields provided that the soilhumidity of the wet-bulb ismaintained. In the provinceof San Juan, surface water ismore important and both thefoothills and Andes feed thewaters of the rivers San Juanin the South and Jáchal in

the North, which are of highquality with a low EC.

Frost and wind

Another characteristic fea-ture of the mountain valleysis the damage they sufferfrom two types of wind: thecold South wind, and thewarm Northwest windknown as the Zonda wind.The south wind blows fromthe SE; in some valleys inautumn and winter it movesmasses of cold Antarctic airwhich can reach tempera-tures between -8 and -14ºC,with the lowest temperaturesbeing recorded in the highestvalleys like Jáchal orChilecito. When this windoccurs in autumn, it not onlydamages the vegetativestructures of the trees butmay also jeopardise the qual-

OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010 33

Photo 7. Olive orchards with two rows of windbreaks in the Valle Centralde Catamarca facing EW almost perpendicular to the rows of trees.


mass of damp air from thePacific ascends the Andes,losing its moisture andgrowing colder along theway. On its descent it growswarmer, eventually reachingthe valleys in hot, dry gusts,generally from the north-west. When it occurs in thespring, it can jeopardiseflowering because it is usu-ally accompanied by a rise intemperatures and very lowambient humidity which cancause the flowers to dehy-drate. In short, it is a dry,warm wind that reaches tem-peratures of about 35 ºC andwhich is characterised bystrong gusts (40–100km/hour).

ORCHARD DESIGN

Plant material

The plant stock for the tra-ditional orchards in themountain valleys was oftenobtained from seed or fromvegetative propagation ofspecific specimens, mainly‘Arauco’ for table olive pro-duction, while ‘Arbequina’,‘Frantoio’ and ‘Picual’ wereplanted on a smaller scale foroil production. The olivefruits of the ‘Arauco’ varietyare characterised by theirhigh resistance to detach-ment from the tree, large size(similar to ‘Gordal de Sevil-la’), high flesh-to-stone ratioand a flesh firmness suited toseveral methods of table

olive preparations. However,owing to its asymmetricshape, the stone of this vari-ety is difficult to remove(Barranco et al., 2000). Thisdescription coincides withthat of the ‘Azapa’ variety ofChile and the ‘Sevillana’ va-riety of Peru. Some geneticdifferences are also foundbetween ‘Arauco’ of differ-ent regions; for instance, the‘Arauco riojano’ differs fromthe variety found elsewherein the country.

The varietal makeupchanged when it becamenecessary to import largeamounts of plant material toplant the orchards coveredby the tax deferral legisla-tion. In 1997 alone, 12 mil-lion olive trees belonging toover 30 varieties were im-ported. Later, a preferencedeveloped for varieties inter-

nationally renowned for thequality of their olives or oils,specifically ‘Manzanilla deSevilla’ for table productionand ‘Arbequina’, ‘Frantoio’,‘Leccino’ and ‘Picual’ for oilproduction. In some cases,there was little control of theplants imported fromMediterranean nurseries; theupshot was that some or-chards were planted withmixed varieties. Moreover,some of the varieties plantedhad not been evaluated be-forehand in the region andover the years it has beenbeen found that they do notadapt well to specific climat-ic conditions. The moststriking examples are the or-chards planted with ‘Fran-toio’, ‘Empeltre’ and ‘Lecci-no’ in the valleys of Cata-marca, La Rioja Capital andSan Juan where these vari-eties do not flower, or do so

34 OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010

Photo 8. Casuarina equisetifolia windbreak in Chilecito (La Rioja), planted at adistance of 15 m from a ‘Picual’ olive orchard. Windbreaks are planted every 200 m.


solely along the edges of theplots.

The varieties that are cul-tivated vary from provinceto province. Taking theprovince of Catamarca as anexample, the bulk of produc-tion is from oil varieties,mainly ‘Arbequina’ becauseit starts to bear crops earlyand its oil is highly rated oninternational markets. Inboth the Valle Central deCatamarca and La RiojaCapital, a high percentage ofproduction is from oil vari-eties but these give low oilprocessing yields (10–14%)due to the high temperaturesduring oil synthesis. For rea-sons of profitability, ‘Picual’is considered nowadays tobe a dual–purpose variety,with a large part of produc-tion going for table olives. Inthe province of La Rioja as awhole, 60% of the olive or-chards grow olives for tableproduction and the main va-rieties are ‘Manzanilla’ and‘Arauco’; ‘Aloreña’ is alsogrown on a small area. The‘Manzanilla’ variety passed‘Arauco’ in terms of croparea due to the expansiontriggered by the orchardswhich took advantage of thetax deferral legislation.‘Manzanilla’ has gainedprominence in these new or-chards because of its interna-tional reputation. Neverthe-less, ‘Arauco’ continues tobe important because of thestrong demand from the Ar-

occasionally but without set-ting any fruit. Orchardsplanted with the ‘Picual’ va-riety also have some flower-ing problems owing to thelack of winter chilling. Asalready mentioned, there isevidence that these varietiesdo not receive sufficienthours of chilling to emergefrom winter rest and contin-ue with the process of flowerstructure differentiation.These varieties are currentlygrafted or replaced outrightby ‘Arbequina’, ‘Arauco’ or‘Hojiblanca’ (Photo 9).

The design of the newolive orchards incorporatedpolliniser varieties, chiefly inthe Valle Central de Catamar-ca and La Rioja Capital.Some olive varieties are par-tially self-incompatible, i.e.they have difficulty in fertil-ising the flower ovules withtheir own pollen and need the

help of other varieties to doso. Given this physiologicalaspect of the olive, in someolive growing countries suchas Italy it is frequent for morethan one variety to be grownin the same plot. However,this is not taken into accountin the design of olive or-chards in Spain because intraditional orchards it wascommon for a mix of vari-eties to be planted. Neverthe-less, there is no consensus onthe optimum design to ensureadequate pollination in Ar-gentina’s olive orchards. Togive some examples, tableolive orchards usually in-clude rows of trees belongingto the ‘Arbequina’, which isused as a polliniser variety,while ‘Arbequina’ orchardsare usually also planted with‘Hojiblanca’ or ‘Picual’ aspolliniser varieties, which aregrown on a small portion ofthe orchard, often located

OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010 35

Photo 9. Graft union of a ‘Frantoio’ olive tree in the Valle Central de Catamarcaonto which ‘Hojiblanca’ had to be grafted (left) and close-up of the graft (right).The chilling requirements of ‘Frantoio’ are not met in the warmer valleys and so

the trees do not flower.


36 OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010

gentine and Brazilian mar-kets. Within the ‘Manzanil-la’ designation there are sev-eral types which are proba-bly different varieties, suchas ‘Manzanilla de Sevilla’,‘Manzanilla Criolla’, ‘Man-zanilla Fina’, ‘ManzanillaReina’, ‘ManzanillaComún’, ‘Manzanilla Aceit-era’, ‘Manzanilla Denté’,‘Manzanilla Californiana’,and ‘Manzanilla israelí’.‘Arbequina’ is the main oilvariety in La Rioja although‘Picual’, ‘Coratina’ and‘Barnea’ are also grown. Tothe south in San Juan wherethe climate is not as warm,70% of the olive growingarea is for the production ofoil-olives. ‘Arbequina’ is thechief variety (60% of thearea), followed by ‘Man-zanilla de Sevilla’ (10%).‘Changlot Real’ (tableolives), ‘Picual’, ‘Hojiblan-ca’ and ‘Arauco’ are minorvarieties, while ‘Coratina’,‘Arbequina’ and ‘Hojiblan-ca’ are clearly expanding.

Orchard layout andtraining systems

Planting densities in theolive farms set up under thetax deferral legislation aregenerally between 250 and330 trees/ha. The usual lay-out is 7–8 m between rowsand 4–5 m between trees inthe same row. In recentyears, especially in SanJuan, the tendency has been

to increase planting densityby using layouts of up to 6 x2 m (approximately 800trees/ha), and even 4–3.5 x1.5 m (between 1,600 and1,900 trees/ha). This in-crease in planting densityhas been prompted in part bythe mounting cost of handharvesting and the financialnecessity of mechanisingharvesting by using shakers,over-the-row harvesters orother machinery like theColossus harvester or theJacto coffee harvester.

The orchards were de-signed without foreseeingthat vegetative growthwould be greater than in theMediterranean Basin. Thetrees were trained to a vaseshape (Photo 10), but insome cases the excessivevigour of the trees caused

the canopies to touch andform hedgerows 5.5 m highand 4.0 m wide (Photo 5).The large size of the treesadds considerably to thecost of cultural practicessuch as harvesting and prun-ing. Moreover, it does notgenerally result in highercrop production because ofthe lack of light penetrationto the leaves and fruit andthe competition betweenfruit development and vege-tative growth. Consequent-ly, the hedgerows aretopped to lower them toaround 3.5 m so that lightcan penetrate through to theside walls and harvesting ismade cheaper (Photo 11).Even so, in some cases theupper parts of the canopyclose over and it is neces-sary to pull out whole rows(Photo 12).

Photo 10. ‘Aloreña’olive trees grafted onto ‘Frantoio’, pruned to a vase shape andestablished on an 8 x 4 m layout in the Valle Central de Catamarca. The lack oflight penetration has caused leaf and fruit loss in the lower part of the hedgerow.


natural or sown plant coverwithin the row interspace allyear round (Photo 13).Mowing or the applicationof contact herbicides is usedto keep the cover crops to aspecific height to stop themfrom flowering and seeding.In areas where rainfall isminimal (<100 mm/year),the plant cover barely devel-ops within the row inter-space (Photo 14).

Irrigation

So far there is enough wa-ter – chiefly belowgroundwater of medium quality – inthe mountain valleys for irri-gation purposes. The biggestconstraint on water use forirrigation is the cost ofpumping. In some cases,farms and urban areas com-pete for electricity in sum-mertime, which limits elec-tricity consumption andhence farm irrigation at thistime of year.

The majority of the farmscalculate irrigation rates ac-cording to FAO recommenda-tions for the crop coefficientmethod (0.70-0.75), whichmeans applying 1,000–1,200mm of water throughout theyear. The irrigation strategyfor which these coefficientswere calculated aims to satis-fy the water requirements ofthe olive; hence, the crop hasaccess to water which can bereadily used throughout the

CULTURAL PRACTICES

Soil management

Because the olive farmsare generally very large andthe orchards are irrigated,

farmers tend to pay little at-tention to soil managementand weed control. Neverthe-less, the most widespreadtechnique is a combined sys-tem of herbicide applicationalong the orchard rows and

Photo 11. ‘Arbequina’ olive trees in the Valle Central de Catamarca whichhave been machine pruned to permit the entrance of vehicles and farmmachinery and to facilitate harvesting. Prior to pruning, the trees had

reached a height of over 5 m.

Photo 12. ‘Arbequina’ olive orchard on a 6 x 4 m layout in Chilecito (La Rioja),designed for trunk shaker harvesting. The excessive vegetative growth of the

trees will make it necessary to pull out alternate rows to permit light penetrationto the lower parts of the tree canopy and to harvest mechanically.

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38 OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010

cycle. Because the tempera-tures are so mild (Table 2),this year-long water availabil-ity leads to excessive vegeta-tive growth and makes it dif-ficult for the olive trees to en-ter winter dormancy. Severalexperiments with olive haveshown that the application ofdeficit irrigation at specifictimes causes moderate waterstress. This reduces vegeta-tive growth without affectingcrop production and mayeven increase it. Vegetativegrowth can be controlled bydecreasing water applicationsat times when this does notinterfere with fruit growthand oil synthesis, such asfrom the end of fruit set untilpeak oil synthesis. In addi-tion, post-harvest water stressforces the tree into winterdormancy and permits subse-quent flower differentiation,which would not be achievedotherwise due to the mild au-

tumn and winter tempera-tures.

Fertilisation

Fertilisation tends to beapplied empirically as is

still the case in many or-chards of traditional pro-ducing countries, and oftenit depends on the financialresources available. Nitro-gen, phosphorus and potas-sium are applied frequently.Overfertilisation, particular-

Photo 13. Soil management with plant cover along the lanes (i.e. row inter-spaces) of ‘Arbequina’ olive orchardsin the Valle Central de Catamarca.

Photo 14. ‘Manzanilla de Sevilla’ olive orchard in Aimogasta (La Rioja) withbare soil along the orchard lanes owing to the low level of rainfall (<100

mm/year). The orchard lanes were not ploughed or treated with herbicides.The rows of olive trees where the irrigation lines are located are kept weed

free by using herbicides.


gins with ‘Arbequina’ inApril and May (dependingon the area and mill capaci-ty). The varieties ‘ChanglotReal’, ‘Frantoio’, ‘Leccino’and ‘Farga’ are all harvestedat the same time. One monthlater, it is the turn of the‘Barnea’, ‘Coratina’ and‘Arbosana’ varieties to beharvested, while ‘Picual’harvesting for oil productiongets underway in June.

Although the orchard lay-outs chosen for many oil-olive orchards (7–8 x 4–5 m)permit harvest mechanisa-tion, the olives are picked byhand with the aid of largestepladders because of thelarge size of the trees (Photo15); poles are not used.Olive farmers are starting toview harvest mechanisationas a must due to the amountof labour required for har-vest – more and more man-power comes from othernorthern provinces such asSalta, Jujuy and Tucumán,as well as from Bolivia – andthe mounting costs of hiringharvest workers (at present,harvest labour can accountfor 60% of total productioncosts). Some farms areequipped with trunk shakers(Photo 16) or Jacto coffeeharvesters, which can har-vest less vigorous trees al-though harvesting is some-times difficult because thetrees are not properlytrained. Currently, large‘Colossus’ harvesters are

ly with nitrogen, is practisedon some farms to ‘secure’high yields. Coupled withthe effect of the climate andhigh irrigation rates, thiscontributes to the excessivevigour of the trees. Fertilis-ers are applied via fertiga-tion or leaf fertilisation. Leafanalysis is not always usedas a tool for diagnosing thenutritional status of the or-chard and, if it is used, thesampling period is not al-ways optimal. For instance,it is frequent for leaf sam-pling to be performed inwinter on the grounds thatthis is when the nutrients arestable, but this is not neces-sarily the case in the warmvalleys of Argentina. Theanalyses should be per-formed on one-year-oldshoots in summer, coincid-ing with stone hardening(July in the northern hemi-sphere), the period for whichreference critical nutrientlevels are available for olive.One important issue yet tobe determined is the optimaltime for sampling in the val-leys of Argentina where theolive generally has a longercycle than in the traditionalolive growing countries(Fig. 6). Magnesium defi-ciencies frequently occur insome orchards, especially inthe ‘Arbequina’ variety,which tend to be related tohigh calcium carbonate lev-els in the soils. In San Juan,some soils are high in potas-sium but phosphorus-

deficient, which often causesdeficiencies.

Main pests and diseases

So far, olive orchards donot have any major healthproblems that cannot be con-trolled by chemical means.The main pests are the ashwhitefly (Siphoninusphillyreae), mites (Aceriaoleae and Oxycenusmaxwelli) and black scale(Saissetia oleae). A few or-chards are affected by nema-todes or fungi such as Verti-cillium dahliae and Phytoph-thora spp. The appearance ofthe latter two problems isusually connected with poorhealth control in the sourcenurseries from which theplant material is obtained.

Harvesting

Harvesting occurs overfive months in the mountainvalleys, beginning in Febru-ary in table olive orchardsand running through to Juneor July in oil orchards. Thefirst table olive variety to beharvested is the ‘Aloreña’ inearly February, followed by‘Manzanilla de Sevilla’ andone month later by ‘Arauco’and ‘Picual’ when they areintended for Spanish-stylegreen olives, and twomonths later when they arefor black olives in brine.Harvesting of oil-olives be-

OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010 39


40 OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010

being developed (Photo 17).In the case of table olives,mechanised harvesting de-tracts from their quality. As aresult, harvesting will be abig problem in a few years’time if costs continue toclimb. The province of LaRioja in particular will beheavily dependent on labour

owing to the large expanseof orchards dedicated totable olive growing.

CROP PRODUCTIONAND QUALITY

As a rule, well managedfarms produce around

10,000 kg olives/ha on aver-age, which can rise to 20,000kg/ha in bumper years.When viewed in terms of oilproduction, ‘Arbequina’stands out because althoughhigher in San Juan (16%)than in La Rioja and Cata-marca (12%), it gives quitepoor oil yields compared

Photo 15. Hand picking of ‘Arbequina’ olives in an orchard in the Valle Central de Catamarca.

Photo 16. Trunk shaker for harvesting oil-olives. This is being used with success even in large trees (up to 5 m in height),provided they have been properly pruned to allow transmission of the vibrations.


na’ and ‘Picual’ have a higholeic acid content (around70%) which remains con-stant throughout fruit ripen-ing (Deborah Rondanini,personal communication).Campesterol and waxes aretwo other sets of compoundswhose levels are frequentlynot accepted under IOCstandards because they areabove the permitted limits.Total polyphenols content islower than in olive growingareas of Spain owing to thehigh temperatures and abun-dant irrigation during fruitripening. Experimental trialsapplying deficit irrigationduring fruit ripening havemanaged to achieve an in-crease of up to 30% in totalpolyphenol content.

In some cases, the longdistance (100–500 km) theolives have to travel from thefarm to the mill where they

with rates in several olivegrowing areas of Spainwhere it can easily reach18% and even 22%. Thehigh temperatures, whichhinder oil synthesis, appearto be the most likely causealthough other factors suchas high irrigation rates alsohave to be taken into ac-count. This last factor is dueto the fact that generallygrowers sell their olives byweight and do not stop irri-gating prior to harvest; as aresult the olives arrive at themill with a high moisturecontent, which lowers oil ex-traction efficiency. As far asthe effect of temperature isconcerned, a zoning studycarried out in several agro-ecological areas of theTulúm valley (San Juan) re-vealed that oil synthesis lev-els were higher in the ‘Arbe-quina’ variety in the south-ern part of the valley where

the temperatures are lower.The oil made from some

varieties does not alwaysmeet the parameters re-quired by the IOC for extravirgin olive oil. For instance,‘Arbequina’ tends to giveoils with low concentrationsof oleic acid (<55%) in LaRioja Capital and the ValleCentral de Catamarcawhereas in colder areas suchas San Juan the concentra-tions are generally above thelimit. This low oleic acidcontent is related to compo-sitional changes during oilaccumulation. The oil ob-tained from ‘Arbequina’ and‘Arauco’ olives picked fromthe tree contains 70% oleicacid one month after stonehardening, but this levelgradually decreases throughfruit ripening until it reachesvalues of close to 55% whenoil synthesis is completed.Other varieties like ‘Corati-

Photo 17. Over-the-row harvester (Colossus) for harvesting oil-varieties, which can harvest trees up to 4 m high and 4m wide.

OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010 41


42 OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010

are eventually processed alsoaffects the quality of the oils,which sometimes have freefatty acid values above thelimit set for extra virgin oliveoil (0.8%). However, theselevels are not related to thedate of harvest or maturityindex (Rondanini et al.,2007). Other quality parame-ters such as the K232 and K270specific extinction coeffi-cients, the peroxide valueand oxidative stability gener-ally lie inside the parametersproposed by the IOC (Ceci etal., 2004; Ceci and Carelli,2007).

Where table olives areconcerned, the traditional lo-cal variety (‘Arauco’) standsout in terms of quality. Thisvariety is in great demandbecause of its large fruit,which is prepared as Span-ish-style green olives or nat-ural black olives, althoughthe market is limited due tothe difficulty in removingthe stone. The introductionof ‘Manzanilla de Sevilla’ innewly established farms hasrecently facilitated exportsto new markets such as theUnited States and Canadawhere until now there hadbeen no tradition of import-ing olives from Argentina.

PROCESSING ANDMARKETING

In the 2007/08 crop yearArgentina produced 27,000 t

of oil (Fig. 2). Rising pro-duction in recent years hasgone hand in hand with ris-ing processing capacity. Themajority of oil mills aremodern and use the two-phase system. Most of theoil (69% in 2007/08) is ex-ported to other countries be-cause of its high cost com-pared with seed oils since itis five to six times more ex-pensive than domesticallyproduced soybean and sun-flower oil. As a result, percapita consumption in Ar-gentina is no more than 0.1kg compared with 24.2 kg inGreece and 12.3 kg in Italyand Spain. Most of the oilexported is sold in bulk,chiefly to the United States(40%), followed by Brazil(25%).

In the early 1990s Ar-gentina produced some30,000 t of table olives,mainly belonging to the‘Arauco’ variety. These werechiefly processed as greenolives and to a lesser extentas natural black olives. By2007/08 production hadreached 100,000 t, principal-ly of the ‘Manzanilla deSevilla’ variety. This hasforced the industry tochange its processing tech-niques because the skin ofthis fruit variety needs moredelicate handling and lyetreatment. Modern process-ing facilities (Photo 18) en-able the industry to turn outa top-quality, internationally

renowned product. Process-ing is very highly concen-trated in that although thereare more than 90 registeredprocessing companies, onlyfour process 70% of produc-tion. Ninety per cent of thetable olives produced go forexport, chiefly to Brazil(80%), and then the UnitedStates.

STRENGTHS ANDWEAKNESSES OFTHE SECTOR

The mountain valleys con-tain a large land area that ispractically flat or only mod-erately sloping. This landhas not been cultivated pre-viously and is thereforepathogen-free. The coarsetextured soils are highlysuited to olive growing, pro-vided irrigation water isavailable. The fact that theinformation gleaned fromexisting orchards is avail-able to establish new or-chards means that the rightvarieties can now be select-ed. In addition, the nurseryindustry has developed in re-cent years and producesquality plants to meet theneeds of new orchards.

The climatic conditions inthe highest valleys of theprovinces of Catamarca, LaRioja and San Juan are idealfor olive production and aretherefore well suited forgrowing top quality oil vari-


and will thus be able to par-ticipate in decision-makingon olive oil policies, benefitfrom international technicalcooperation, and take part inpromotional activities. Fur-thermore, several nationalscientific research and tech-nical teams are working inNorthwest Argentina in part-nership with the private sec-tor (e.g. Provincial Cham-bers of Commerce and otherproducer groups such as theRegional Consortium of Ex-perimental Agriculture andLivestock, CREA) to im-prove crop management.

Generally speaking, olivemanagement in the climaticconditions of the arid valleysin Northwest Argentina facestwo challenges: control ofvegetative vigour and resist-ance to the cold South winds.Excessive vigour means thatthe trees grow to a huge size

eties. The warmest valleysshould probably concentrateon table olive production andapply deficit irrigation strate-gies, especially in autumnand winter, to force the win-ter rest period required toachieve high flowering rates.Only oil varieties with a highcontent of polyphenols andoleic acid (e.g., ‘Picual’,‘Coratina’) can be cultivatedin these warmer valleys.

The fact that the tableolive varieties grown in theregion (‘Arauco’ and ‘Man-zanilla’) are well suited toprocessing and that the in-dustry has modern facilitieshas meant that table olivesfrom Argentina have earneda great reputation on the in-ternational market. However,in the case of olive oil, sever-al critical points need to bereviewed. Although mills areequipped with modern facili-

ties, the high temperaturesreached during oil synthesisand harvesting lead to lowoleic acid levels and instabil-ity in the oils made fromsome varieties. If quality oilis to be achieved, harvestingneeds to be earlier and thedistance between orchardand mill must be as short aspossible to avoid fermenta-tion prior to processing. De-creasing irrigation prior toharvest would mean that theolive paste does not containso much moisture and wouldtherefore raise oil extractionyields and polyphenolscontent.

Membership in interna-tional organisations and theassociative structure of thesector are positive aspects ofthe expansion of olive grow-ing. Argentina became aMember of the InternationalOlive Council in May 2009

Photo 18. Modern table olive processing plant in Aimogasta (La Rioja).

OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010 43


44 OLIVÆ/No 114 - 2010

and makes harvesting verycostly. A combination of irri-gation and nitrogen fertilisa-tion control and adequatepruning will help to obtaincanopies suited to mechani-cal harvesting or at least tolower harvesting costs ifdone by hand. The windsfrom the South Pole in win-ter cause severe damage toplants which are not hard-ened off or to trees whosecrop has not yet been har-vested. Moving forward thewinter rest period by lower-ing irrigation and fertilisa-tion will help to trigger theprocess of lignification. Ear-lier harvesting will also benecessary. New orchards es-tablished in the coldest val-leys should not be located inthe valley floor but on thehill sides.

The last aspect that shouldbe highlighted is the avail-ability of irrigation water.The water level is becominglower in the aquifers of manymountain valleys wheregroundwater is the primarywater source. Hence, the sus-tainability of the crop may bethreatened in the comingdecades unless water use isbetter controlled.

ACKNOWLEDGE-MENTS

This article has beenwritten thanks to the sup-port of various organisa-

tions. The PolytechnicalUniversity of Madrid fi-nanced the collaboration ofits faculty members withCRILAR (Supplementaryactivity AL09-PAC-10 andSeed-Project AL10-PID-20). The Department of In-novation, Science and Busi-ness of the regional govern-ment of Andalusia financedcollaboration through theprogramme of incentivesfor scientific and technicalactivities (call for proposals1/2009). The stay of profes-sors Gómez-del-Campo andMorales-Sillero in La Riojaand Catamarca was fi-nanced by the ArgentineanScientific and Technologi-cal Advancement Agency(PICT 2005 No 32218). Thestay in San Juan was fundedby the firm AgromilloraAndina.

M. Gómez del CampoDpto. Producción Vegetal: Fitotec-nia. Universidad Politécnica deMadrid. Ciudad Universitaria, s/n.28040 Madrid.

A. Morales-SilleroDpto. Ciencias Agroforestales.Universidad de Sevilla. Ctra. Utre-ra, km 1. 41013 Sevilla.

F. Vita SermanEstación Experimental Agropecua-ria San Juan, INTA. Calle 11 y Vi-dart. Pocito, San Juan. Argentina.

M.C. Rousseaux& P.S. Searles

CRILAR-CONICET, Entre Ríos yMendoza s/n, Anillaco (5301), LaRioja. Argentina.

REFERENCES

Aybar V. 2010. Floraciónen olivo (Olea europaea l.):evaluación del ajuste de unmodelo predictivo para lascondiciones del chaco áridoargentino y utilización dehormonas exógenas. Tesisde Maestría, Escuela paraGraduados, Facultad deAgronomía, Universidad deBuenos Aires

Barranco D., A. Cimato, PFiorino, L. Rallo, A.Touzani, C. Castañeda, F.Serafín & I. Trujillo. 2000.Catálogo mundial de var-iedades de olivo. Ed. Conse-jo Oleícola Internacional.Madrid. 360 pp.

Bongi G. 2004. Modelliproduttivi in olivioltura.Oliveto vol 9, pp 8-15.

Ceci L., M. Santa Cruz, M.Melgarejo, O. Moro & A.Carelli. 2004. Calidad deaceites de oliva varietales ar-gentinos. Índices de calidad.Aceites & Grasas 57: 648-653.

Ceci L. & A. Carelli. 2007Characterization of Mono-varietal Argentinian OliveOils from New ProductiveZones. J Am Oil Chem Soc84:1125–1136

De Melo-Abreu JP, Bar-ranco D, Cordeiro AM,Tous J, Rogado BM, Vil-lalobos FJ (2004) Model-


ling olive flowering date us-ing chilling for dormancyrelease and thermal time.Agricult. For. Meteorol.125: 121-127

International Olive Coun-cil. 2009. Argentina. Marketcommentary. Olive productsmarket report summary No32.

Rondanini D., Ruiz D.,Del Carril D., Araujo S.,García E., Rousseaux M.C.2007. Caracterización de losaceites varietales de olivavirgen elaborados en losvalles cálidos de la La Rioja(Argentina). Campañas 2005y 2006. Aceites & Grasas69: 654-659.

Salas J., J. Sánchez, U.Ramli & A. Manaf A. 2000.Biochemistry of lipid meta-bolism in olive and other oilfruits. Progress in Lipid Res.39: 151-180.

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