After four years of drought and one extremely wet year the harvest of olives will yet again be affected by drought. This is the sixth year in a row to bring olive growers crops below average. The loss will be about 40 percent, explains Irena Vrhovnik from the Institute of Agriculture and Forestry in Nova Gorica: “Due to dry weather there were very few olive flies, which means that the crops are of extremely high quality, the fruit is very healthy and we can expect to get truly excellent quality.”

The crops may differ from location to location quite significantly. “In general, I’d say this is an average harvest,” notes Angelo Hlaj, who is fairly satisfied with this year’s crops.

Just before the start of the olive picking season, Slovenian olive growers met at Belvedere near Izola at a traditional event called the Mayors’ Olive Tree. They received a visit from the European MP Ivo Vajgl, who gave an initiative for a presentation in the European Parliament: “By presenting olive trees and olive growing, we can open a discussion in the European Parliament regarding Slovenia, our coast, tradition, our Mediterranean roots.” His proposal was well-received by the newly-appointed president of the Slovenian Association of Olive Growers Miran Adamič, who is certain that olive growers will properly represent Slovenia.