The ancient tradition of harvesting by hand

Most Jordanian farms carefully harvest their olives by hand. This traditional manual harvesting method does not damage the trees or the fruits. Combined with our modern milling techniques, this ensures a high-quality oil.

Harvesting by hand

Jordan’s olive farms have often been in families for many generations, who keep their ancient traditions alive. They generally grow rainfed olives with minimal use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Most farms carefully harvest their olives by hand, dropping them onto a cloth or plastic sheet under the tree. Stems, twigs and leaves are removed, before the olives are packed in containers or bags and transported to Jordan’s state-of-the-art pressing mills.

Benefits

Harvesting by hand has many benefits, besides preserving ancient traditions. It does not damage the trees’ branches and leaves, keeping the trees strong. It also limits damage to the olive fruits, which benefits the quality of the oil.
Manual harvesting is the most expensive stage in olive production, accounting for 40-50% of production costs. Although mechanical systems may increase harvesters’ productivity, the manual method provides the highest yield of harvested fruits, with minimal damage to the trees and olives.

The ancient tradition of harvesting by hand

Harvesting by hand

Benefits

Suggested Readings

Majdal Olive Oil

Al Zaben Farm

A Testimonial of Oleotourism in Jordan by an Olive Oil Expert

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