Growth Regions for Olive Trees

It is no secret that the Mediterranean diet, with its liberal use of olives and olive oil, is good for you. Olives are crucial to the Mediterranean region where they grow best. The cuisine and the economy thrive on olive oil. According to the Promotional Committee for Olive and Olive Oil, Turkey produces more than 400,000 metric tons of olives each year but exports only 60,000 tons. In today's prime olive-growing regions around the world, the practice shows no sign of slowing. Does this Spark an idea?

Requirements

The olive flourishes in areas with a long growing season with plenty of heat and no late-spring frosts. It needs winter temperatures low enough to allow the fruit to set. When the trees are in bloom, too much heat and dry winds can harm the olives. With these requirements, olives will not grow in cold or humid climates.

Origins

The olive tree is indigenous to Asia Minor. Dense olive forests are still found there. Some agronomists think the olive went from Syria through Turkey to Greece 6,000 years ago. As widespread as it became, however, some advanced civilizations, such as the Assyrians and Babylonians, did not cultivate olives. Whatever the chronology of the spread of the olive, it eventually became a staple crop in the Mediterranean, Middle East, parts of Europe and North Africa.

Spread

When Europeans ventured to the western hemisphere they took the olive. It was soon cultivated in Mexico, Argentina, Peru and Chile and finally California, then later in Peru, California, Chile and Argentina. By the early 21st century the olive was under cultivation in Australia and southern Africa, as well as Japan and China.

Predominance

Olive regions in most parts of the world are small and the olives are consumed locally. Spain and Italy have the leading olive-producing regions in the world. Spain exports more olives than any other country. It has around 215 million olive trees planted on 5 million acres. Italy is second to Spain and grows 300 varieties of olives. Greece, with 132 million trees, grows olives on 60 percent of farmland.