It is the opening of the Nyons olive harvest, this Wednesday.
This year will not be like the two previous ones: olive growers are expecting a small harvest. They are worried about trees with few fruits, due to the drought since spring, with uneven maturity. Another particularity of the 2022 season: the olives are very large, waterlogged, and many have already fallen to the ground. Here, it is the mildness of autumn which is in question, the fruits preferring the cold.
“If we’re in a hurry to harvest, it’s because the olives don’t last. If we don’t make table olives, we want to make at least oil“, says Pascal Condamines, producer at the Tuilières farm in Nyons. This olive grower is betting on a half-harvest this year.