If the Olives are Gone, So Are We

The olive trees are dying in Cambil, Spain, and that is bad news for the town. The NY Times published a story by Renwick McLean about the terrible effects of a record breaking freeze and a very long drought. The result has been withered trees producing raisin-sized olives, with many trees cut down to stumps.

The town doesn't have much besides olives, the average family here owns about 2-300 trees. The region, the size of Connecticut, produces about 20 percent of the world's olive oil. One farmer here said "Their whole understanding of power and value is based on the olive tree."

With trees taking about 5-10 years to regenerate and produce again, things are grim here, where few young people live and many others will move to find jobs in cities. The trees have thrived so well that few other crops have been planted. "There is nothing else here," said a local bartender.