tests in which it has participated, it has performed outstandingly well: not only has it outperformed its parents (Arbosana I-43@ and Koroneiki I-38®) in terms of kg of oil but also an international collection of 33 traditional varieties with which it has been compared.

Todolivo I-15^P features a high and constant production, which allows the farmer to maintain a great regularity in harvests.

It has a high fat yield and reaches the greatest differences over the rest of the varieties when harvested early, a quality that is highly appreciated by farmers as it allows them to bring forward the harvest and to opt for the high prices at which Aove is priced at the beginning of the season.

With regard to diseases, it is resistant to leaf spot and tolerant to Verticillium and tuberculosis.

Its structure makes it ideal for hedge cultivation and mechanised harvesting. Its open growth habit and medium/low vigour allows it to easily form and maintain the tree in a false canopy, which facilitates the closing of spaces in the row and the rapid creation of the hedge.

On the other hand, it requires little pruning work and shows a rapid productive response to pruning, making it very simple and economical to manage agronomically.

Its morphological features favour its adaptation to dry land, such as, for example, its leathery leaves, which allow it to reduce transpiration, economise water consumption and reduce water stress during the dry season, in turn favouring the correct ripening of the fruit.

Regarding its oil, it has extraordinary sensory properties and high oleic acid values.

In short, Todolivo I-15^P is a very complete variety that is being very well received internationally and with which farmers will certainly be able to improve the profitability of their farms and produce an excellent Aove that is unique in the world.

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The Encounter

when they noticed that its kittens had inherited some of this feline’s traits, such as its distinctive tail. We asked them if these felines had been also sighted in other parts of the estate, and they said that they were always seen at the olive grove in hedge plantation, which was where the largest amount of rabbits and animals could be found.

That didn’t surprise us much, since, even though that was the first time we saw the lynx, on many other of our technical visits to the different olive grove in hedge plantations, we had noticed clear evidence of a large wildlife presence in this new olive tree forest, such as red-legged partridges, thrushes, hares, rabbits, foxes, wild boars, Bonelli’s eagles, etc.

Commissioning the Study

This made all of us at Todolivo think and wonder about why these and many other animals chose this Olive Grove in Hedge plantation as their preferred habitat to hunt and/or live. So, a few days later, we decided to seek an answer to these questions and contacted biologist Patricia Cosano Pérez and commissioned a study on the wildlife present at this
Olive Grove in Hedge plantation.

Study Methodology

The scientific method chosen to carry out the study and the sampling of wildlife at the “Villa del Río” farm (Córdoba) was one based on a line-transect methodology, which involves drawing sampling lines on the area to be studied that are later used by the technician as a reference for animal counting at sunrise or at sunset, depending on the species being studied.

In addition to this, multiple automated motion cameras were used, strategically placed in different areas of the farm: these cameras can detect and record animal movement at any time of the day. Furthermore, the study took into account the animal droppings and tracks found on the
line transects (sampling lines) of the Olive Grove in Hedge lanes. The results of these analyses, along with the camera recordings, were extremely helpful to complete this wildlife study. The total area sampled using these line transects amounted to 9 km and 262 m.

The Results

After the exhaustive sampling carried out by biologist Patricia Cosano throughout the 61-hectare Olive Grove in Hedge plantation at the “Villa del Río” farm, the following animals were recorded:

Iberian Lynx

Three Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) specimens were identified: a male lynx (figures 1 and 5), a female lynx (figure 2) and a cub (figure 6).

These large predators come to this Olive Grove in Hedge plantation to hunt, and not to other parts of the farm, because there is an abundance of rabbits in this area. It should be noted that this small mammals account for 70% to 95% of the diet of these felines. It is estimated that a lynx has to eat at least one rabbit a day in order to survive. Figure 7 shows the hunting strategy implemented by a pair of lynxes: here you can see how they move together following the same hedge row, each of them on a different side, so they can stalk and catch their prey more efficiently.

Although these felines are primarily active during the twilight period, the many pictures snapped by our photo-trap cameras evidence that these animals hunt at a wide and varied range of times. This indicates that their presence here is not accidental, and that they have found in this hedge forest the perfect habitat to breed and feed, since here they can easily find a significant amount of the food their need to survive.

Rabbit

According to the study of the different transects in the hedge plantation, at least 123 rabbits were recorded, although the pictures taken by the several strategically placed photo-trap cameras show that the actual population is far greater.

One could ask why there is a greater density of these small mammals in the hedge area as compared to other areas of the farm, where their numbers are lower. The answer is simple: the olive grove in hedge arrangement allows for the growing of the trees close to each other, forming long rows of vegetation that are very similar to the scrub found in the Mediterranean forests. This scrub provides the rabbits with shelter and protection from their predators, a place where they can hide from them and that offers a quick way of escape in the event of imminent danger.

The presence of these animals at the Olive Grove in Hedge plantation doesn’t endanger the crops, since rabbits don’t damage mature olive trees. Nevertheless, they play a key role in keeping the balance of this new Mediterranean forest ecosystem, since they form the base of the food chain and they make the existence of many other animals possible.

Fox

The red foxes sighted at the farm (Figure 10), despite being omnivorous animals, base their diet mainly on rabbits, since there is a great number of them around this area, enough to satisfy their daily food needs. The Olive Grove in Hedge plantation provides them with the perfect place to hunt, thanks to its animal biodiversity and to the fact that the scrub allows them,

not only to hide whenever necessary, but also to approach their prey unseen and catch them by surprise.

Wild Boar

One of the species we were able to spot at this farm was the wild boar, which could only be seen by the cameras (Figure 11), since they are mainly active during the night. Wild boars are omnivorous animals and, although their diet is mainly plant-based, they also supplement it with small rodents, small rabbits and invertebrates, such as worms and insects.

Wildcat

Wildcats (Figure 12) usually live in the Mediterranean forest, in areas mainly covered by scrub and deciduous woods, but they can be found throughout the Iberian Peninsula. These are usually very elusive animals and they avoid human beings. They could only be detected by the photo-trap cameras, since they hide during the day.

The cameras took pictures of several species whose presence at this farm was unknown, such as the Iberian wild goat (Capra pyrenaica), the Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) and the European badger (Meles meles).

Egyptian Mongoose or Ichneumon

This mammal (Figure 13) is the only mongoose species in Europe. It is one of the few diurnal carnivores in the area: it hunts during the day in order to avoid its main predators, such as the fox and the lynx. Its diet is mainly based on rabbits, rodents and reptiles, as well as on small birds and insects.

European Badger

The European badger (Figure 14) is a badger species in the family Mustelidae. This mammal has a strong body build and short legs, it is omnivorous and eats small rodents, rabbits, earthworms, insects, roots, fruits and herbaceous crops. It is a nocturnal animal, and it usually starts hunting at sunset.

Iberian Wild Goat

A picture of a wild goat (Figure 15) was captured by a camera at the centre of the farm. Nevertheless, the goat was only seen on one occasion, so it can be concluded that this specimen was only passing through the farm.

Song Thrush

This migratory bird (Figure 16) is omnivorous and eats invertebrates, olives and seeds. They usually come to Spain by the end of August and stay here
until March, when they leave again for Central and Northern Europe (England, Germany and Scandinavia). Their preferred winter habitats are olive groves and the scrub in farmlands and low mountain ranges, which is why they are particularly attracted to this new Olive Grove in Hedge forest.

Iberian Magpie

This small bird in the crow family has a long blue tail and is omnivorous. This is a highly gregarious species, they live in largish groups, and they usually have a sedentary lifestyle: when they occupy a territory, they tend to stay in it, and, based on our observations, they consider this new Mediterranean scrub the perfect place to live.

Conclusion

The Olive Grove in Hedge plantation is a new form of Mediterranean scrub forest that supports a rich biodiversity all around it. This type of grove immediately becomes an attraction and a stable habitat for a myriad of animals that turn it into the perfect place to shelter, feed and/or breed.

In addition to this, the new system we are currently developing and using, called Todolivo’s wide-layout Olive Grove in Hedge^® system, helps improve the sustainability of the planet, since it has a very positive carbon footprint (about 2,900 kg CO₂/ha/year) and it requires fewer agricultural inputs and natural
resources.

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Agronomic Assessment

This variety is of small size, of medium-to-low vigour, and has an open growth habit. In addition to this, it has low pruning needs and it shows a quick productive response to pruning, thus allowing for easy and economical agronomic management.

It is characterised by an early, high and constant production and a high fat yield, both in its early ripening and late ripening stages, and it is in the former when it shows the greatest production differences compared to the other varieties.

In the trials carried out to date, this variety has yielded more kg of olive oil/ha than its parents and than an international selection of 33 traditional varieties to which it is being compared at the “La Mata” and “Las Hazuelas” irrigated estates and at the “El Calderito Alto” rainfed estate. A PRODUCTION COMPARISON with the traditional varieties tested at “La Mata”, click on view tables.

Its fruit offers high extractability when milled.

It is resistant to leaf spot disease and tolerant of Verticillium and tuberculosis.

If you want to continue reading more relevant information about this variety, click on continue dossier.

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• The development of wide-layout Olive Grove in Hedge plantations has marked a turning point in the olive grove in hedge industry. They represent progress and a major step forward over the super-intensive olive grove system, since they allow farmers to sustainably produce a greater amount of kg of EVOO/ha from their farms in a more efficient and profitable way.

• This innovation is the result of the research work carried out by Todolivo in numerous trials conducted at their irrigated and rainfed research estates over the last 22 years, of their wide experience in planting and managing Olive Grove in Hedge plantations, as well as of the data that Todolivo has been collecting from a number of farms be-longing to customers who have implemented the company’s innovative system.
  

The Olive Grove in Hedge system uses wider planting layouts that require fewer trees/ha (between 400 and 1,600 trees/ha), compared to super-intensive crops that use denser planting layouts requiring a greater number of olive trees (between 1,160 and 3,000 trees/ha), thus significantly reducing investment and crop management costs, such as those incurred in pruning, which are lower since there are fewer trees to prune. Examples of this are “Logrosán” or “La Rinconadilla”, two wide-layout estates whose pruning costs stand at around €300/ha, compared to the average €800/ha incurred at ‘El Cercado de San Luis’,a farm with a dense layout planted over 22 years ago.

‘Logrosán’ estate (Cáceres), a wide-layout Olive Grove in Hedge farm

• Olive Groves in Hedge are also a great environmental ally against climate change, since they have a positive carbon balance, that is to say, the amount of CO₂ captured from the atmosphere by these plantations is far greater than the carbon dioxide emissions resulting from their management and from the energy used in the extra virgin olive oil production process.

  In addition to this, they use fewer natural re-sources and agricultural inputs, which not only reduces crop management costs, but also makes this a more environmentally sustainable option.

  This is the case, for example, with the water and electricity used in irrigated fields, whose consumption is significantly lower than that of dense-layout plantations, as shown in the tables below. In these tables we can see how ‘La Rinconadilla’ and ‘Logrosán’, both estates with wide planting layouts, use around 30% less water than ‘El Cercado de San Luis’, a farm planted with super-intensive olive groves.

• All of them use the same irrigation system and they are all irrigated at the same times, but those with wide planting layouts use less water because they have fewer rows of trees per hectare, their spacing being greater than that of dense planting layouts.

  This is also the case with the amount of plant-protection products used, which is lower in fields with wide planting layouts, since there are fewer trees to be treated and the hedges receive more air and sunlight, resulting in a lower rate of diseases.

  Regarding the harvesting costs, these are also lower in wide-layout Olive Grove in Hedge plantations, since harvesters need less time to harvest all the olives in a field, having to work on fewer rows per hectare. Thus, a wide-layout plantation is harvested, on average, in approximately 1-1,15 hours/ha, while tho-se with dense planting layouts are harvested in 2-2,30 hours/ha on average.

• Another important advantage offered by Olive Grove in Hedge plantations is that farmers can plant any variety of olive tree, provided that the field meets the proper agro-climatic conditions and that each variety is appropriately managed. Todolivo currently works with 103 hedge varieties, which allows the farmer to produce extraordinary EVOOs with different flavours and fruity aromas, helping them offer unique products to their customers and better cater to the varied tastes and preferences of consumers.

  Another key feature of Olive Grove in Hedge plantations is that they allow for a better distribution of the leaf mass in each row, so the trees are able to capture more sunlight. The trees have all the space they need for a healthy development, getting sunlight from all cardinal points, and, in addition to this, they allow for natural pruning, inspired by that of the traditional olive trees, which is an easy and economical way for the trees to capture the sunlight more efficiently, thus helping farmers obtain higher yields and profits every year. All this is evidenced by the results included in the production tables below. In them, we can see how Olive Grove in Hedge plantations yield average production results that are significantly better than those yielded by super-intensive olive groves.

  Not only do both ‘Logrosán’ and ‘La Rinconadilla’ yield, on average, a greater amount of kg of EVOO per hectare than ‘El Cercado’, but they also do it in a more sustainable, efficient and profitable way, since they require lower investment and crop management costs, and use fewer natural resources, thus enabling the farmer to earn greater profits and to produce different and unique types of extraordinary EVOOs.

• 

  At Todolivo we will carry out an agro-climatic study of your fields in order to determine the best planting layout and the most sustainable and profitable varieties for your farm.

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The results obtained, according to the Group and Todolivo, are “extremely positive”, even though the soil of this estate has a physical and chemical limitation which impairs the normal growth of the plants.

The carbon captured by the olive grove biomass (air biomass and roots) and the soil has largely exceeded the amount of carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the management of the plantation, as well as from the energy used during the production process of extra virgin olive oil, which resulted in a very positive carbon sequestration balance.

Can of Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Arbequina Clon I-21 with the anagram of the positive carbon balance.

What did the field work entail?

In order to carry out the field work for the analysis of the carbon footprint on the “El Cercado de San Luis” estate, three representative olive trees were uprooted and samples of the soil were taken at different depths with the purpose of calculating said carbon capture by analysing biomass (air biomass and roots) and soil.

After analysing these data, it was determined that the Olive Grove in Hedge plantation on said estate captures 3,736 kg of CO₂/ha/year. In order to determine the carbon balance, that is, the net amount of carbon dioxide captured on the estate, we should subtract the emissions resulting from the crop management (830 kg of CO₂/ha/year) and those from the production and packaging process of extra virgin olive oil (0.38 kg of CO₂ equivalent/litre) from the aforementioned amount. Once this subtraction is carried out, and bearing in mind that the estate has a production average of 1,797 litres of oil/ha and 21 ha of Olive Grove in Hedge planted, the resulting average net carbon dioxide sequestration amounts to 46,686 kg/ha/year or, in other words, 1.24 kg of CO₂equivalent captured per each litre of oil produced on this estate. An amount which is equivalent to the CO₂ emitted by 40 cars in a year.

(Note: In order to make this calculation, it has been assumed that every car has travelled an average of 10,000 km/year and emitted 117 grams of CO₂/km)

Chopped pruning remains in ‘El Cercado de San Luis’.

What does “Carbon Sequestration” mean?

This is the process of transferring carbon from the atmosphere (carbon dioxide) and storing it in the soil and in the olive grove biomass. This process takes place when a set of farming practices (not working the land, ground covering, adding pruning waste to the soil) increases carbon storage in the soil. The agricultural sector, in this sense, is usually able to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and temporarily store it in trees (trunks, roots, branches, leaves and fruit) and in the soil for a long time.

And soil carbon is among the key factors which affect the calculation of the carbon balance of olive groves, an amount which increases when adding crushed pruning waste to the soil which is permanently transformed into organic carbon, thus nourishing the soil and, at the same time, resulting in a positive carbon balance.

Is Todolivo’s Olive Grove in Hedge System® synonymous with sustainable agriculture?

Without a doubt, this is a highly sustainable cultivation system in environmental terms, it is suitable for rainfed and irrigated plantations, it uses very few natural resources and agricultural inputs compared to other woody crops, the tasks performed for the management of the crops are eco-friendly, it encourages animal biodiversity and, as it has been scientifically proven in this study, it acts as a CO₂sink, capturing significant amounts of this harmful gas, which is the principal cause of the greenhouse effect and global warming, from the atmosphere.

Shredding of pruning remains in ‘El Cercado de San Luis’.

Carbon footprint certification

Todolivo, by virtue of a collaboration agreement signed in 2018 with the Eco-Efficient Cropping Systems Group of the University of Córdoba (UCO), will provide this service for all those customers who wish to calculate the carbon balance of their plantations and oils. Once this study has been conducted, customers will be able to certify the kg of carbon dioxide captured per each litre of oil produced on the estate studied by adding an official stamp provided by the Group to their product labels.

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• When in 2007 Todolivo decided to start its Genetic Improvement Programme to secure new, more productive olive varieties to use for new and different EVOOs, it knew that it was undertaking a long journey on which there would be many uncertainties and few certainties. Today, thirteen years later, this Programme is reaping the rewards: not only are the goals being met, but the results are also eclipsing the original expectations.
  Todolivo I-15^P, the first variety that the company is marketing in this Programme, is a prime example of this. Year after year, and in all the tests carried out to date, it has demonstrated a high level of early maturity and an extraordinary productive capacity, as well as a high oil yield.

  In the Genetic Improvement Trial held at the ‘La Mata’ estate, the Todolivo I-15^P variety yielded, one year and ten months after being

• planted, an average of 925 kg oil/ha, while only one of the other traditional varieties under comparison produced in the same year, the Koroneiki, which yielded 547 kg of oil per hectare.
  The production recorded by these varieties in the following two harvests (2018 and 2019) is shown in the tables below, which are ordered from highest to lowest depending on the kg of oil/ha obtained by each variety in the test.
  To make the results as reliable and meaningful as possible, a large trial consisting of nine blocks was designed, divided into three plots, each containing full lines of the thirty-eight selections and a worldwide collection of highly productive varieties with which they would be compared.
  But it is not just its productivity: this a very complete variety that has some ideal characteristics for a hedge-pruned olive grove.

Table 1. PLOT: LA BALSA (1.143 trees/ha) · Contains: 1 XXL test block
Age: 2 years and 8 months · Harvest: Oct/2018

Table 2. PLOT: LA BALSA (1.143 trees/ha) · Contains: 1 XXL test block
Age: 3 years and 10 months · Harvest: Dec/2019

Table 3. PLOT: CORTIJO ESTE (952 trees/ha) · Contains: 4 test blocks
Age: 2 years and 10 months · Harvest: Dec/2018

Table 4. PLOT: CORTIJO ESTE (952 trees/ha) · Contains: 4 tes blocks
Age: 3 years and 10 months · Harvest: Dec/2019

Table 5. PLOT: CORTIJO OESTE (1.143 trees/ha) · Contains: 4 test blocks
Age: 2 years and 10 months · Harvest: Dec/2018

6. PLOT: CORTIJO OESTE (1.143 trees/ha) · Contains: 4 test blocks
Age: 3 years and 9 months · Harvest: Nov/2019

• It has a well defined structure that allows for good ventilation and for light to enter. Its low vigour and spherical form bear similarities to its mother “Arbosana”. Its internodes are short and it branches very well, with hardly any need for pruning. As for infestations and diseases, the variety does not currently show sensitivity to any disease and does show tolerance to peacock spot and verticillium wilt.
  Its oil is of an extraordinary organoleptic quality. It has an apple green colour and an intense and varied fruitiness. In the mouth, it is sweet and balanced, with a slight bitterness and a slightly more intense spiciness, which makes it very pleasant on the palate. It has a high index of oleic acid.

• 

  The emergence of the Todolivo I-15^P is a major milestone in achieving new varieties of olive. Not only does it manage to outperform its parents in productivity, but it also does so with each and every one of the traditional varieties to which it is being compared, as can be seen in the data collected in the tables from the macro test carried out at the ‘La Mata’ farm. A variety that is captivating the world of olive cultivation and that will allow farmers to secure greater profitability on their farms and produce a new EVOO like no other in the world.

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Propiedade plantada em Sevilha a un compasso de 7×1,5m.

19 years ago a farmer from Seville asked Todolivo to transform a plantation of crown olive grove with three years and a half trees and a 7×6 m frame to an olive grove in hedge. The company accepted the challenge considering it viable as they were young olive trees, and thus the plantation was transformed into an olive grove in hedge with a 7×1.5 m frame. Nowadays, you can still differentiate the eldest trees by the trunk’s thickness – those being older than three years and a half.

The irrigation installed was drip irrigation releasing 2.3 litres/hour every 0.75 meters. The yearly average water consumption is 1000 cubic metres. The trim techniques are natural, simple and cheap. Maintenance costs do not exceed in this case 1500 €/ha.

These are their production records:

In the same plantation, two years later, Todolivo planted in plowland 9, 40 more ha of olive grove in hedge, but at this time using a narrower frame boasting 4×1,35 m. Later on, in 2002 and 2006, the plantation was enlarged with another two plowlands of the estate, number 10 and 11, with 40 ha each of them, planted using the same frame. The irrigation installation includes a dripping system with diffusers releasing 2.3 litres/hour every 0.75 metres. The yearly average water consumption per ha in these three plowlands attains 2227 cubic metres. The maintenance costs for this plantation frame are around 2500 €/ha.

These are the production records in these plowlands of the estate located in Seville and planted in a 4×1.35 m frame:

As described in the table below, the average production in kg of extra virgin olive oil per ha is slightly higher in narrow frame plowlands with respect to that with larger frame. Specifically, plowland 9 exceeds plowland 1 in 223 kg/ha; plowland 10 in 277 kg and, finally, plowland 11 in 157 kg/ha.

If we calculate the average of kg of extra virgin olive oil per ha produced in plowlands 9, 10 and 11 and is compared with the production got in plowland 1, it is proved how the former produced around 219 more kg of extra virgin olive oil per ha.

Nevertheless, if we analyse the investment cost for different plowlands it is proved that in those with the narrow frame (4×1.35m), the necessary implementation cost to do the plantation of the olive grove in hedge was 94% higher than that for the larger frame (7×1.5m).

This big difference arises because narrow frame plowlands nearly duplicate the number of trees per ha (1851 trees/ha), in relation to those with the larger frame (952 trees/ha), so the investment to be made is much higher.

NOTE: When elaborating the economic data of this table, an oil price of 3.75€/kg was estimated

Concerning the maintenance costs, in the large frame plantation they do not exceed 1500€/ha and, however, for the narrow frame plantations they are around 2500€. Namely they need 1000 more Euro per ha. This difference is essentially because in narrow frame plowlands there many more rows and the tree density is higher per ha, requiring a higher water consumption, trim and harvest costs, as well as a bigger number of phytosanitary treatments because the hedge is exposed to a poor lighting and poorer air circulation, therefore, they require a bigger number of treatments.

How does all of this affect profit and profitability? Is it worth assuming higher investment and maintenance costs to produce 219 more kg of oil?

In order to respond to these answers, it is necessary to calculate first the profit and profitability obtained in each plowland. For this calculation, a sale price of extra virgin olive oil has been estimated at 3.75 €/kg. The price being lower, the difference would be even bigger in favour of the large frames.

Once the calculations have been made and the table completed, we can check that the profit obtained in the large frame plowland is more important in 179 € to the average profit got from the other three narrow frame plowlands.

If we study the profitability once the investment has been recovered, it is observed that the most profitable plowland is number 1, with 70% comparet to 57% average got from the others. This proves that in the large frame plowland, we take a bigger profit from the investment and we need to spend a lesser amount of money to get a more important benefit.

This bigger profitability is also reflected in the unit cost. In the table it is observed that in the large frame plowland, a bigger production efficiency is obtained, as this allows to produce a kg of extra virgin olive oil at a cost of 1.11€, compared to the rest of plowlands scoring between 1.59 y 1.66€.

Briefly:

• The 4×1.35 m narrow frame can produce 219 more kg of extra virgin olive oil per ha on average.
• The 7×1.5 m large frame requires a reduced investment cost by 94% and reduces by 1000 € maintenance costs per ha.
• With an estimated price for the extra virgin olive oil at 3.75 €/kg, and bearing in mind the average production for all these years, the farmer gets a profit higher than 179 €/ha with the large frame compared to the narrow frame.
• The large frame has allowed to produce extra virgin olive oil in a more efficient way, because having into consideration the average for all the harvest seasons, this has produced at a cost of 1.11 €/kg compared to 1.59 € kg/ha obtained through the narrow frame.

Conclusions

Throughout this study it has been demonstrated that large frames help to take a major advantage of light, as the hedge may be naturally trimmed, reduce investment and maintenance costs and achieve a more important efficiency in production making this cultivation technique be more sustainable and profitable.

Although in this paper the example take has been that of the 7×1.5 m large frame due to its antiquity and background of productions recorded for it and the chance to do the comparisons with the 4×1.35 m narrow frame existing tin the same estate, Todolivo advocates that there is no a specific frame which is valid and works for every estate, but each of them would have their own ideal frames depending on their particular conditions. In fact, the company from Cordoba has many other different sets on which they have been working being more productive and profitable and which are the result from the research process being carried out for the last 20 years.

Nowadays, the most usual irrigation frames in the company have lanes between 5 and 6 metres and the distances between trees are also being enlarged in order to let them grow more naturally. Thus, they can also apply that trim techniques which are being so productive and economic and that they are successfully implementing for the hedge. It is a fact that when enlarging the distance between lines the production of the first harvest is lowered, but from the second harvest on, once the line is formed up, similar oil productions to those for narrow frames are obtained, but in a more efficient and profitable way.

Which is the ideal frame?

In order to define the ideal frame in every plantation, the technical staff at Todolivo carries out first a thorough test on the soil capabilities in which several factors are taken into account – agricultural and weather conditions of the location, the slope and positioning of the plowlands, as well as the varieties to be planted, as they compromise to a great extent the choice of the frame.

Nowadays, Todolivo keeps doing research and has great personnel made up by 110 employees and 15 agricultural engineers specialising in olive groves in hedge boasting the necessary training and experience to help each farmer to get the most ideal frame/s for his/her estate, as well as finding the most recommendable varieties to be planted.

As an example of this tailoring, please find below the production records for three olive groves in hedge irrigation estates planted using different frames:

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