Olives101.com

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) organized during the period from 15th to 17th for 40 trainees from the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and different governorates on means of improving olive production and harvest.
The workshop also aimed at enlighten participants on the theoretical and practical aspects of olive production and maintenance of [...]

Palestinian Growers Boost Production of Premium Olive Oil

By Grace Bradley,
Jerusalem — “Don’t think of it as oil. What you’re tasting is freshly squeezed olive juice,” says Ali Anabtawi, a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) partner and manager of Near East Industries and Trade, a company that blends and bottles virgin olive oil from West [...]

Fires have destroyed dozens of hectares of woodlands across Lebanon, just weeks after earlier forest fires devastated mountainous parts of the country, an army spokesman said Wednesday.
“A total of 1,542 dunums (154 hectares) were destroyed on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, in addition to the 807 dunums (81 hectares) burnt on Monday,” the spokesman told AFP.
Emergency [...]

Agriculture Minister Shalom Simchon announced on Thursday that he planned to fight the destruction of olive trees belonging to Palestinians by Jewish settlers.
Simchon made his comments after meeting with the Palestinian Authority’s Olive Council head, Army Radio reported. The minister promised him that he would formulate a plan of action in the matter in coordination [...]

After you’ve enjoyed a tangy olive, don’t throw away the pit - it could soon be providing a clean, green answer to heat and electricity production, thanks to technology developed by Israeli start-up Genova, now setting up its first pilot plant.
The company, which was founded in September 2004, is headquartered in the northern town of [...]

By Zoe Williams,
Sales of extra-virgin olive oil hit a record £71m last year, which means it now accounts for more than 30% - the largest share - of the UK oil market. These figures have led some people to conclude that we’re adopting “a healthier, Mediterranean diet”.
There are as many things wrong with that [...]

Large amounts of impure olive oil imported into Iran’s market coupled with poor-quality domestic products lead to customer dissatisfaction
Chairman of the Agriculture Commission of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce Shahrokh Zahiri regretted that more than 90 percent of the imported olive oil, coming from Turkey and Italy, has poor quality.
At present, about 100,000 hectares of land [...]

President Ahmadinejad has presented a bill to parliament under which Iran will join an International Agreement on Olive Oil and Table Olives.
The Ministry of Agriculture proposed the initiative to the cabinet which endorsed Iran’s accession to the international treaty under the auspices of the United Nations.
The Iranian parliament is yet to ratify the bill and [...]

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) stated Sunday that the total number of olive presses in the Palestinian Territory is 266, of which 246 are operating, while 20 are temporarily closed.
In a statistical report, to WAFA, on olives presses in the Palestinian Territory for the year 2006, PCBS said that the total quantity of [...]

Eight companies have participated in the Jordanian pavilion at the 3rd Olive Oil Exhibition which concluded its activities on Friday in the Chinese capital, Beijing, alongside 150 other companies from 15 countries.
The exhibition is one of the most important events for marketing olive oil to meet the demand in the Chinese market.
CEO of the Jordanian [...]

by A.N.Idelbi,
The 5th Olives and Olive Oil International Exhibition ,Olivex 2006 was opened in Damascus yesterday. Assistant Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Hussein Haddar who opened the exhibition told reporters that the olive trees farming in Syria has remarkably developed and that has been accompanied by the increase of production.
Syria production of olive oil [...]

By Amiram Cohen,Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon have established a team to discuss the planting of 4 million olive trees with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority for the production of oil. According to the plan, which was initiated by Peres, the oil will be marketed under a joint brand to [...]

By Marisa Chimprabha,
Cairo - Egypt will donate 80 olive trees to Thailand to jointly celebrate HM the King’s 80th anniversary and to show the strong relationship with Thailand, Thai Ambassador to Egypt Noppadol Theppitak said Tuesday.
The delivery of the trees are expected to conduct around July, the ambassador said.
He was speaking during a three-day official [...]

Bottles of olive oil packed in crates at the factory on the outskirts of Jalalabad, city the provincial capital of Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan.
The olive oil factory was built by the Russians in 1985, and has been operating since. The man who runs the factory, Ghulam Gul, said the factory is now seeking [...]

Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps is pleased to announce that our program to use Fair Trade and organic sources for all major ingredients has reached a major milestone with the shipment in February of the first order of more than 80 metric tons of Fair Trade and certified organic olive oil from Palestine and Israel. The [...]

By Matt Nash,
BEIRUT: Youssef Fares came out on top in an olive-oil competition this weekend at Beirut’s 14th annual Horeca hospitality and foodservice trade show. For the second year in a row, the event staged a taste test pitting small- to medium-sized extra virgin olive oil producers, and Fares’ “Zejd” took first place in two [...]

While we have already talked about the Peace Oil developed by Charities Advisory Trust in London (here) and Olives for Peace, currently being developed by Crossroads in Israel (there), we haven’t mention the US version of Peace Oil. Created by Olive Branch Enterprises in Seattle, Washington, this extra virgin olive oil is the first of these three [...]

After Peace Olive Oil, new brand of olive oil, Olives of Peace, produced by Palestinian and Israeli peace promoters to be marketed in Japan.
Israeli and Palestinian olive oil manufacturers have launched a new brand – Olives of Peace. It is a new product manufactured jointly by peace advocates from both sides of the divide.
The oil [...]

By IANS,
Rajasthan is getting ready to grow olives. The state government has joined hands with an Israel-based company to cultivate olive and dates in the desert state.
‘We have tied up with an Israel-based company by forming Rajasthan Olive Cultivation Ltd (ROCL) for growing olives and dates in 40,000 hectares of land the state,’ Agriculture Minister [...]

The Fifth National Olive Festival will be held in Kerman on May 9-10 with an aim to encourage olive cultivation in desert areas and remove problems facing olive growers.
Deputy head of Kerman Agriculture Jihad Department, Hossein Mirzabeigi, told IRNA, “Olive originated from Iran. Considering that the plant is adaptable to dry conditions, we need to [...]

By Shamim Shahid,
NWFP Governor Lt-Gen (rtd) Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai approved a five year comprehensive plan for olive cultivation in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) by giving a go ahead signal to the authorities of civil secretariat Fata during a presentation on the proposed project at Governor’s House here on Tuesday.

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Oil Development Board has grafted 90,000 wild olive trees with European type trees in Lower Dir district over the last five years, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Sikandar Hayat Bossan told the National Assembly during question hour on Thursday.
He said that the PODB had not established a separate project in the district, [...]

By Eli Asheknazi,
Over 150 Israelis and 150 Palestinians planted nearly 1,200 olive trees on Friday next to the West Bank village of Salam, near Nablus.
The ceremony took part under the slogan, “planting solidarity between Israeli and Palestinian farmers.” The trees were planted in an area where hundreds of trees had been uprooted or cut down [...]

A boat that plied the coast of the Holy Land 1,300 years ago carrying fish, carobs and olives is helping researchers better understand a little-known period in the region’s history.
Click here to continue

By Maher Zeineddine,
CHOUF: A new harvesting tool on the market is making the lives of Lebanese olive farmers much easier amid a record-breaking harvest season. While most farmers continue to harvest their olive crops in the traditional fashion - either by climbing a ladder and picking the olives off one by one, or by shaking [...]