Chainsaw Thieves Fell Ancient Olive Trees
In November 2023, with prices near €9 a kilo, thieves took chainsaws to laden groves across the Mediterranean — stripping branches and felling century-old trees just for their fruit.
What happened
As olive-oil prices hit records (EVOO around €9/kg, roughly triple 2019), a wave of theft swept the Mediterranean. Thieves used chainsaws to strip and fell whole trees: one Italian incident damaged or destroyed about 100 trees, 15 were cut near Athens, and Spanish police recovered 91 tonnes of stolen olives. The root cause was the severe two-year drought in Spain.
This is the cruellest face of the price spike. A mill theft is a loss of oil; felling a century-old tree for one season’s fruit is the loss of a living thing that outlived generations — gone in minutes for a few litres. When a staple becomes “liquid gold,” even the trees themselves stop being safe. It is the dark logic of scarcity at its bleakest.
Source, Nov 2023: Al Jazeera.