Olives Pilot Farm

WHO

The Southern Lights team

KEY DATA

Land size: 2 ha
Annual Rainfall: 900mm
Soil: Clay
Existing cultivation: Olives and Citrus cultivation (organic since 1985)

LOCATION

Skala, Greece

DATE OF CONVERTION

April 2015

Olives Pilot Farm

Skala, Greece

This farm is organic since 1985 with hundreds of years old olive trees that were cultivated from by the grandparents of the owner. In 2015 the transition to agroforestry happened first unintentionally, through the grafting of all the citrus trees and the sudden high exposure of the ground to sunlight. Soon after, due to the freeing up of space in the farm, the third generation owners planted a diverse and dense experimental food forest among the citrus and olive trees, experimenting with a high diversity of plants, ranging even to subtropical species. In the meantime, olives are still harvested the same way as before, while the high diversification and the resulting market approach through the owner’s family business in organics (Silver Leaf) is particularly interesting.