A new “Anti-Plundering” Law has been approved to protect our Millenary Olive Trees

Despite the COVID-19 Crisis, we have some reasons for hope. We are happy to announce that early June the Parliament of Catalonia approved a Law aimed at protecting the natural and historical heritage represented by the ancient olive trees of our land.

This “anti-plundering” law not only prohibits the sale of heritage olive trees, but also offers a system of aids and compensations to their owners to make it easier for them to maintain and care for the trees. Despite they can produce exquisite oil, its profitability is not high.

We must remember that the lands of the Taula del Sénia have 5,700 millenary and centennial olive trees (which constitutes the highest concentration of these trees in the world). Here at Ralda & Friends we are proud to have at least 3 millenary ones and we hope that we will be able to maintain our heritage for many more years.

Since the beginning of our project, we have denounced the problem suffered by region of the the Taula del Sénia which include territories from Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia when some of our farmers have been forced to sell their ancient olive trees to private collectors from other countries. This implies that the tree is uprooted and transported by truck to other latitudes where, generally, it is exhibited until it dies for not adapting to the new climate. Meanwhile, our fields increasingly lose their trees and, with them, our history, our economy, and our traditions. The phenomenon became popular thanks to the movie “El Olivo” and has long been denounced by our friends at Salvem lo Montsià.