Will AI save the olive oil sector?

The olive oil sector, both in cultivation, processing and marketing, is open to the incorporation of emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data, which represent a great challenge today and which will be decisive in the coming years to help to be more efficient and profitable in all areas of the value chain of this product.

In general, technology helps to improve the efficiency of production and processing and make it more sustainable without reducing its quality. AI is a further step on the road to excellence for this emblematic foodstuff.

In olive growing, the application of AI algorithms to analyse historical, climatic and environmental data in the olive grove can be used to make predictions that optimise production, anticipating the profitability of the harvest and planning it with a view to knowing the supply with which to supply the market.Existen ya proyectos tecnológicos de IA para el olivar, que registran los datos sobre crecimiento de las aceitunas y del estado de salud de los olivos en tiempo real. El procesamiento de estos datos ofrece luego recomendaciones muy precisas de gestión y manejo del cultivo a los agricultores.

We are also beginning to see certain technological applications in which AI is directly or indirectly involved or incorporated, such as automation and the use of robots in harvesting and other crop tasks; robots that identify olives in intensive plantations using artificial vision for efficient harvesting, vibrating machines that harvest olives without damaging the tree, and so on.

As Juan Antonio Polo, Head of the Olive Oil Technology and Environment Department of the International Olive Oil Council (IOC), stressed at a recent OOWC conference, ‘in the agronomic phase, technological advances, including AI and Big Data, must be focused on greater precision agriculture, that is to say, to be used in sensorisation and elements of access to information and data, which allow real-time information on the conditions in which the crop is performing in terms of soil moisture, nutrient use and crop health itself. ’

AI in the olive sector can also be an essential and necessary participant in the continuous improvement of extraction processes, in which innovations applied to presses and centrifuges maximise the yield and quality (cold extraction, preservation of polyphenols and fatty acids, reduction of acidity, chemical composition, etc.) of olive oil, as well as reducing processing time and optimising energy consumption.

The full traceability of olive oil, from its origin until it is packaged and reaches the consumer, is also the subject of AI, through the use of blockchain, with which the entire journey of the oil through the value chain is traced, making it possible to certify its guarantee of origin and authenticity, preventing fraud and improving its image in the markets and in the eyes of the end consumer.

Finally, AI can be applied to other processes related to the circular economy applied to the olive grove, such as the use of by-products and waste (olive pomace, olive pits) which, in addition to reducing the environmental ‘footprint’, are used in the crop itself as compost or fertiliser or to reduce energy costs (biomass), helping to close the cycle of sustainable production.

In short, the application of AI in the technological improvement of the olive sector is both an unavoidable challenge and a way of making it more attractive to the younger generation of farmers, who are much more specialised.

Anyone interested in taking part in this project can obtain information from the OOWC Technical Secretariat by calling 917217929 or sending an email to info@oliveoilwc.com.