The Junta de Andalucía has decided to ban the collection of olives at night in super-intensive olive groves during the 2026-2027 campaign. The provision, disseminated this Wednesday in the Official Bulletin of the Junta de Andalucía (BOJA), applies to the harvesting in hedgerow olive groves with straddle harvesters between sunset and sunrise.
The Resolution of July 30, 2026, from the General Directorate of Forest Policy and Biodiversity of the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, will last for one year. Its objective is to avoid the adverse impacts that this practice can generate on certain bird species and to ensure that agricultural activity is compatible with the conservation of biodiversity.
During migration and wintering periods, many birds use olive groves as feeding, refuge, and resting areas. Their role is especially significant in extensive agricultural areas, where these crops represent in many cases an essential part of the wooded area available for wildlife.
In the super-intensive or hedgerow model, a higher number of trees is concentrated, and continuous rows of olives are configured. The collection of olives is carried out with straddle harvesters, which move over these rows and detach the fruit using shaking systems. Thanks to the incorporation of lighting equipment, these machines can also operate at night.
To assess the possible effects of this activity on avifauna, 44 field surveys were conducted on 137 hectares representative of the hedgerow olive grove in production in Andalucía. In these observations, 8,127 birds belonging to 66 different species were recorded.
The studies conclude that these olive groves maintain an avifauna of interest, comparable in the number of species and individuals to that present in other traditional olive grove systems.
Furthermore, it has been verified that night harvesting generates negative impacts on certain species and that the deterrent measures tested so far have not managed to mitigate them. However, in 30% of the analyzed area, these effects were nonexistent or very reduced.
In light of these conclusions, the suspension is adopted as a preventive measure to avoid damage and move towards agricultural practices compatible with the protection of birds. The decision also complies with European, state, and regional regulations on wildlife conservation, biodiversity, and environmental sustainability of olive groves.
Excluded from this restriction are the farms where technical research, development, and innovation projects authorized by the Ministry of Sustainability and Environment are carried out, provided they are experimental and not commercial.
These projects will serve to analyze technological alternatives that allow for the compatibility of nighttime harvesting with the conservation of biodiversity. If future studies provide sufficiently validated and safe methods to avoid damage to birds, the suspension may be lifted through a new resolution that establishes the mandatory use of such solutions.
Alongside the suspension, the sixth Sectoral Plan for Environmental Inspection for the Control of Nighttime Collection in Super Intensive Olive Groves using a Straddle Harvester has been greenlit. Its scope of application covers all of Andalusia and its development will coincide with the harvesting period.
During the year, at least 80 nighttime inspections will be carried out in farms with super intensive olive groves. These actions will be distributed among the provinces approximately proportionally to the existing area of this type of crop and will take place between sunset and sunrise.
From each visit, a report will be drawn up detailing the farm and the inspected points. Upon concluding the program, the General Directorate of Forest Policy and Biodiversity will prepare a global report with the results obtained from the overall plan. The resolution will come into effect the day after its publication in the BOJA.