It depends on the purpose for which you want to use them, with each passing day, these types of olive trees are less profitable if their destination is the production of olive oil or table olives, despite the fact that the oil and olives produced by these olive trees is of much higher quality than that produced by young olive plants.

The mechanization of olive harvesting entails a specific tree structure in which centuries-old olive trees are not taken into account.

The biggest obstacle to being profitable in olive production is the higher value for which they are acquired as decorative trees, I am referring to the diameter of their trunk.

And turning to the other purpose for which these olive trees can be used, they can be more profitable if we do not abuse intermediaries, as decorative pieces in gardens or city parks.

Answering the question, I think that ancient olive trees are more profitable if they are used as decorative elements, than if, on the contrary, they are used for olive production.

And supporting my answer, I leave you the link to this news that has been published on the Asaja Córdoba website in which its president Ignacio Fernández Mesa raises the possibility of the Andalusian Government subsidizing the uprooting and replanting of olive groves to achieve greater and more stable production.

Are centuries-old olive trees sold on the black market?

I don’t know what to think about this question, but reading this news article published in the World and titled “The controversial business of centuries-old olive trees”, it may exist, but only aimed at more exclusive pieces, with thousands of years of life and with a large trunk diameter, since by performing a simple search on Google, several pages appear where you can legally acquire a century-old olive tree.

I am not going to discuss what is said in the article cited above, but I think that there is quite an exaggeration when it is said that: “Spain suffers a plundering of centuries-old olive trees”, while business organizations are asking the administration to subsidize the uprooting of this type of olive trees to increase productivity.

In short, a topic that can create quite a bit of controversy, but if you are a farmer, you will know perfectly well that a century-old olive tree is very difficult to mechanize and, consequently, to increase its productivity by reducing costs, it is very likely that its best and most profitable destiny is to be a decorative element.

If you have anything to contribute on this topic, I would like you to do so through the comments. All the best!

By Rafael Espejo.