Deadly Olive Tree Disease Spreads to Spain

In addition to once again ravaging olive trees in Italy this spring, the deadly Xylella plant disease is showing signs of spreading further in the Mediterranean olive growing regions.  Spanish authorities had reported that they had found a Xylella infected olive tree on Spanish mainland near Madrid. The disease had earlier been discovered on the Balearic island of Mallorca, according to Xylella expert Alexander Purcell from the University of California at Berkeley. “Subsequently, other strains of Xylella were found in all of the other Balearic Islands, indicating that the bacterium must have been independently introduced at least several times,” he told The Olive Oil Times.

The Xylella fastidiosa bacterium had also made its first ventures into France this spring, with the Corsica chapter of the Interprofessional Union of Oleiculturists reporting in April that olive trees on the island had been infected. The disease was found in Corsica and in ornamental plants in the French Riviera earlier in 2015 but, at the time, it had not yet spread to olive trees. Xylella was introduced into Europe through tropical plant imports from Central America, where it has attacked, among others, citrus, coffee, grape and alfalfa crops.  The International Olive Council said, the Mediterranean Xylella outbreak led to a global drop in olive oil production last year.