Scottish Grove in the Holy Land bears fruit
Published on 3 April 2024 1 minute read
Despite the difficulties of the Israel-Gaza war and upheavals in the global market, a Church backed award winning olive oil producer is still meeting demand.
Hundreds of volunteers stepped in to save the day and picked olives from trees at the Scottish Grove in the heart of the Jazreel Valley between Nazareth and Tel Megiddo (Armageddon).
It is run by Sindyanna of Galilee, which is led by a team of Arab and Jewish women.
Chief executive officer Hadas Lahav explained: "Prices have been continuously rising since early 2022, mostly due to bad harvest seasons in several countries, including Spain which produces about half of all the olive oil in the world.
"We saw a 40% drop in the local production of olive oil and it was also extremely challenging for us to organise the olive harvest during the war, when most of the professional Palestinian workforce couldn't reach groves in Israel due to the blockade on the West Bank.
"Although we also had to raise our prices, I'm very happy to report that Sindyanna has continuously managed to meet the growing demands of our customers.
"Luckily, our Scottish Grove bucked the trend with an exceptional yield from trees that were overflowing with fruit.
"With the help of hundreds of volunteers from across the country, we managed to harvest and produce enough excellent olive oil to fill our annual capacity.
"The certified organic farmers from the Palestinian West Bank and the Galilee, from whom we purchase our Fair Trade olive oil every year, did not disappoint us either."
Planted in 2012, the Scottish Grove serves as the missing link between the Arab farmer and the Israeli market - the first flourishing organic olive grove of its kind in the region.
It is a model of co-operation between Arab landowners, the Abu Hatum family, Sindyanna of Galilee, and the Church, which has a long history in the Middle East and is active in advocating for a just peace in the region in political and religious arenas.
In addition to St Andrew's Jerusalem and Tiberias Church, which operate as one congregation, the Church owns the Scots Hotel in Tiberias, St Andrew's Guesthouse in Jerusalem and Tabeetha School in Jaffa.
