Mark Diacono’s “climate change farm”
In one of the most remarkable signs yet of the advance of global warming, Britain’s first olive grove has been planted in Devon.
Temperatures have risen so far in recent years that it is now considered possible to grow the iconic fruit of the Mediterranean countries commercially in southern England.
Several studies have suggested that, in decades to come, olives, vines and other warm-climate plants will be likely to flourish in a substantially warmer Britain. Now a Devon smallholder has taken the plunge and, in partnership with an Italian olive specialist, planted a grove of 120 olive trees on the banks of the river Otter near Honiton.
A 39-year-old environmental consultant, Mr Diacono has no doubt that UK temperatures are becoming suitable for olive cultivation. “There’s no question that the climate is going to get there,” he said. “It’s just, have I done this 10 years too early or 20 years too early?
“But I don’t think so. We don’t need to turn into Portugal really, we just need it to be slightly warmer for longer, and we are making that shift. We are crossing that threshold.”
A degree or two rise in soil temp or extending the growing season a few weeks can make a significant difference.
Now I’m tempted to try a couple of olive trees down the bottom of our back meadow by the Bosque del Rio Santa Fe.
Now for the last time.
Duhbya says there’s no global warming. And he should know, after all he has all that climatology experience and his science advisor, the right Rev. Eye Don’t Know Nuthen just the other day looked in to his magic bible and confirmed what the president has known all along.
This isn’t global warming, this is local warming. If it was GLOBAL warming, EVERYONE would be planting olive groves, the olive and olive oil market would collapes, and all Greece would have to be famous for would be some myths, some old buildings and bufu.
OK, maybe I’m overreacting.
but, Ryan — when you start growing olives in your backyard, then you’ll have an instant source of fuel for your VW.
Damn, didn’t they used to grow wine in England…
It seems i was reading that in the book The Little Ice Age that England used to have a thriving wine “industry” until temperatures dropped…
http://tinyurl.com/h37uo
Yep, there it is in Amazon’s excert:
Wine Cultivation abandoned in England between 1400 and 1500…
Mike, you can grow wine grapes a lot further north — and colder than olive trees can take. Try some ice wine from Quebec. Not Chateau Y’quem; but, pretty good.
There still is a wine industry in England, its just not as popular a region as others. It has never been a great growing area, merely ok.
yeah, yeah,…
Its just that… Several studies have suggested that, in decades to come, olives, vines and other warm-climate plants will be likely to flourish in a substantially warmer Britain.
…triggered my memory of that book.
I enjoy the ironic aspects of Britain’s previous wine industry being lost to “Global Cooling”, which it may now regain due to “Global Warming”.
I was in Cornwall a couple of years ago and found a number of wineries with credible wine that appears to be improving. I think we’ll see a lot more local product there.
Indeed, the British exported wine to Roman Gaul (France) from the time of Julius Caesar until the barbarian invasions of around 300AD, and again from between the Norman occupation in 1066AD and when the climate became muddy around 1400. Much of southern England has always been semi-arid but too cool and cloudy for the popular varieties of olive. Umbrian olive varietals are suited to cooler climates and make superb cooking oils.
The only problem of course is that British Vineyards, along with their French cousins, are finding it very difficult to compete in a marketplace that offers extremely cheap (although decent for the most part) wines from California, Australia and increasingly places like South Africa, Chile etc 🙁
What this story completely misses is the reason that the Blair government takes Global Warming so seriously (notably one of the few differences they have with the US), is that if it continues and the Gulf Stream is disrupted (which it is forecasted to be) then Britain actually gets a lot colder. The British government is afraid of a local little (or big) ice age; not a warmer climate (after all they had India as a colony, they know hot). So the olive grower may be investing in a short term warming trend to be followed by a shortened growing season. Global Warming means on average, local effects can and will vary a lot.
You’re right, the United Kingdom is actually located on about the same latitude as Newfoundland, and if the Gulf Stream ever stops, brrrrr!