Mogón, the town of Jaén with more cooperators than neighbors | Economy

Endless rows of mountain olive trees surround the valley where Mogón sits, a town in Jaén of barely 800 inhabitants that is the gateway to the Sierra de Las Villas in Jaén, one of the three (along with Cazorla and Segura) that make up the second largest protected natural area in Europe. Embraced by the Guadalquivir and Aguascebas rivers, this annex, known as the paradise of water, has an olive cooperative with more than 1,300 members. That is to say, there are more cooperative members than neighbors, although it is true that many of them live in other parts of the region and the municipality of Villacarrillo, which has become the main producer of olive oil in the world and, thanks to the boost of this mill, also It is a reference when it comes to fighting against depopulation in rural areas.

In the San Vicente de Mogón cooperative, the harvest of early oil began in mid-October, the jewel in the crown of an olive growing company that proudly displays in its showcases the recognition of the best fruity oils in the world from the Picual variety under the Puerta Las Villas brand. But the commitment to quality is only the apex of a much more ambitious plan that wants to place the oil mill as a benchmark for social and environmental sustainability. “What we want is to close the circle, because for us as important or more important than what is produced is how it is done. We have always defended the importance of producing extra virgin olive oil, taking care of it from the field to the bottle,” says José Gilabert, president of a cooperative created half a century ago by a hundred members that today have multiplied by thirteen.

Gilabert, a 59-year-old farmer who manages with his brother a farm of 2,200 olive trees and is the tenant of another 4,400, is clear that the future of the cooperative and the town involves making his traditional olive grove more profitable, reducing costs and generating more value with the use of olive tree by-products. In this line, the launch of a composting plant stands out with the idea of ​​generating fertilizer, a compost that is obtained from the use of alpeorujo (waste that comes from the extraction of olive oil).

The next step will be the 600 kilowatt/hour photovoltaic plant that the cooperative will install on the roofs to generate electrical, thermal and even biofuel energy under the local energy community formula, something that will benefit the entire municipality. Furthermore, the entity has introduced the bag in box“a useful and practical format” that packages the product in a bag inside a box, an environmentally sustainable alternative with which they contribute to reducing the impact on climate change and which makes the extra virgin olive oil preserved much better , with all its properties until the moment of consumption.

“We do it out of conviction and to provide greater added value to the product, all these externalities are benefits from the environmental and social point of view in a mountain olive grove that has more production costs,” explains this farmer from Jaen, who demands additional help towards this crop for its social component and for being the one that establishes the most population in the territory.

The cooperative is the soul and the main company of this town in the mountains of Jaén, with a dozen permanent employees that is multiplied by four during the harvesting campaign. Mogón is one of the 649 agri-food cooperatives in Andalusia, a community where in 8 out of 10 municipalities there is at least one society of this type. The strength of all of them (along with the work entities) is evident in the fact that they employ 6% of the region’s labor market and their contribution to the GDP is 10%, three points more than the national average. The agri-food branch is the most powerful in the Andalusian cooperative fabric, with 290,000 members, stable employment of 37,600 people and a business volume of almost 10,000 million.

Tradition, improved technique, the most modern facilities, the traceability of the fruit and the know-how of its professionals is what has led this cooperative to obtain the award for the best olive oil in the world in the category over the last two years. fruity. “Here we do integrated production, we have control stations where we see the evolution of the entire cycle, the pests, irrigation, treatments, pruning and, ultimately, we try to combine the efforts of all the partners to ensure that the fruit in the oil mill is of the highest quality,” explains Rodrigo Yeste, Integrated Production technician.

The Jienne cooperative has between 15% and 20% of organic production area. Its main exponent is the Los Granaínos farm, of 120 hectares and with a slope of more than 30%. Its manager, José Miguel Martínez, points out that production costs are much higher here because there are many tasks that can only be done by hand and, on the contrary, he regrets that the subsidies these producers receive are much lower: “In the “The countryside gives 1,500 euros per hectare and we get 400 euros, despite generating twice as many jobs and bearing more production costs.”

The San Vicente cooperative is also at the forefront in the production of early oil. In the first three weeks of harvest they had already produced three million kilos of olives and 400,000 kilos of the best green gold. This oil, which is already produced by a hundred oil mills in Jaén, is considered a second annual harvest for the olive grove because it provides greater added value by being marketed as a high-end product.

Precisely, Puerta de Las Villas oil has haute cuisine among its main markets. Chef Rodrigo de la Calle, with two Michelin Stars and two Repsol Suns with his restaurant El Invernadero in Madrid, has become an ambassador for Puerta de Las Villas oil. “I am the last link, from the field to the bottle; For me, EVOO has become the main wardrobe of the best cuisine,” says this chef with roots in this town in Jaén and who considers himself a lover of the Picual variety and organic oil. De la Calle is clear that it is necessary to value this type of wine. “We must raise the price of these oils, which are at another level; if young people do not see that this is profitable, rural people will disappear,” the chef warns.