Fancy producing some of this valuable crop in Farm Sim 22? The latest edition of the venerable agricultural simulation just dropped and we've got all the info on how to produce olives. This is a lot like growing grapes, but there are some key differences!
Olives are new to the Farming Simulator franchise, and we were keen to figure out the best way to grow them. Let's take a look!
Planting your olives
When you plant your crop depends on your game settings. You can, of course, turn the seasonal growth off in Farm Simulator 22 but we're going to keep things realistic here. Otherwise, feel free to disable seasonal growth and plant your olives in the snow! So check your growth diary to make sure you're planting at the right time and planning to harvest appropriately. The harvest window is very narrow, just October, so it might be worth giving yourself more days.
Firstly, let's go into the store and choose construction. Olives are located in Production and then Orchards. You can now drag and drop where you want your line of olive trees to be. If you change your mind, you can click demolish to remove your olives, but bear in mind you won't get your money back.
Next we'll wait for the grass to grow here so we can begin the mulching process!
Mulching and Cultivating
You probably already have a mulcher attachment for a tractor, but if not you'll need to purchase one in the store. Let's get this grass mulched so that our olives can grow! Attach the mulcher and head to your row of olive trees. Drive up and down alongside the trees with your mulcher lowered, being careful to avoid the trees themselves, and you should get that grass mulched, preparing the ground for better growing.
Cultivating is the next step. There's a few options for cultivators, but the olive growing starter pack suggestion of the Agrisem Disc-O-Vigne V is a sensible choice at $5000. Hook that up to your orchard tractor and repeat the previous process. Smoothly drive alongside your olive trees and get that ground looking dark and good for growth.
Check whether fertilising is needed with your farm map filters. It might be that your chosen spot is already good, but if you need to do some fertilising then get your orchard sprayer and give the ground some nutrients. This is the same piece of gear you'll want if you find weeds pop up amongst your olives, so check by eye to make sure you haven't got these. You can use herbicide if necessary. You can also fertilise again as the crops are growing later in the season to give them the benefit of that.
Harvesting and selling your olives
We're not growing these olives to make our farm look pretty. Let's get them harvested and make some cash! While a harvester dedicated to olives is a big investment, you can lease this piece of kit should you need to. The recommended harvester is the New Holland Braud 9090X Olive at $306,000. Hopefully it will pay for itself quickly with a good olive crop! Basically any trailer will do, so long as it has the capacity.
Take your harvester and drive along your olive trees. This time we'll need the trees to be going right through the centre of your harvester, so drive slowly and carefully! You'll see the capacity of your harvester start to fill up and your trees will be stripped of their olives. Make sure you're returning to your trailer to empty the harvester before it's full so that none of the product is wasted.
If you've bought the Oil Mill, you'll want to get these olives pressed into olive oil for maximum profit, but alternatively you can take them to your trade points and sell them as-is for a quick buck.
The best video tutorial
If you are more into your video guides then Farm Sim legend of YouTube, Farmer Cop, has produced a great guide here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxt7xn5uWa8