World Olive Picking Championship 2026: Croatia’s Brač Hosts Hand-Harvest Contest

Twelve international teams will compete in the World Olive Picking Championship on Croatia’s island of Brač from October 8 to 11, 2026, racing to hand-harvest as many olives as possible in 45 minutes without any mechanical equipment. The ninth edition of the event returns to the village of Postira, where organizers pair traditional olive-harvesting skill with agritourism and Croatian island culture.

Twelve Teams, 45 Minutes, No Machines

The main competition takes place on October 9 in the St. Joseph olive grove above Postira, where four-person teams — two women and two men each — will have 45 minutes to pick as many olives by hand as they can. Mechanical harvesters are banned; competitors instead use traditional jute aprons known locally as saketi, a method tied to generations of Croatian olive-growing practice. This year’s field includes teams from Croatia, Ireland, Sweden, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Czech Republic and Poland, along with an international team of digital nomads. Lithuania won the title in 2024 and France took it in 2025.

A Hand-Harvest Tradition With Real Trade Relevance

Launched in 2017 by the Tourist Board of the Municipality of Postira to promote the island as an agritourism destination, the championship earned first prize in the Best Creative Tourism Experience category from the Creative Tourism Network in Madrid in 2019, beating out more than 160 competing events. “The olive is the perfect symbol — deeply rooted in our land, yet capable of connecting people from all over the world,” said Ivana Jelinčić, director of the Tourist Board of the Municipality of Postira. Hand-harvesting is more than a tourist spectacle: careful, damage-free picking is one of the biggest factors in extra virgin quality, since bruised or ground-collected fruit oxidizes faster and pushes acidity up. It’s the same principle that underpins much of Tunisia’s own harvest, where many groves — especially older, centenarian trees — are still picked by hand rather than shaken mechanically; buyers evaluating Tunisian olive oil suppliers should always ask how a grove was harvested, not just when.

FAQ

When is the 2026 World Olive Picking Championship?
The ninth World Olive Picking Championship runs from October 8 to 11, 2026, in Postira on the Croatian island of Brač, with the main hand-harvesting contest held on October 9.

How does the hand-picking competition work?
Four-person teams — two women and two men — have 45 minutes to harvest as many olives as possible by hand using traditional jute aprons called saketi; mechanical harvesting equipment is not allowed.

Source: Olive Oil Times