Vol. 9,500 · No. 2 Country Desk

Olive Harvest in Turkey: Picking Season Around Ephesus

In brief

When is olive harvest season in Turkey?

The olive harvest in Turkey runs from about October to the end of January, depending on the region and the olive. Around Ephesus, green olives for curing come off the trees first, from October, and most oil olives are picked in November and December, when Aegean olives reach their highest oil content.

Nets under the trees and long poles in the branches. Your editor, who drives past the groves on the way to Ephesus, reports on the season that keeps the Aegean countryside busy.

By Hasan Gülday, Editor · Monday, November 9, 2026

Four olive pickers working among olive trees in an Aegean grove, one reaching into the branches with a long pole, dark olives scattered across green nets — Picking day in an Aegean grove. Nets down, poles up, and the first dark olives already scattered across the net.

The olive harvest in Turkey is the season I notice first on my drives from Kuşadası to Ephesus. Sometime in the autumn the groves along the road change their look: nets spread under the trees, long poles reaching into the branches, crates and sacks waiting at the edge of the field. In November it can feel as if every grove in the valley is busy.

Our usual sources, the 150 to 200 cats of Ephesus, had nothing to add. Olives are not their department. So this week's edition comes from the groves instead of the marble, with the facts checked against Turkey's agriculture researchers rather than a cat's opinion.

When is the olive harvest in Turkey?

Turkey's olive harvest starts in October and can run to the end of January. Table olives come first: green ones are picked once they turn yellowish green, black ones once they reach their full ripe color. Oil olives follow, and in the Aegean most come down in November and December.

The exact weeks move with the region, the variety and the weather, and each part of the country keeps its own calendar. In the Marmara region, home of the black Gemlik olive, the agriculture ministry's research institute in Yalova notes that the harvest traditionally begins on October 29, which is also Republic Day. Easy to remember, at least.

The calendar agrees with the farmers, too. In 2019 UNESCO proclaimed November 26 World Olive Tree Day, and it lands right in the middle of the Aegean picking season.

When is the olive harvest around Ephesus and Selçuk?

Ephesus sits in the middle of Turkey's olive country. A 2011 study from Ege University put the Aegean region's share at more than half of the national crop and named Ayvalık, Memecik, Domat and Erkence as its most common olives. Around Selçuk and across the hills in Aydın province, Memecik is the olive the area is known for.

Here's the useful part for a visitor. Researchers who followed Memecik groves at Torbalı, a short drive north of Selçuk, found the fruit reached its highest oil content in November. Earlier work on Aegean olives says much the same: the oil starts building in July and peaks around mid-November. So the olive harvest season around Ephesus goes like this. Green olives for curing come off first, from October, and the main olive picking for oil fills November and December. In a late year some groves are still working in January.

Olive tree on a cobbled street in Selçuk with white sheets spread beneath it and a man working the branches with a long electric comb — In Selçuk the harvest doesn't always wait for the countryside. Some trees grow right on the street, so the sheets go down on the cobbles.

How do olives get harvested?

The method is simple and easy to recognize from the road. First something goes down to catch the fruit: a net or a big sheet spread around the trunk. Then the olives come off the branches. They're combed by hand, pulled with small hand rakes, knocked loose with long poles or shaken off with a powered comb on the end of a pole. Bigger groves bring in machines that shake whole branches or the trunk.

When a tree is done, the pickers gather the net, sort out the leaves and twigs, and fill crates or sacks for the mill. Oil olives are meant to get there fresh. Turkey's agriculture ministry advises delivering them without delay, because olives left waiting make poorer oil.

The poles are the part people argue about. The ministry's olive researchers in Yalova warn that rough picking, with poles or combs, can break the young shoots, and those shoots carry next year's crop. That's why careful pickers comb the branches rather than beat them. Hit the tree hard this year and you pay for it next year.

Hit the tree hard this year and you pay for it next year.

— The Ephesus Mews

Older woman in a headscarf lifting a canvas harvest sheet beside green nets between rows of olive trees — Moving the sheets on to the next tree, one of the many small jobs of a picking day.

How often are olives harvested?

Once a year, every autumn. The size of the crop is another story. Olive trees tend to swing between a heavy year and a light one, and Turkish farmers have a name for each: var yılı, the year there is, and yok yılı, the year there isn't.

The official numbers show the swing. Turkey picked about 2.98 million metric tons of olives in 2022, about 1.52 million in 2023 and about 3.75 million in 2024, by the first official estimate. A little over half of the 2024 crop went to oil.

Ripe black olives hanging among silver-green olive leaves against a blue sky — Ripe and ready for the nets. How many there are depends on whether it's a heavy year or a light one.

Did the people of ancient Ephesus eat olives?

Yes, and the stones prove it. In 2022 Austrian archaeologists excavated a row of shops and eating houses beside Domitian Square in Ephesus, sealed under a burnt layer from about AD 614/615. Inside were amphorae of salted mackerel, bowls with cockle and oyster shells, and the stones of peaches and olives. Somebody's olives, left behind more than 1,400 years ago.

Most visits to Ephesus start at the Upper Gate, and Domitian Square is on the way down toward Curetes Street. It's a good place to remember that this was a city that had lunch.

Can visitors see the olive harvest near Ephesus?

Yes, mostly from the road. In late autumn the olive groves on the hills around Selçuk and Şirince are busy with nets and pickers, and you don't need a farm visit to see the work. Just remember the groves are private family land. There's no public harvest schedule, so watch from the roadside and ask before you photograph anyone at work.

Pack a layer, too. Late autumn brings the first rains to the Aegean, so check our Weather Desk before you go.

If you visit in late autumn, hire me as your guide and I'll point out the harvest in the groves on the road to Ephesus. What happens after the mill, and how to choose a good bottle, is in my notes on olive oil in Turkey on my guiding site.

Tabby cat sitting on a sunlit marble block among fallen stones in Ephesus, looking away from the camera — Meanwhile at the ruins: a resident of Ephesus keeps to the marble and leaves the olives to the professionals.

Meanwhile, back at the ruins, the residents carried on as usual. The Mews holds that any cat found strolling across a harvest net is a supervisor. The ones at Ephesus prefer marble.

Letters to the Editor

What month are olives harvested in Turkey?

October to January. Green table olives come first in October, most oil olives follow in November and December, and some groves are still picking at the end of January. — The Editor 🐾

Is November a good time to see the olive harvest near Ephesus?

Yes. Aegean olives reach their highest oil content around mid-November, so November is the heart of the picking season around Selçuk. — The Editor 🐾

Can I join an olive harvest in Turkey as a visitor?

Not as a drop-in. The groves are private family land and there's no public harvest schedule. Watch from the road, and ask before you photograph anyone at work. — The Editor 🐾

Are olives still picked by hand in Turkey?

Yes, at least partly. Family groves use nets, hand rakes, long poles and powered combs, and even where a machine shakes the tree, the olives left high in the branches are often picked by hand. — The Editor 🐾

When is World Olive Tree Day?

November 26. UNESCO proclaimed it in 2019, and it falls right in the middle of the Aegean picking season. — The Editor 🐾