BARNEA
Country: Israel
Purpose: Dual-purpose (table and oil)
Synonyms: K18
Distribution: 3 continents
Asia
A breeding context and contemporary irrigated olive growing
In Asia, Barnea is closely linked to the context in which it was selected and developed, within breeding programmes aimed at shaping a modern olive sector. Its spread takes place in designed farming systems, where the olive tree is not only a traditional element but a component of a structured technical supply chain.
The Asian territories where Barnea is cultivated are characterised by active water management and irrigated production models, in which the cultivar delivers continuity and regularity. The olive tree becomes part of agricultural landscapes planned to optimise output, organise field operations, and support harvesting logistics.
Within the Gardens of Peace project, Barnea in Asia represents the shift from a traditional olive tree to a designed olive tree: a cultivar that shows how contemporary selection can engage with territory, building new balances between technique, cultivation, and landscape.
Americas
Introduced into modern plantings and trial-oriented contexts
In the Americas, Barnea is present as a recently introduced cultivar, used mainly in new olive orchards designed according to contemporary criteria. Its presence is tied to territories where olive growing is being established or renewed, rather than to long-consolidated historic landscapes.
In these contexts the cultivar is used as a functional component of production systems oriented to regularity and technical management of the crop. Barnea fits into agricultural settings that are often irrigated, where the olive tree is part of a productive mosaic undergoing transformation.
For the Gardens of Peace, Barnea in the Americas tells the story of a contemporary migration: not a cultivar carrying an ancient memory, but an olive tree that supports new territories as they shape their own agricultural identity.
Oceania
Young olive sectors and landscapes still taking shape
In Oceania, Barnea is documented within relatively young olive industries, developed in territories where the relationship between olive trees and landscape is still being defined. The cultivar is chosen for its fit with modern models and with orchards planned from the outset.
Here Barnea engages with environments characterised by rational resource management, attention to mechanisation, and adaptation to variable climatic conditions. The olive tree thus becomes part of a process of territorial experimentation, rather than of a long-stratified farming tradition.
Within the Gardens of Peace framework, Barnea in Oceania represents an olive tree looking ahead: a cultivar that helps imagine new agricultural landscapes, bringing continuity even to territories where the olive’s story is still in the making.
Agronomic and commercial considerations: This variety was created recently and is also known as K18 due to its original breeding. It is the predominant cultivar found in the new Israeli irrigated plantations thanks to its high and constant productivity, as well as its adaptability to mechanized harvesting. While developed for oil production, the fruits can also be used, after being properly pruned, as both green and black table olives, the latter being highly appreciated. Under irrigation conditions, the plant, if self-rooted, enters early into production, starting from the third year. It is partially self-compatible and its green ripening is relatively early. On the other hand, in the absence of irrigation, it is strongly alternating. It is also tolerant to olive leaf spot (Cycloconium oleaginum).