Habib Essid served as prime minister of Tunisia from 2015–16. He was the first to be appointed following the adoption of Tunisia's new constitution.

Minnesota Alumni magazine profiled Essid in 2008, when he was head of the technical division of the International Olive Council.

Habib Essid squats at the base of a craggy olive tree in the Valley of Christos in Greece. The ruins of Delphi, the ancient Greek shrine to Apollo, rise in the distance. It's November, olive harvest time, in an area that's home to more than 3 million olive trees. It's sunny but chilly, and the recently hand-picked olives still lie on the netting that covers the ground. Essid (M.S. '74) chats with a farmer and examines the Amfissa olives for signs of frost damage. These valuable table olives are known for their mild fruity taste, and evidence suggests that the type of tree that produces them has been grown in this area since ancient times. In fact, legends say a war was fought to protect it for the Oracle of Delphi. Frost is rare in this region, and Essid's eyes express concern. The fruit shows signs of wrinkling from the low overnight temperatures.

For most Americans, olives and olive oil are primarily culinary. The deep green extra-virgin olive oil tossed with pasta, the finely minced Kalamata olive tapenade that crowns warm artisan bread, and the olive bar varieties colored from sage green to midnight black have become standard fare in many households. Indeed, the United States is the largest importer of olive oil outside of Europe, at 256,000 tons per year.

But that is only a small part of the olive world that Essid knows. Since 2003, he has led the International Olive Council (IOC), an organization based in Madrid that represents countries producing the majority of olive products in the world. He served as executive director until Novembeer 2007 and is now head of the technical division. Those positions put Essid at the center of the olive commodity market, a multimillion-dollar industry that is a source of income for more than 12 million people worldwide.

While olives have been cultivated since civilization began, it's only within the last 50 years that olive-growing countries have joined together to protect their common interests. In 1956, a group of olive-producing countries forged the International Olive Oil Agreement, the first-ever organized effort to give growers a united voice. At the time, no rules existed for the growing, producing, and marketing of olive products. Olive farming was plagued by outdated production techniques, and trade conflicts among olive-growing nations were prevalent. The agreement outlined measures that countries would undertake to improve the industry, such as mechanical processing, better pest control, technical assistance for farmers, and promotion of olives and olive oil. The IOC was established by the United Nations as a result of the agreement.

The olive tree respects no political boundaries or economic systems, so the members of the IOC—12 countries plus the European Union with its 25 member countries—are a diverse group. Although California produces olives, the United States is not a member of the IOC; only countries, not regions or states, can join. A simple olive branch aligned with the globe is the organization's symbol. It representsbthe council's dual aims to benefit the fruit of the olive tree. It is the IOC, for example, that establishes standards for what constitutes virgin and extra-virgin olive oil—while also promoting international cooperation among olive producing countries and the world community.

Essid is equal parts diplomat, technical adviser, and educator who is just as comfortable in a scientific laboratory as he is conducting international negotiations or talking with farmers in their olive orchards. He is fluent in the council's five official languages—Arabic, English, French, Italian, and Spanish—but he deflects praise for his considerable diplomatic skills. "I think when you decide to stick to the discussion of the technical problems, you avoid automatically all kinds of discussion about politics," he says.

Still, politics are inescapable in an organization that brings together nations with differing political and economic realities, such as Israel, Lebanon, Spain, Albania, France, and Syria. For instance, the presidency and vice presidency on the IOC governing council rotate in alphabetical order. Thus, last year's president was from Iran and the vice president from Israel (this year the president is from Israel and the vice president from Jordan).

To persuade the Iranians and the Israelis to work together in these leadership roles, Essid says, was the most unusual, and difficult, situation he faced as director of the IOC. It took about 90 days for him to forge a working relationship between the two countries. And, during the Lebanese-Israeli conflict of 2006, Lebanese farmers brought a complaint before the IOC accusing Israel of targeting and bombing their olive trees. "The destruction of olive trees is absolutely forbidden [even during war]; many of them are thousands of years old," Essid explains. He and the council were able to defuse the situation temporarily and directed the two countries to the United Nations for further diplomatic talks.

Essid honed his diplomatic skills while working as Secretary of the Environment in his native country of Tunisia in 2002 and 2003, where he had been Secretary of State for Agriculture and Fisheries before that. At the University of Minnesota, he earned a graduate degree in resource economics on a scholarship from the United States government under a program called Project Aid to Tunisia. His studies focused on using and managing natural resources efficiently, particularly water. These days, Essid regularly travels to olive-producing countries to stroll the olive orchards and talk with farmers about concerns regarding their crops, such as yields, pollination, or quality of the oil.

During Essid's term as executive director, he led the IOC through discussions on the environment and pollution, which have become increasingly important to growers. He will continue to work on these issues as deputy executive director of the IOC's technical division. Another recent concern is balancing supply and demand, since improvements in agricultural techniques have resulted in an abundance of olives. Aggressively pursuing new markets has also become a key focus of the IOC: In the next few years, it will concentrate on promotion within India, Russia, and Japan, all of which have been responsive because of the health benefits that olive oil offer.

Olive production is part of the fabric of life in olive-producing countries. Often, family members return home to help with the harvesting so they can each share in the bounty through the year. In the Peloponnese area of Greece, the roads are lined with olive orchards, the silvery-green leaves fluttering in the wind coming off the sea. The soil is rocky and much of the harvesting is still done by hand with small plastic rakes that resemble sandbox toys. In one small orchard, the owner, a proud, weathered woman, watches workers pick her olives. They fall onto nets that are laid across the ground.

In some countries, such as Spain, where rocky land is not a problem and orchards are planted in large grids, machines are used to shake the olives from the trees. Although the olive tree grows in lush parts of the world, from the Mediterranean to South America, Australia, and New Zealand, it also thrives on poor, rocky soil and tolerates drought.

Within hours of being picked, olives must be made into oil or cured, for any delay will cause deterioration in the final product. The olives are quickly washed and separated from their leaves; they can be pitted or left whole before being ground by machine. Pitting requires additional equipment and extra expense, but many think the flavor is better when the olives are pitted first.

A few small mills still use the ancient method of crushing the olives into a paste with stones before they're pressed to extract the oil. In the modern system the olives are crushed, then placed in a centrifuge system where the oil is separated and released by spigot into a vat. The first pressing produces the vibrant green extra-virgin olive oil that has the purest olive taste. Later pressings will produce lower-quality oil, including some not fit for human consumption but that can be used for lamp oil, soap, and moisturizer. To produce table olives, the olives must be cured, typically in brine, since they are inedible picked right off the tree. After curing, which can take up to 12 months, the olives are bottled for sale.

As Essid strolls among the olive trees in the valley, the Greek sun is getting warmer and the workers are busy getting the olives onto the nets and into wooden crates. Both the farmer and Essid know that frost is more damaging to the trees than drought, but olive trees are survivors. The frost may slow down their production for a few years, but given time they will rebound and bear bountiful fruit. In the meantime, the frost- touched olives will be ground and used for olive tapenade.

Safeguarding the centuries-old practice of olive farming will continue to require addressing eternal issues, such as frost and drought, as well as new issues within the industry. It's no wonder that, when asked about the high price of olive oil Essid quips, "Why, that's like asking me why gold is expensive."

Janice Cole is a food writer and editor in St. Paul.

Photo credit: Democracy International