Wildfires in Mirandela and Valpaços destroy olive groves and vineyards — leaving scars that take years to heal
Some stories are written with weight. This is one of them.
The wildfires that started in the municipality of Valpaços — the same territory that just months ago was recognised as the Best Organic City in Europe — spread into Mirandela and destroyed what many producers spent a lifetime building: centuries-old olive groves, vineyards tended year after year, hay for livestock, a landscape that is also identity and livelihood. (Source: Rádio Regional / Lusa, August 3, 2026)
The losses, in numbers and in names
Luís Palas, Fradizela
Farmer Luís Palas watched approximately five hectares of vineyard and five hectares of olive grove burn. He also lost 50 bales of hay — six months of feed for his 14 sheep — consumed by the fire. The remaining meadow will provide food for little more than a month.
In the olive grove, hope of recovery exists — but it is slow and uncertain. Whether the trees survive depends on the condition of their trunks, and that assessment will only be possible in September or October. Until then, uncertainty. (Source: Rádio Regional / Lusa)
Sónia Casado, Aguieiras — producer of "Maria Gins" wine
In Aguieiras, Sónia Casado lost one hectare of vineyard, the equivalent of approximately 10,000 kilograms of grapes. In the olive grove, four of seven to eight hectares were affected — an estimated 70% production loss in the burned areas for this year. There is also the fear that a further seven hectares of vineyard may be in danger from a new fire front in Rebordelo, in the municipality of Vinhais. (Source: Rádio Regional / Lusa)
What burns is not just this year's harvest
A centuries-old olive grove cannot be replanted in any meaningful timeframe. A vineyard that takes decades to reach its full potential cannot be replaced in two or three years. The losses reported by these producers are not limited to the 2026 campaign — they will extend for years, in reduced productivity, uncertain recovery, and investment that will have to be rebuilt from scratch.
This is why wildfires are, for Azeite a Norte, a threat that cannot be measured in hectares alone. Every traditional dryland olive grove that burns in Trás-os-Montes is landscape, identity, an agricultural model of resilience that takes generations to build — and hours to destroy.
What you can do
Azeite a Norte has no easy answers. But it has one conviction: the best way to support the producers who resist — those who survived this fire, those still standing in other olive groves across the North — is to keep choosing them. Buy their olive oil. Visit their mill. Tell their story.
At this difficult moment, we express our full solidarity with all producers affected by the wildfires in Valpaços and Mirandela.
👉 Source: Rádio Regional / Lusa — "Trás-os-Montes: wine and olive oil producers in Mirandela suffer major losses due to wildfires", August 3, 2026
👉 Explore our producer network and olive oil tourism routes in Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro — and choose the olive oil that helps keep this territory alive.
Source: Rádio Regional / Lusa, August 3, 2026.
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