Climate change spurs early blooms in Bulgaria’s historic rose industry

Bulgarian farmers were busy harvesting rose petals for their renowned oil this week, about a month earlier than the historical norm due to climate change that has ushered in warmer and more humid springs.

Bulgaria is one of the top global producers of fragrant rose oil that is also used in the cosmetics industry.

The best rose oil is produced in its central Rose Valley where, historians say, the flowers have been cultivated as crops since the ancient kingdom of Thrace in the 5th to 3rd centuries BC.

The first oil factory was opened in 1820 in the nearby town of Kazanlak.

The process of making the 2 to 3.5 tons of rose oil produced in Bulgaria annually is not easy. For one gram of rose oil, more than 1,000 rose petals must be plucked by hand in the early morning as essential oil content is highest around 7 a.m.

"Condensation forms each evening and...