How was the 2023 olive year?
“The key words that characterize the regional introductions of this edition are once again drought, temperatures, intense rainfall and climate change – highlights Francesca Baldereschi, editor of the Guide -. These elements represent the daily challenges faced by the sector in the past year, as in the previous ones, and now constitute a constant concern for producers, not only Italian ones. Added to this are the sudden events resulting from the same climatic phenomenon such as landslides and floods which contributed to affecting some areas of our Peninsula in 2023”. It is not easy to take a snapshot of the trend of the vintage in Italy because the climate crisis with its extreme manifestations (high temperatures and violent rainfall) has created a very sectoral production that varies within the same production area. Harvest estimates also vary among themselves. Olive oil production in 2023/24 is expected to be around 290,000 tonnes, an increase of around 20% compared to 240,000 tonnes in 2022. While world production is decreasing compared to the previous oil campaign (-6.3%) with overall volumes more than 20% below what are considered the minimum targets for a correct balance between supply and demand, which risk to dry up global stocks already in the first months of 2024 if average consumption is confirmed. According to the data presented to SOL, it emerges that the EU has growing imports, while exports are decreasing. Community production – which fell to 1.4 million tonnes – caused imports to surge by 44% in October and November 2023 compared to the same period the previous year. Tunisia (with 10,249 tonnes, -31% on 2022/23) remains the EU’s top supplier, followed by Turkey (5,100 tonnes, +320%), Syria (3,807, +1,029%) and Argentina (3,693, +274 percent). According to a study by the Piepoli Institute for Il Sole 24 Ore, 47% of those interviewed say they have reduced consumption by 30% and 40% of those interviewed say they have halved it. «A fact that we are pleased to tell, which also emerges from the Guide – concludes Francesca Baldereschi -, is that of organic growth. In the last twelve years, organic cultivation has grown significantly, doubling the certified olive-growing area and well exceeding 20% of the total olive-growing area. This data, combined with the fact that olive growing represents 12% of organic Italian crops, also demonstrates the sector’s commitment to agricultural practices that respect the environment and biodiversity and which can be a tool and response to climate change.”
The workshop that animated the morning, From nature to sustainable olive growing organized by BioDea, was full of ideas and placed the emphasis on the importance of agriculture and, in this case, chemical-free olive growing and importance of healthy soil for a good and healthy product. «Sustainable cultivation and management – underlined the agronomist Annalisa Berettini – in olive growing with natural products, with zero residue and which respect the biodiversity of the entire ecosystem, starting from scientific research from field trials and observations, up to the analyzes of the oil. Having biodiversity within the olive grove allows us to improve the structure and fertility of the soil.” Angelo Lo Conte, olive growing technician, agrees: «For 10 years now, the olive growing supply chain has been put to the test by various factors that have caused too many bad vintages. All these negative concomitances have been fueled by the determining effects of climate change. In this scenario, modern olive growing is certainly possible in full harmony with the environment and communities. There is a need to invest in research to find the right solutions and to do this requires a strong will to focus on the strengths of Italian olive growing made up of infinite olive biodiversity, excellent soil and climate conditions, and the ever-increasing value of the product.”
The Guide to Extra Virgin Olive Oils 2024
The Guide to Extra Virgin Olive Oils 2024, edited by Slow Food Italia, starts today from the Maxxi in Rome to make known the stories of oils, territories, producers who make the olive sector a distinctive and identifying element of our Peninsula: «For millennia, cultivating the olive tree is the most evident testimony of how human work and nature can come together in a masterful way – underlined Federico Varazi, vice president of Slow Food Italy -. An extraordinary relationship between biodiversity, agricultural and cultural landscape that makes Italy the country with the greatest crop variety in the world and one of the largest producers of quality EVO oil. A union which, however, is interrupted if quality production enters into crisis in favor of super-intensive agriculture models, based on the excessive use of natural resources, on lowering costs and on making profit as the sole objective. Small-scale non-intensive olive growing is going through a difficult time, due to the climate crisis, high production costs and lack of personnel. In some Italian regions, the countryside is becoming depopulated, the innermost territories are abandoned, hydrogeological instability phenomena are increasingly frequent and the environment is highly threatened. We are aware of this urgency and we can save our landscapes through sustainable olive growing, promoting environmentally friendly practices, and at the same time safeguard the production and maintenance of local communities. The promotion of the Italian olive heritage remains the main mission of Slow Food, every year, with the publication of the Guide to Extra Virgin Olive Oils”. A guide that has attracted the attention of the public and professionals as an important tool for navigating the varied and complex world of oil and for getting to know the olive growers who fight every day to provide us with good, clean and fair oil and they contribute to designing a landscape of great beauty, which also brings with it an extraordinary tourist value.
Slow Food awards and special mentions
As has become customary for some editions, the national presentation of the new edition of the Guide to Extra Virgin Olive Oils is also an opportunity to award some special recognitions, in addition to the aforementioned prizes.
Let’s start with a recognition that is particularly close to our hearts: the special award dedicated to the memory of Diego Soracco, active leader of Slow Food since the origins of the association and a great oil enthusiast and expert, for many years editor of the Guide itself. This year the certificate does not just go to an oil, but to the idea and stubbornness of Nico Sartori, owner of the Fattoria Altomena company in Pelago (Fi) because since he arrived from Veneto, over thirty years ago, works to bring the landscape to life and counteract the widespread abandonment of olive groves in this corner of Tuscany. Now an essential point of reference for producers and oil millers in the area, Nico has been able to enhance the biodiversity of the area: «We are happy to collaborate for the third year with Slow Food in the creation of the Guide to extra virgin olive oils and in the awarding of this important prize – explains Roccandrea Iascone, communications and external relations manager of RICREA -. With the tomato and fish preserves supply chain, the oil supply chain is equally important for RICREA from the point of view of both the volumes of steel packaging used for packaging and for recycling through separate waste collection. Steel cans, in addition to ensuring safe conservation of the product over time, are environmentally friendly because they are 100% and infinitely recyclable. Fully sharing the pillars of the Slow Food manifesto according to which food must be Good, Clean and Fair, RICREA which with its work ensures the recycling of steel packaging such as oil cans, jars and cans in Italy, tries to give the its contribution to building a sustainable future for the food products contained in its packaging”.
The special mentions reward figures and projects that populate the Italian olive growing world and best represent Slow Food’s bet on the future of Italian extra virgin olive oil. This year too we are awarding these mentions together with BioDea, which with its help has allowed us to identify three producers who in this year have managed to best take care of and valorise cultivars little known to the general public: Olive Gregori (Luca and Stefano Gregori) of Montaldo delle Marche (Ap) for the organic oil from a native variety of the Piceno area (the Lea) which has now almost disappeared due to low productivity and difficulties in managing the plant; the Toccolana product and territory community of Tocco da Casauria (Pe), which has made a community oil from centuries-old olive groves; and the monastic fraternity of Bose of Ostuni (Br) for the care of the majestic, centuries-old monumental olive trees of the Ogliarola Salentina variety, in an area that has to deal with the plague of Xylella. «Our commitment – said Francesco Barbagli, CEO Bio-Esperia, owner of the BioDea brand during the delivery of the certificates – in olive production is to promote and practice sustainable and organic agriculture that respects the environment, human health and biodiversity. We are committed to using cultivation methods that minimize the use of pesticides and synthetic chemical fertilizers, favoring instead the use of organic compounds, biological control techniques and the use of soil management practices that favor natural fertility and the health of the olive trees. Furthermore, we are dedicated to the conservation and respect of native olive varieties, thus contributing to the protection of plant biodiversity. BioDea staff collaborates with numerous scientific research centers, both in the laboratory and in the field, to promote the conversion of agriculture towards sustainable cultivation methods, providing technical support and sharing knowledge and best practices. By participating in events such as the presentation of the Guide to Slow Food Extra Virgin Olive Oils, the aim is to raise public awareness of the importance of organic farming and sustainable practices in the production of olive oil. For BioDea, it is essential to practice sustainable agriculture to ensure good, clean and fair high-quality food products and a healthy environment to live in.”
Finally, together with the Saida Group, some examples were celebrated – among the numerous present in the guide – of olive growers who for decades have decided to passionately take care of the olive trees in a difficult territory. The choice of the 2024 Guide went to the Vincenzo Marvulli company of Matera, sixty years of caring for centuries-old olive trees, mostly from the local Ogliarola del Bradano, grown on stony and calcareous soils, recovered and cultivated without any chemical intervention of pesticides and fertilizers; and to Cab Terra di Brisighella (Ra) and its partners for having managed to obtain the oil from the Centuries-Old Olive Trees Presidium even in this difficult year, when the flood that hit Romagna hit the Brisighella area with numerous landslides. «The Saida Group, fully aware of the value of extra virgin olive oil, designed packaging that could help the producer communicate its importance – underlines Gian Luca Zuccarello, Commercial Manager Premium Glass Division of the Saida Group -. With the Horizon Collection we offer oil a unique, elegant, refined and highly appealing dress: the quality perceived by the eyes will find full correspondence in the content, allowing the consumer to enjoy a complete experience. Design, which has always been a tool for valorising Made in Italy in every sector, with Horizon relaunches itself in glass, giving the oil sector a premium collection capable of attracting even the most sceptical”.
Tags: Italian olive oil combination biodiversity landscape culture
