Rather than waiting for the outcome of a judicial review of the ban or abandoning projects altogether, some developers are turning to the exemption for so-called agri-photovoltaic (PV) projects, where solar panels raised at least 2.1 meters above the ground are integrated into ongoing agricultural activities.

Among the companies making the pivot is CCE Italia, which produced olive oil from one of its agri-PV projects in central Italy. 

 ”Companies like ours must evolve from solar PV to agri-solar PV projects,” Sandro Esposito, CCE Italia’s managing director, told Olive Oil Times. “ This is a new economic sector where we can combine perfectly the agronomic side with the company.”

Esposito discovered about 1,000 olive trees on a plot of land purchased by the company for solar panel installation in the Canino comune of the Lazio region.

With the passage of the Agricultural Law Decree in May 2024, he saw an opportunity to leverage the company’s renewable energy resources to create a competitive advantage in the agriculture sector.

The company invested €200,000 in relocating the Canino trees, which were aged between 50 and 70 years, to create space for a more compact photovoltaic layout and to install a solar-powered irrigation system.

At the end of 2024, CCE Italia harvested olives for the first time, producing 700 bottles of organic olive oil on the same estate as the 14-megawatt solar plant, which is expected to be connected to the grid this year.

Esposito said that using solar power has significantly reduced the company’s irrigation costs and decreased the carbon footprint of the olive oil. 

“The energy needed for the production came only from renewables,” he said. “So the carbon footprint of this olive oil is negative,” citing additional technology to capture carbon at the solar plant.

Rather than sell the olive oil, Esposito said the company will give the bottles away, using them as a communication tool to promote synergy between olive oil production and other agricultural activities, as well as solar PV development.

“ In the evaluation of the old business model, at the end, you have an impact on the capital expenditure side for the buildup [of the agricultural side of the agri-PV project], but you will also have the income stream gained from selling [the wine or olive oil],” he said.

Indeed, Milan-based Elemens Energy Boutique Consulting estimated that 62 percent, or 94 gigawatts, of solar projects undergoing permitting in Italy would not be affected by the ban, as they would benefit from the carveout for agri-PV projects.

While Esposito plans to expand from olive oil production into cheese and winemaking with new agri-PV developments centered around vineyards and sheep pastures, he lamented the politics behind the ban.

“If we want to cover all our needs from renewables within 2050, we need only two percent of all the agricultural land in Italy,” he said. According to Italia Solare, only 0.13 percent, or 16,600 hectares of Italy’s available agricultural land, is covered by utility-scale solar. 

Despite Esposito’s claim, there has been significant pushback from some portions of the country’s agricultural sector against utility-scale solar. 

Coldiretti, Italy’s most powerful farmers’ union, welcomed the ban when it was announced, citing the need to prevent institutional investors from buying large swaths of farmland to develop solar projects or resell at higher prices to developers. 

“We cannot accept the shortcut of photovoltaics,” said Luigi Pio Scordamaglia, Coldiretti’s director of international policies. “We don’t want to accept the inertia of an administration that decided not to invest and improve irrigation. We want to realize the full productive potential of that land again.”

Esposito, other developers and consultants in the sector have denied that any speculation is occurring. Indeed, other farmers have hailed the partnership between solar developers and farmers as a lifeline. 

“Photovoltaics are a salvation for us, a gift from the heavens,” Emanuele Bocchicchio, a farmer in the southern region of Basilicata, told the Financial Times. 

Bocchicchio earns €3,000 per hectare per annum from the 44 hectares he rents out to a local solar developer. The farmer said the land is fallow due to a lack of irrigation, combined with an increasingly hot and dry climate. 

“No one is obliged to give their land for solar panels, it’s a free choice,” he said. “In marginal areas like this, it’s vital.”

An estimated four million hectares of designated farmland lie fallow in Italy, approximately one-quarter of the total, due to poor soil quality, a lack of irrigation, and labor shortages.

“This government has to look at the reality of the farmers: every year the climate conditions are a little bit worse,” Camillo Rossi, a lawyer who has leased about 100 hectares of his family’s agricultural land to a solar developer, told the Financial Times. 

“We don’t have the potential to irrigate. That’s what determined the choice of solar panels,” he added.

Four olive trees have been infected by the aggressive pathogen in the Barletta-Andria-Trani province, a region responsible for nearly half of Apulia’s olive oil production.

The latest infections were confirmed by the laboratories of the Institute for the Sustainable Protection of Plants, which is part of the National Research Council (CNR).

These findings are a direct result of the extensive monitoring activities carried out in the Apulian region by local institutions, researchers, and volunteers.

Since January, nearly 250 samples have been collected and analyzed in the Bisceglie area, mostly from olive trees, along with a few from other species, such as wild cherry, which are considered susceptible to Xylella fastidiosa.

The discovery of infections north of Bari triggered a nationwide alarm, coming less than three months after the most recent Xylella outbreak found in Minervino Murge, about 60 kilometers from Bisceglie.

In both cases, the subspecies “pauca” of Xylella fastidiosa was identified; the strain has already devastated southern Puglia for over a decade.

Oronzo Antonio Milillo, president of the Apulian Federation of Agronomists, told AndriaViva magazine that the alert level is currently very high due to the specific characteristics of the infection, which are still being investigated.

“The bacterium typically spreads only a few hundred meters per day, so it’s reasonable to assume that a vector may have unknowingly transported it along the road. This is a possibility we must seriously consider,” Milillo said, referring to insects that often attach to cars and can easily be transported over long distances by unsuspecting vehicles.

In a note published on the Apulian Regional Council website, regional authorities explained that all service areas along the motorways are currently being inspected.

It is believed that the insect vectors responsible for the new infections may have traveled aboard trucks stopping at these service areas.

“On the other hand, if the spread is due to a natural movement of the vector, we should already have found, or will likely find through further testing, intermediate areas of infection. That’s why the alert level is extremely high,” Milillo added.

Twelve years after Xylella fastidiosa began infecting millions of olive trees in the southern Salento area, the new findings have reignited concerns about the potential economic consequences of a renewed outbreak.

“We are talking about an area… where olive growing is the leading open-air industry, with significant numbers of jobs and household incomes tied to the sector,” said Gennaro Sicolo, president of the Apulian branch of the Italian Farmers’ Confederation (CIA).

“If strong action is not taken immediately, the situation could spiral out of control in the metropolitan area of Bari and the province of Foggia as well,” he warned.

As prescribed by European Union regulations, a 400-meter-wide area around the infected trees is currently undergoing thorough sampling of olive trees and other Xylella fastidiosa-susceptible plants.

The infected trees will be removed through procedures designed to prevent the further spread of the bacterium. A new red zone has been declared within a 50-meter radius of the trees.

Within a 2.5‑kilometer radius around the infected areas, a buffer zone has been established, marking the area as potentially affected by Xylella fastidiosa.

This designation enables special territorial surveillance and plant monitoring. 

Within the buffer zone, strict mandatory preventive actions are being implemented, primarily aimed at preventing the spread of insects that carry the bacterium from one plant to another.

Both the CIA and the olive oil producers’ association Unapol have called for a new national plan to combat Xylella fastidiosa and to allocate more funds for the recovery of olive cultivation in the affected areas, primarily through the use of Xylella fastidiosa-resistant olive cultivars.

“The four infected olive trees are all in a roadside service area near Bisceglie. Both the trees and the land they occupy were neglected for a long time,” Giuseppe di Niso, spokesperson for the Bari chapter of the farmers’ association Confagricoltura, told BisceglieViva.

“In that area, the mandatory maintenance work was not carried out as required by current regional regulations on Xylella fastidiosa prevention,” di Niso said.

He urged people not to panic but to comply more strictly with the regulations governing preventive measures.

Those measures have already been shown to significantly slow the spread of the bacterium, for which no cure currently exists.

“I can’t say that all my fellow farmers follow the guidelines against the bacterium,” Pietro Maggi, a farmer in Barletta-Andria-Trani, told Olive Oil Times. “But I can say that awareness is growing, we all know we need to stand together if we want to contain the damage at least.”

Francesco Ricci, whose family coined the term, insists that Agrumato is a registered trademark that describes their brand and is not a production method, an adjective, or a verb. 

“It’s a proprietary and secret recipe,” Ricci told Olive Oil Times through a translator, Rolando Beramendi, an award-winning importer and the founder of Manicaretti Italian Food Importers, who sells Agrumato in the United States. “For example, you will never know what’s in Campari or Coca-Cola.”

Unsurprisingly, Ricci declined to share many details about the process, which he spent much of the 1980s tweaking and fine-tuning before releasing the first Agrumato on the market after the 1989 harvest.

Instead, Ricci insisted that only immediate family members, including his children, know the recipe, whom he hopes will continue the Agrumato legacy.

“It’s olives and lemons being crushed together and going through the same process as extra virgin olive oil,” he said, highlighting that Agrumato is made using dedicated milling equipment.

Ricci added that Gentile olives are key to Agrumato, as they are locally grown, have a mild flavor profile that does not clash with the citrus flavors, and ripen at around the same time as the citrus, allowing the company to harvest quickly and mill both fruits concurrently.

Along with lemon, the Ricci family sells Agrumato, made with orange, blood orange, bergamot orange, tangerine, citron, and lemon, along with herbs.

The secret to Agrumato’s success, which Beramendi said popularized the flavored olive oil category and has held up as the gold standard of its production, lies in the proportions.

“So everybody copied that, but imitation is the greatest form of flattery,” Beramendi said. 

Indeed, searching for the term “agrumato method” in any mainstream search engine yields pages of olive oil producer websites, many of which are from California, where Agrumato was first imported by Beramendi in 1991. These websites describe a method of co-milling freshly harvested olives with a range of fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

Beramendi and Ricci frequently send cease-and-desist notices for the incorrect use of the term, but this has not stopped some of the largest olive oil producers in the U.S. from publicizing “agrumato method” or “agrumato style” olive oil on their websites.

Part of the reason for the judicious protection of their intellectual property stems from the rigorous process the Ricci family had to undergo to have the product certified as extra virgin.

“When we first came out with the product and had to have it certified, I went to the University of Perugia… and had to fight quite a big battle to be certified extra virgin olive oil with lemon,” Ricci said. “The chemical analysis of the product shows it is 100 percent an extra virgin olive oil. It has aroma and a hint of flavor, but to all intents and purposes, it’s an extra virgin olive oil.”

According to the International Olive Council, any grade of olive oil, including extra virgin, is a single-ingredient food and cannot contain additives. 

“Flavored oils cannot be considered olive oils,” and they cannot be labeled as such under IOC rules, former executive director Abdellatif Ghedira told Olive Oil Times in 2018.

Ricci and Beramendi disagree, pointing to the certification from the University of Perugia, and stated that they do not engage in debate over the nomenclature of flavored olive oil. 

Instead, they point to public enthusiasm for the product as evidence that the name is just right, including awards in 2023 from the Specialty Food Association and the Fancy Food Show for the then-newly released Agrumato Bergamotto.

More broadly, Ricci explains that he believes flavored and infused olive oil are helping to bring chefs and regular consumers into the world of olive oil. Beramendi agreed, citing personal experience working with prominent chefs from leading California restaurants. 

“I see it as a product that broke the glass ceiling,” he added. “Agrumato was an important pillar of why people started to use extra virgin olive oil as a finishing oil. It was a pioneer.”

Along with the U.S., the Ricci family exports Agrumato to 17 other countries. The United Kingdom is the second-largest market, with Australia, Germany, Japan, Singapore and South Korea also representing significant markets.

Ricci estimated that Agrumato sales account for approximately 95 percent of the business, with the remaining 5 percent comprised of sales of three monovarietal extra virgin olive oils and Pan’Agrumato, a panettone made with Agrumato.

With two recent reports forecasting that the flavored olive oil market will nearly double over the next decade, rising from $1.29 (€1.19) billion in 2024 to $2.47 (€2.10) billion by 2033, Ricci and his imitators are hoping to capitalize on the category’s momentum and continue to grow market share for Agrumato and other co-milled olive oil.

The region, known as the spur on Italy’s boot, is home to a large national park and is considered one of the most ancient areas of olive oil production in the country.

There, blending Coratina olives with the autochthonous Ogliarola Garganica cultivar, Oleificio Fratelli Vieste crafted its Aurea brand, which earned a Silver Award at the 2025 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

The family-run farm and olive oil mill, founded in 1985, has 20 hectares of orchards, primarily dedicated to Ogliarola, Coratina and Leccino olive trees, but thrives on close relationships with local olive growers.

“This is our fortieth year, and many producers have been with us for a very long time,” Raffaele Vieste, co-owner of the company, told Olive Oil Times.

The mill’s activity originated from a long-standing family tradition of olive farming.

“Our model is based on synergy. We know the producers, we talk with them, and we select the best batches. This allows us to work with different oils and offer variety,” Vieste said.

“We know which olives come from each grove, how and when to harvest them, and how to process them at their best. It’s a job built on mutual knowledge,” he added.

Aurea is made from olives harvested early in October, when yields are low but the aromatic profile is more developed.

“When we harvest so early, the yield does not even reach eight percent,” Vieste said, meaning that for every 100 kilograms of olives processed, no more than eight kilograms of oil are extracted, a yield considered relatively low.

“It’s a risky, even uneconomical, choice, but that’s when Ogliarola Garganica expresses its best notes: almond, vanilla, a hint of tomato,” Vieste said. “It’s a complex yet delicate oil. People appreciate it for its balance.”

According to Vieste, in Aurea, the intense, structured oil from Coratina, a well-known Apulian cultivar, is balanced by the milder Ogliarola.

“In recent years, people tend to bring extreme olive oils to competitions, with very strong fruitiness,” Vieste said.

“We prefer to preserve the identity of our land. Ogliarola must always be there. It is our signature. Even when we use Coratina, we aim for balance, not strength for its own sake,” he added.

While the company produces a wide range of products, including extra virgin olive oil with different profiles, its focus remains on the Ogliarola Garganica cultivar.

“For us, it’s not just a variety, it’s identity. It is an olive oil that, when processed well, tells the story of this land like no other,” Vieste said.

“It has a thousand nuances. Depending on the harvest time, it can range from mild and sweet to intensely green and fruity,” he added.

In recent years, the Vieste farm, like all producers in the region, has had to contend with droughts and heat waves.

“We find ourselves harvesting at 24 ºC in November. We used to start after November 1st, when the cold weather would arrive. Now, that cold seems to have vanished,” Vieste said.

Harvesting olives under such conditions requires extra effort to maintain quality, as high temperatures affect the trees, the fruits and the harvest schedule.

“Climate is the main challenge, even more than pests. Olive trees need cold to rest. When the rhythm changes, everything changes,” Vieste said.

To adapt to the impacts of climate change, the company has adopted targeted agronomic practices.

“We’re lucky to have nearby groundwater. Emergency irrigation saves us during critical periods,” Vieste explained.

A crucial part of this adaptation is specialized pruning.

“It may seem trivial, but giving trees the right shape is fundamental. Pruning helps the tree breathe, produce better and withstand heat,” Vieste said.

“Here we have a strong tradition of pruners. Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer of them. Still, some have recently started teaching the new generations,” he added.

Other practices focus on maintaining soil fertility.

“We try to keep the soil alive, with vegetation cover to retain moisture and support the roots,” Vieste said.

Sustainability is integral to the company’s vision. “We recover everything: olive pomace, olive pits, even pruning residues. We use the pomace as fertilizer, the pits as biomass. We’re planning a biogas plant powered by waste,” Vieste said.

“Some of these practices were used in the past. Today, they are becoming essential again. It’s not just an environmental choice, it’s also an economic one,” he added. “The relationship with consumers is another cornerstone. The farm offers tastings and guided tours of the world of olive oil. Vieste said that consumers are changing as their awareness about olive oil grows.”

“Today, visitors often arrive already informed. They know what to look for, and they recognize defects. Ten years ago, it wasn’t like that,” Vieste recalled. “It’s a cultural effort that’s bearing fruit,” he added.

The Vieste family can now showcase visitors the results of many years of producing high-quality olive oil.

“Authenticity cannot be improvised. It is the result of history, difficult choices, and daily work,” Vieste said. “We continue along this path, convinced that Italian extra virgin olive oil still has so much to say to the world.”

However, the fifth-generation winemakers have since expanded into extra-virgin olive oil production and gourmet food exports, maintaining a meticulous dedication to detail that helped propel the wine brand to become one of the world’s most renowned.

“Torres Import was founded in 1978 with the aim of offering the finest food products in Europe,” Magda Martí Vargas, the company’s commercial manager, told Olive Oil Times.

“At that time, it was a gourmet product distributor that, over the years, and given the quality of the estates owned by the Torres family, took the initiative to produce extra virgin olive oils and wine vinegars from our olive trees,” she added.

Torres Import produces olive oil from its grove of centenary and younger olive trees on the Purgatori estate in L’Aranyó, Lleida, about 90 kilometers northwest of Barcelona. 

Since 2017, the export branch of the family company has regularly participated in the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, earning a Gold Award at the 2025 edition for its Eterno brand, a medium-intensity Arbequina. The brand was previously awarded in 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023.

The company has also been awarded for its Purgatori brand in 2021 and 2022, produced from 400-year-old Picudo, Rojal and Farga olives, along with Arbequina.

“For us, it is an honor and privilege to have a Gold Award in recent editions of NYIOOC,” Martí said. “In terms of prestige, people recognize the importance of the competition, and this implies that they are aware of the work and effort involved in continuing to harvest such high-quality oils.”

Catalonia is the fourth-largest olive oil-producing region in Spain, after Andalusia, Castilla-La-Mancha, and Extremadura. However, its olive harvests have been crippled in recent years due to prolonged drought. 

“In Catalonia, we experienced a prolonged drought. The 2022, 2023 and 2024 harvests have been particularly dry throughout the year,” Martí confirmed. “In 2024, a few liters of rain fell in spring, allowing for good ripening in the cooler areas of the estate. We also have a portion of the estate under irrigation.”

According to data from Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Catalan olive oil production fell to 15,233 tons in the 2024/25 crop year, down from 32,717 tons in the previous year.

“Overall, we can say that the harvest was lower than other harvests, and the mill yields were low,” Martí said. “During the harvest period, there were no rainy episodes, allowing the olives to be picked at their optimal ripeness.”

“During the 2024 harvest, the estate’s main challenge has been the accumulated drought in areas without support irrigation,” she added. “Without the spring rains, the desired quality would not have been achieved.”

Indeed, Catalan authorities recently lifted nearly all water restrictions in April as heavy spring rain raised reservoir capacity above the 60 percent threshold.

However, regional officials and Torres Import are mindful that this may be a reprieve and are preparing for a hotter and drier climate in the future.

“Water, as in other areas of the Mediterranean, is a scarce resource,” Martí said. “Climate change poses a significant challenge. Periods of drought are expected to become more frequent, as are summer heat waves. Irrigation will be essential in the future, as will the way we obtain water via storing rainwater, using recycled water and aquifers.”

Despite Spain’s Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food announcing a global goal to bolster production and sell four million metric tons of olive oil annually, Martí does not expect production to increase in Catalonia due to climatic and topographic limitations.

“Catalonia is a small olive oil-producing region compared to other regions in Spain and around the world,” she confirmed. “Its terrain, with numerous mountain ranges, makes it difficult to plant large areas of olive trees. Mechanization can be challenging, so the focus must be on producing unique, high-quality oils.”

As a result, she said Torres Import focuses on producing high-quality extra virgin olive oil, pricing their final product based on the cost of production and paying little attention to the falling olive oil prices at origin in Andalusia, the world’s largest producer by a wide margin. 

“Torres Import always emphasizes product quality; we focus on tastings and product presentation,” Martí said. “We don’t enter the price wars currently in place in the market, as we offer authenticity and quality.”

As the name suggests, a significant part of Torres Import’s business includes exports, especially to the United States. 

Martí said the company had exported the most recent harvest ahead of the implementation of a near-blanket ten percent tariff on imports to the U.S. and would wait to see how the situation changes before making any decisions ahead of the 2025/26 harvest. 

“For now, our importers purchased at the beginning of the harvest and stocked up on product,” she said. “We will see how this affects us in the future; however, we hope everything returns to normal.”

• Euro Weekly News

Carroccia Campodimele is situated on the hills near Campodimele, approximately 130 kilometers south of Rome, on the edge of the Aurunci Mountains Natural Park. 

Approximately 3,700 Itrana olive trees are planted on terraces bordered by dry stone walls. The celebrated olive variety is easily identifiable across the region’s groves.

“We just received authorization to reinforce and expand the dry walls. Now we can more easily access about 90 percent of our groves,” Paolo De Filippis, an olive oil taster, co-owner, and manager of the family-run company, told Olive Oil Times.

De Filippis and his cousin charted a new path for Carroccia Campodimele nearly 20 years ago, focusing on quality and expanding from three to ten hectares.

Their producing experience pairs family history with a unique feature of the Campodimele village.

The small town with slightly more than 550 residents is known for its extraordinary demographic trait: it is one of the longest-lived communities in Italy.

Often referred to as the “village of longevity,” Campodimele has been the focus of numerous scientific studies examining the high number of centenarians within its small population.

Researchers have linked this longevity to a combination of genetics, physical activity associated with rural life, low stress, and a traditional Mediterranean diet rich in vegetables, legumes, and olive oil.

For the Carroccia family, whose groves are situated in the surrounding area, this connection between land, lifestyle, and health is woven into their identity.

The extra virgin olive oil’s label features a top-view image of Campodimele, anchoring their oil to values of wellness and natural living.

“Itrana is so special, and our parents knew that. They planted only that cultivar so long ago,” De Filippis said. “Itrana can make a perfect olive oil, with its unique and balanced aroma, but it’s also ideal as a table olive.”

Gaeta olives, a specialty from southern Lazio, are grown on Itrana trees and carry a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) certification, ensuring quality and authenticity, as recognized by the European Union.

Itrana’s olive oil, on the other hand, represents the central portion of the Colline Pontine olive oil, which is also a celebrated PDO.

According to De Filippis, the whole family is involved in the farm’s activities, sharing a deep emotional bond with their land and the Itrana olive.

“We are in love with this cultivar,” he said. “When you taste an Itrana-quality extra virgin olive oil, the first thing you notice is its aroma, a very fragrant olive oil that conquers the palate and the soul.”

According to De Filippis, their olive oils have a high phenolic content, approaching 900 milligrams per liter.

“It has a balanced profile, a noticeable but harmonious bitterness, and an interesting spiciness,” he explained, noting a resemblance to the well-known Sicilian Tonda Iblea cultivar.

The family harvests early in the season.

“We aim for quality. During harvest, you’ll only see electric tools in the fields,” De Filippis highlighted, referring to concerns about contamination from petrol engines.

“We love everything green. The farm has been organic from the start. We don’t even know what chemicals are,” he said.

De Filippis explained that they avoid pesticides and prioritize natural treatments focused on sustainability and soil health. For fertilization, he described a composting system using manure and olive pruning remains.

“We let it sit in a dedicated spot for a year to mature, then apply it to the trees, in the shade of their canopy,” he said.

Though already certified organic, the Carroccia farm is now transitioning to biodynamic farming, part of a growing trend across Italy.

The biodynamic approach stems from the teachings of Rudolf Steiner, a controversial social reformer and founder of anthroposophy, which integrates spiritual awareness into life, teaching and agriculture.

“You have to believe in it, really believe it mentally. And you also have to accept lower yields and reduced profits. But it means producing better and more sustainably,” De Filippis said.

While the farm does not have its mill, De Filippis uses a local facility dedicated to a few organic producers. “If the goal is quality, you cannot mix your olives with those of uncertain origin,” he said.

Carroccia Campodimele’s quality was confirmed once again, with a Gold Award for its organic medium-intensity Itrana monovarietal at the 2025 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

For De Filippis, the company’s fourth NYIOOC accolade in as many years is more than a recognition of quality.

“First of all, it’s very rewarding,” he said. “I’m the one who tastes our olive oils, and when the oil I selected wins a Gold Award, I’m very proud of our work.”

Still, these are challenging times for olive growers across the Mediterranean, including those in Lazio.

“We are living through climate change. It’s fast, and we are all a bit unprepared for what’s happening,” he explained.

They are considering irrigation, although the hilly terrain poses a challenge.

“We’re working on it, monitoring the trees day by day. The trees’ resting period used to be longer, and that may affect production,” he said, hinting at the increasingly short winters experienced by Lazio growers.

The farm relies on the reinforced dry walls to improve soil and water retention. It is also starting a collaboration with a local agronomist to boost climate resilience.

“Today, we just had a great fruit set, then came sudden heat, stressing the trees. And then yesterday we were hit by a hailstorm, with hail as big as walnuts,” De Filippis said.

“Producing quality olive oil presents many challenges, and they vary from farm to farm,” he added. “But the one challenge we all face is climate change. It demands inventiveness and long-term investment. We must be proactive.” 

On the foothills of Mount Guardiabella, an offshoot of the Prealps, Tèra de Prie cultivates 4,500 trees scattered over 15 hectares of terraced orchards at 300 to 400 meters of altitude. 

The groves are located throughout the hamlets of Aurigo, Borgomaro and a few other villages of the Impero Valley, near Imperia.

“This area has always been rich in stones and trees,” co-owner Nicola Ferrarese told Olive Oil Times. “The first peoples who arrived here, the Ligurians and then the Romans, started using the tree wood to build their boats and collected the stones to create the terraces, turning a problem into a resource.”

Hence, the name of the company, Tèra de Prie, which in the Ligurian language means ‘land of stones’ or ‘land made of stones.’ The company logo depicts a stylized human figure wielding a magaglio, a local word indicating a type of three-toothed hoe. It can be seen as a farmer hoeing, gearing up for the olive harvest or struggling to fix a retaining wall.

The latter image evokes the constant maintenance required by the terraced plots, whose slope gradient is at least 45 degrees. Every year, the company restores between 180 and 200 square meters of dry stone walls on the property.

The result of this commitment towards the territory, shaped by a thousand years of heroic farming, is Tèra de Prie Biologico Monocultivar Taggiasca, which earned a Gold Award at the 2025 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

“Our work of preservation has not only a historical and cultural value – just consider that UNESCO recognized the art of dry stone walling as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity – but it also has other major implications,” Ferrarese said. 

“A good maintenance of the dry stone walls drastically reduces the hydrogeological risk,” he added. “Due to the importance of this activity, the European Union covers part of the cost necessary for their restoration. However, well-done work always requires an extra amount of expense, as well as additional efforts.”

The use of traditional agricultural techniques, such as dry-stone terraces, is widely recognized as an adaptation measure to mitigate the effects of climate change.

The E.U. manages funding programs, such as “Using Dry-Stone Walls as a Multi-purpose Climate Change Adaptation tool,” the goals of which are to restore and maintain dry stone walls in a long-term manner, as they enable excellent water drainage and effectively minimize the risk of landslides and floods.

“Among their environmental benefits, these walls provide a specific natural ecosystem for many species,” Ferrarese said. “Moreover, they act as temperature regulators, creating a microclimate, thanks to the stone’s ability to store the heat of the sun and then to release it.”

Ferrarese manages the company alongside his father, Franco, and last year, his wife, Sonia, joined the team to oversee marketing and business initiatives. The couple has two children, eight-year-old Andrea and six-year-old Francesca, who has already shown interest in the family’s commitment to olive production.

“Every year, our kids are the first tasters of our extra virgin olive oil, and they love getting involved in the harvest, which for them is an exciting experience,” Ferrarese said. “Speaking of the link between generations, most of these lands have been passed down to us from our ancestors. Both my mother’s and my father’s families were, in all likelihood, olive growers since 1700.”

The origins of their entrepreneurial venture date back to the mid-1980s, when Franco Ferrarese began revitalizing an abandoned olive grove.

“He then recovered other plots and we started making oil for household consumption,” Ferrarese said. “After purchasing some neighboring land, at the end of the 1990s, he established a small mill, and in 2000, he created a company.”

In 2011, the farm was certified organic. In 2016, Ferrarese joined his father in managing the business, and together they founded Tèra de Prie.

“We have a precious collaborator, Emad Balat, who began working with us 25 years ago, and today he is a true expert in the construction of dry stone walls. His skill is invaluable. Building this type of wall without using binding material not only takes effort but also calls for great expertise,” Ferrarese said. “Emad and I also take turns in managing the company mill, equipped with advanced Mori-Tem technology.”

“Another great collaborator, Zeka Ilmi, works in the olive groves all year, and in the summer he takes care of our vegetable garden,” he added. “This is where we source the vegetables for our hotel’s restaurant.”

The Ferrarese family manages a hotel in Diano Marina, whose catering section is supplied with extra virgin olive oil and other fresh, organic agri-food products from their farm. The hotel guests can participate in olive oil tastings and tours of the farm and mill.

“We organize events for our guests and for all those who want to visit our olive groves and the milling facility, which is regularly updated with the best technical innovations,” Ferrarese said. “We make an olive oil tasting, and I give them some information about these terraces and the history of Ligurian agriculture, trying to convey both our passion and some useful information to recognize a good extra virgin olive oil.”

The company’s pursuit of quality has always been closely tied to its commitment to environmental sustainability. Before applying for organic certification, the Ferrarese family began focusing on organic methods of production.

“We minimize tillage and let the spontaneous herbs grow on our terraces to improve biodiversity and attract beneficial insects,” Ferrarese said.

“We mow grass just once a year before harvesting, and actually, I can say that the wild boars help us practice green manure, as they loosen up the soil under the trees while in search of food,” he added. “Indeed, our olive groves are rich in wildlife, and we aim to preserve this healthy environment.”

Most of the plots face southwest, offering excellent exposure to the sun that benefits the Taggiasca olive trees. The orchards also include a few dozen trees belonging to yet unknown varieties, which ancient farmers used to improve pollination. The company is currently studying them in collaboration with a university research group.

The average width of a terrace is approximately three meters, but in some cases, it can be as little as two meters. As a result, each terrace typically contains one row of olive trees, while only a handful have sufficient space for two rows. For optimal use of space, due to logistical and safety reasons, the company conducts regular and meticulous pruning of its olive trees.

“The activities on these orchards can often be strenuous, and especially for this, our collaborators deserve to work in a serene and pleasant environment,” Ferrarese said. “I believe that the respect for the land cannot be separated from the respect for and enhancement of people who work and live in it.”

“Every time we hire someone, even just for a season, the first oil that comes out of the mill goes to them, because they helped us create something unique like a high-quality extra virgin olive oil,” he added. 

“True quality is not an end in itself, but aims at everyone’s well-being. It seeks the common good and acts in the best interest of the entire community. This is what we strive to do, and it is reflected in the care with which we protect this fascinating territory.”

Tunisian, Moroccan and Egyptian producers showcased the results of their resilience and adaptation to labor shortages, high temperatures and insufficient rainfall at the 2025 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

Considering the low harvest of the previous season, Tunisian olive oil production rebounded in the 2024/25 crop year.

Local institutions anticipate that by the end of the season, the country will export up to 300,000 tons of olive oil, most of which is shipped in bulk, with a significant share destined for the European Union. 

However, Tunisian producers showcased that the country is also home to award-winning quality, earning 12 awards from 18 entries at the 2025 NYIOOC.

Producers in neighboring Morocco and Egypt also had to cope with complex conditions, primarily due to the impact of reduced rainfall.

Two Moroccan producers combined to win a Gold and Silver Award at the 2025 NYIOOC, with Egyptian producer Wadi Food earning two Silver Awards. 

“Our olive season in Tunisia is truly at the mercy of climate change these days,” said Naouel Bouabid, owner at Massiva, which earned three Silver Awards for its flagship Damya line of olive oil. “We’re seeing more and more unpredictable weather.”

Bouabid cited the out-of-season heatwaves and erratic rainfall as examples. “All of this makes farming a continuous effort of adaptation,” she noted.

“Adding to that, the prickly pears – vital for our biodiversity and even olive oil quality – are under severe attack.” 

“The cochineal insect has caused damage, costing us a huge part of our natural heritage,” Bouabid added. “Thankfully, the government and international partners are actively seeking solutions.”

In Tunisia, prickly pears support olive farming by stabilizing soil, conserving water and serving as windbreaks. 

Their resilience in arid climates reduces erosion and wildfire risk. By diversifying income and enhancing biodiversity, they help create a more sustainable, climate-adaptive environment for high-quality olive oil production.

Despite these challenges, Bouabid said that the unique terroir, harvesting approach, and practices as well as the milling technologies, contributed to Massiva’s triumph in New York.

“We also maintain meticulous attention to detail in the cultivation of our olive trees, employing sustainable practices to ensure their health and longevity,” she added.

According to Bouabid, “winning an award at a prestigious competition like NYIOOC is an incredible feeling.”

“It’s a powerful validation of all the hard work, dedication, and passion we pour into every step of the olive oil making process, from nurturing the trees to the careful extraction and storage. It’s a moment of immense pride for our entire team,” she said.

Winning in New York is also relevant for the company as it focuses on exports to the United States.

“Effectively marketing our unique, high-quality Tunisian olive oil in the U.S. is a major challenge,” Bouabid said. “We compete with larger, established global brands with greater marketing power, requiring significant effort and investment in branding, origin and nationwide outreach.”

Other high-end producers in the country agree with Bouabid, as many challenges had to be faced.

“We had a pack of challenges, ranging from workers’ availability and management to a very hot weather during summer,” said Ahmed Hamza, co-founder and managing director of Olyfo. “In some days it exceeded 48 ºC.” 

Olyfo won a Silver Award at the World Competition for its 2500 Years of Tradition brand, a medium-intensity blend of Koroneiki, Arbequina, Arbosana and Chemlali olives.

According to Hamza, winning in New York fills him with pride and satisfaction. “It feels like our work is appreciated; it is an important recognition of the quality of the extra virgin olive oil we are selling to the world,” he noted.

In Morocco, the persistent drought and water scarcity have impacted the country’s production. Both high-end producers and other farms experienced challenges.

“We experienced a reduced harvest due to adverse weather conditions. The lack of rain in

Morocco was a disaster,” said Mohammed Dakir Berrada, founder and owner of Noor Fès in Morocco, and Ghizlane Tazi, general manager of the company.

Noor Fès earned a Gold Award at the 2025 NYIOOC with its monovarietal Moroccan Picholine.

“Climate change is now a global issue, and it is increasingly affecting olive production,” they said. “Climate change is reshaping our environment, but it also pushes us to do better.”

“Our olive oil, produced with regenerative and biodiverse systems, not only tastes better and offers more nutritional benefits, but it’s also part of a sustainable future,” Berrada and Tazi added.

The two noted that the award won by the company is the result of several sustainable practices, technologies and innovative procedures.

“This is our fifth consecutive award, which reinforces the consistency and excellence of our quality year after year,” Barrada and Tazi said.

“Furthermore, we are very committed to the U.S. market, which is a top priority for us,” they added. “Winning an award at the NYIOOC is helpful as it reassures U.S. consumers,”

According to data from the Argentine Olive Federation shared with Olive Oil Times, the largest producing country outside the Mediterranean basin yielded approximately 35,000 tons of olive oil in 2024 (significantly higher than the preliminary estimate) and a record-high 44,000 tons in 2023 (also higher than initial estimates).

While production varied from region to region, producers in San Juan and La Rioja, responsible for the majority of Argentine olive oil, reported that adverse weather events, including a cold snap in May 2024, damaged trees in the northwestern provinces.

“We recently completed the harvest, and unfortunately, the overall balance was not positive,” said Jeder Aleua, the head of olive oil production at La Rioja-based Fincas de Cruz del Eje. “During the flowering stage, we faced adverse weather conditions such as hail, hot winds and extreme temperatures, which severely affected flower set.”

“The flowers that managed to develop showed good growth, but with low oil content due to the limited temperature range. This translated into an average oil yield of approximately 12 percent, a figure lower than expected,” he added. “Despite this situation, we managed to obtain good quality oil, thanks to meticulous work and care at every stage of the process.”

Additionally, declining olive oil prices at origin in Europe, combined with rising production costs in Argentina and higher table olive prices, led producers to divert dual-purpose varieties to table olives for export.

“There isn’t going to be much oil in Argentina this year,” said Julián Clusellas, the president of La Rioja-based Valle de la Puerta. “The harvest was very short, and almost everything that could be was diverted for table olives.”

He added that in the company’s groves, frosts in May 2024 damaged the buds that later become flowers and then olive drupes, especially in the lower parts of the trees. 

In neighboring San Juan, Solfrut commercial director Guillermo Kemp also confirmed that this year’s harvest would fall short of previous ones. 

“We continue working on short campaigns, and starting earlier and earlier, to avoid climatic factors [such as late autumn frosts] and, of course, to produce the best quality oils that can be obtained,” he said.

Further south in Mendoza, producers reported a better harvest this year than the previous one. 

“On our farm, we had an average harvest. One farm had very good production, while the other was slightly affected by frost,” said Miguel Zuccardi, the head of olive oil production at Familia Zuccardi. 

“We had to start harvesting a little later this year because we had a warm fall and delayed our plans to avoid the high temperatures,” he added.

Meanwhile, in the central province of Córdoba, situated about halfway between Mendoza and Buenos Aires, Sierra Pura president Veronica Ortega said the region experienced a significantly higher harvest than in 2024.

“We recorded a 50 percent increase in harvest volume compared to the 2024 campaign,” she said. “However, some climatic factors, such as the lack of the first cold spells in May and late summer rains, caused a slight delay in the ripening of certain olive varieties, which extended the harvest period into June.”

“Not only did total production increase, but we also managed to harvest varieties such as Frantoio, Farga and Barnea with outstanding organoleptic quality,” she added.

Away from economic issues, Ortega said her main challenge was determining the optimal moment to harvest the olives, striking a delicate balance that maximizes oil yield while preserving the organoleptic characteristics.

“We had to balance the need to start the harvest early—due to the volume of fruit available—with the importance of waiting for the perfect ripening period to obtain an oil with the flavor, aroma and nuances that distinguish us,” she said. “Despite these challenges, the 2025 harvest results are extremely positive.”

Expectations of a lower harvest arise as producers across Argentina face significant economic hardship, driven by rising production costs and lower prices for exports to Europe.

Since President Javier Milei assumed office in December 2023, his administration has slashed government spending in a bid to lower the country’s triple-digit inflation rate and the deficit.

Energy subsidies were among the cuts made by the government, resulting in an increase in electricity and fuel prices.

While producers approved of separate government efforts to loosen restrictions on imports, such as fertilizer and bottles, and the repatriation of foreign currencies, the effects of these measures have been canceled out by the falling prices at origin.

“Olive oil prices at €3,600 per ton are not profitable considering electricity costs [to power irrigation systems] of about $900 (€780) per hectare and an overall operating cost of around $4,000 (€3,500) per hectare,” Clusellas said.

Zuccardi added that prices for electricity and fuel have risen faster than inflation, which continues to decelerate, and government efforts to devalue the Argentine peso from its artificially high rate.

Despite rising costs, some producers said the government’s economic policies have created more certainty. 

“The stability of input prices was a positive factor that allowed us to plan the harvest with greater predictability,” Ortega said. 

Mario Bustos Carra, the director-general of the Mendoza-based Cuyo Chamber of Foreign Trade, added that the changes will be good for producers in the long term, but there will be significant short-term headwinds.

“The first challenge is addressing costs, which are offset by tax pressures, labor costs, high input prices, lack of labor to harvest the crops, etc.,” he said. 

“Furthermore, in olive oil, good European production has contributed to the drop in international prices,” Bustos Carra added. “Since Argentina is not a price-setter, we must adapt to the figures handled by the main producing countries, which have stable economies, strong currencies and, fundamentally, favorable economic policies, including subsidies.”

While challenges mount at home, some producers and exporters agreed that the prevailing trade policy in the United States may provide a competitive advantage for Argentine olive oil in the world’s second-largest olive oil consumer market.

Even as U.S. President Donald J. Trump announced a ten percent tariff on Argentine imports as part of his wider tariff policy, Clusellas said it was business as usual with his American clients.

“I think the situation is going to improve and we will see more demand for Argentine olive oil” in the U.S., Clusellas said.

The Trump administration’s tariff policy has been erratic, but Argentine olive oil exporters have never faced the prospect of more than the “baseline” ten percent tariff. 

Exporters from Tunisia and European Union countries, on the other hand, currently have the same ten percent tariff, but could face significantly higher rates if they cannot reach a deal with the U.S.

Kemp, from Solfrut, confirmed that under the original or revised tariff regimes of 28 percent on Tunisia and 20 to 50 percent on the European Union, Argentine exporters would benefit, but American consumers might not.

“I think [tariffs] make the product more expensive for the U.S. consumer,” he said. “The issue is to see how the final policy looks.”

Similarly to Clusellas, Zuccardi said his company has not felt the impact of the tariffs. He expects that slightly higher prices will not deter most consumers seeking higher-quality extra virgin olive oil.

Bustos Carra said the first signs of changing policy in the U.S. toward Argentina date back to the suspension of the generalized system of preference for certain products, including olive oil, but he is optimistic that Milei’s personal relationship with Trump will result in a deal for Argentina.

“Because our country was the first to request a review of tariffs in response to the new measures adopted, we are optimistic that, both due to political affinity and as a consequence of the unilateral policy pursued by the United States, we may gain some comparative advantages over other countries,” he said.

Aleua added that Fincas de Cruz del Eje was continuing to assess the situation around U.S. tariffs and continuing its efforts to enter new markets.

“When a market closes, new opportunities also open up,” he said. “The Asian market, for example, represents a distant but extremely interesting destination, and that’s where we’re focusing part of our future strategy.”

Farmers, millers and bottlers in the Golden State, which is responsible for virtually all of the estimated 10,000 metric tons of United States olive oil production in the 2024/25 crop year, overcame high temperatures at key moments of olive development, the emergence of the olive fruit fly and logistical challenges throughout the harvest.

While climatic and economic challenges are ever-present in a producer’s mission to craft world-class extra virgin olive oil, some entrants faced more personal trials and tribulations.

For Nancy Frishberg of Rancho Milagro, this year’s harvest was particularly emotional. Her partner, who had managed the ranch since its inception, passed away unexpectedly in October.

“He was only 75 and had a lot of things to accomplish,” Frishberg said. “And then, you know, he was gone.” 

The loss left Frishberg in charge of the operation, which she had never anticipated. “This is my first year of being the manager of the harvest,” she said. “I’ve had to learn the ropes, but I think I’ve done okay.”

The past year also brought rain during harvest, forcing producers to adjust their schedules. Additionally, extreme summer heat, reaching 109°F (43°C), posed challenges for the olive trees. 

“We had some really, really hot days last summer. It got to 109ºF when we left. That was exceptionally high, I thought, for this part of California,” Frishberg said.

Her background is in marketing and linguistics, a stark contrast to the agricultural expertise her late partner brought to Rancho Milagro.

“I was an academic. I have a Ph.D. in linguistics, specializing in sign languages,” she said. “Then I spent years in tech, working in user experience and human-computer interaction. None of that had anything to do with olive oil.” 

Despite the steep learning curve, she embraced the challenge, hiring a consultant to refine their olive oil blends. 

“I said to her, ‘Here’s what I know about what’s in these barrels. Put together a blend for me that represents our ranch and that uses as much of those three other varieties as possible.’ And she did that. And it’s been winning awards,” Frishberg said.

Among them was the NYIOOC Gold Award for its medium-intensity Frantoio monovarietal. Additionally, the ranch’s Field Blend of Frantoio, Hojiblanca, Coratina, and Picual olives received a Silver Award.

The shift from opportunistic blending to intentional blending proved to be a game-changer. 

“I needed to have somebody to help me on the blend. This is the key difference between the opportunistic blend and the intentional blend,” Fishber said.

For Elise Magistro, owner of Luretík Estate, winning at NYIOOC was a powerful validation of her team’s commitment to quality. 

“Winning in New York confirms the rigorous standards we hold ourselves to, from the grove to the bottle,” she said. “We see it not only as recognition of our work but as a signal to our growing community of customers and collaborators that Luretík delivers a truly world-class extra virgin olive oil experience.”

Magistro added that the NYIOOC award increases customer awareness and has improved the brand’s presence in retail, culinary and hospitality channels.

“It also affirms our forward-looking work: blending varieties for complexity and balance, investing in sustainability at the grove level, and building new formats like micro-batch bottlings and curated sensory experiences,” she said.

Magistro also highlighted how California’s success at NYIOOC is reshaping global perceptions of the region’s olive oil. 

“The steady presence of California oils at NYIOOC is shifting how the world views our producers,” she said. “Luretík is part of that evolution here on the Central Coast. We’re fortunate to grow in Santa Barbara County, which enjoys a Mediterranean-like microclimate where our Italian cultivars thrive and give us a diverse palette for crafting nuanced blends.”

Rather than focusing on monovarietals, Magistro said she produces blends to express her experience at Luretík. 

“From the outset, it has been important for me to craft oils that reflect who I am and where I come from,” Magistro said. Our approach is rooted in creating blends that are deliberate compositions rather than a California version of an Italian monovarietal oil.”

The 2024/25 harvest yielded slightly lower results compared to California’s standout 2023/24 season, but producers observed high harmony scores, elevated phenols, and complex aromas in certain varieties. 

“We made strategic adjustments during harvest timing as well as in post-harvest blending, decisions which paid off: the result was a gold medal oil that exemplifies both precision and adaptability,” Magistro said.

However, she highlighted logistical challenges of scaling production. “Ensuring rapid transport to our organic-certified milling partner is critical to preserving fruit integrity, and we’ve been disciplined about maintaining that 12 to 24-hour window,” Magistro said.

“We’re also developing long-term partnerships to bring milling closer to the grove, part of a broader investment in regenerative and operational resilience,” she added.

Looking ahead, Magistro remains optimistic about the 2025/26 harvest, noting steady budding across nine varieties and favorable spring weather supporting optimal flowering conditions.

“We’re continuing to deepen our biodiverse practices and expand grove capacity, laying the groundwork for future growth in both volume and innovation, like micro-lots and climate-responsive cultivation.”

Meanwhile, in the hills of San Miguel, known for its Mediterranean climate and rich agricultural heritage, Richard and Myrna Meisler of San Miguel Olive Farm also celebrated a triumphant season.

The couple, aged 86 and 87, started their farm in 2006 with only ten trees. Nestled in the Central Coast’s rolling hills, the perennial winners celebrated a ninth straight year of success at the NYIOOC.

“We are also very proud to have received four Gold Awards for our endeavors this year,” they said. “The accolades reinforce their unwavering commitment to quality and sustainability.”

Their success, alongside other producers, highlights the resilience and dedication of California’s olive oil industry. “We both feel Californians are known for facing challenges well and moving forward,” they said.

Looking ahead, California producers are bracing for another active wildfire season. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, more than 2,000 fires have burned approximately 30,000 hectares as of 2025. 

While olive growers have experienced limited exposure, smoke has not been shown to affect olive oil quality; however, they continue to monitor environmental conditions closely. 

At Rancho Milagro, the ranch manager only mulches pruning leftovers while brief rains continue—once the heat sets in, fire danger makes such practices too risky.

“We haven’t had a fire in this part of California since 2021… But starting soon, it will be the dry season,” Frishberg said. “And by the time August comes around and September, that gets to be iffy because there’s lots of fire danger.”

This makes the award-winning producer Noor Fès quite unusual, with 70,000 olive trees spread over 320 hectares at the southern end of the Rif Mountains.

“Our goal is to reach 600 hectares, which will allow us to double our olive oil production capacity in the coming years,” founder and owner Mohammed Dakir Berrada said. 

“Morocco is one of the largest producers of olive oil on Earth, but the way most people produce it is very outdated,” he and general manager Ghizlane Tazi told Olive Oil Times. “That’s why we have large mills across the country that we call masra. All those small farmers harvest their olives and then bring them to the mills, sometimes very far away.”

Dakir Berrada and Tazi contend that many consumers in Morocco are accustomed to “lower-quality olive oil” because many small farmers leave their olives at a single local mill.

“Once they get there, they often have to wait, because everyone harvests at the same time, and there’s a queue,” Dakir Berrada and Tazi said.

As a result, many olives are no longer fresh when finally milled, with a substantial negative impact on the quality of the oil.

“What Noor Fès is doing in Morocco is quite new. And we are reaching out to farmers and consumers to talk about quality, mechanization, sustainability and technology,” Dakir Berrada and Tazi said.

The farm organizes events and programs to educate consumers about olive oil quality and provide instruction around harvesting and milling best practices.

The company’s bona fides in the realm of quality were confirmed by its fifth consecutive Gold Award, earned for its native Moroccan Picholine monovarietal, at the 2025 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

“This excellence is the result of our meticulously selected fruit variety, an extra virgin olive oil that is rich in aroma and truly representative of the quality and character of our terroir,” Dakir Berrada and Tazi said.

“We’re proud to see Noor Fès recognized on the international stage. It affirms not just the strength of our brand, but also the value of Moroccan craftsmanship,” Tazi added.

Dakir Berrada’s Noor Fès project came to life in 2019, building on a much longer experience in olive oil production.

“We chose Moroccan Picholine because it’s perfectly adapted to our terroir. We didn’t want to introduce a foreign variety that might compromise the authenticity of our product,” Dakir Berrada and Tazi said.

“This olive thrives naturally in our environment, offering resilience to local conditions and producing an olive oil with a uniquely fruity and delicious flavor at the same time,” Dakir Berrada added. “It wasn’t just a patriotic choice, it’s also an agronomic and sensory one. It checks every box.” 

The name Noor Fès means “Light of Fès,” where light is conceived as a metaphor for vitality and well-being.

That message is also reflected in the design of their dark green ceramic bottles, which aim to blend modernity and tradition.

“Our packaging is inspired by Moroccan art and heritage,” Dakir Berrada and Tazi explained. “From the gold-embellished calligraphy evoking the radiant sunrises of Fès to the intricate patterns paying homage to traditional Zellige mosaics, every detail is a tribute to our roots.”

According to the two producers, sustainability is at the very core of the company’s operations.

“Our farming philosophy is rooted in regenerative and biodiverse agriculture; we protect the soil by using crushed pruning debris as natural fertilizer and biomass,” Dakir Berrada and Tazi said.

“We also use organic practices to respect natural ecosystems and avoid polluting substances. This ensures environmentally responsible production and long-term sustainability,” they added.

A crucial aspect of this approach is water management. “Water is one of our top concerns. We use advanced technology to monitor soil moisture, tree transpiration and evaporation,” Dakir Berrada and Tazi said.

Devices, such as tensiometers, dendrometers and a dedicated weather station, help the company monitor orchard conditions.

“We rely on localized, precision drip systems that deliver exactly what each tree needs—no more, no less. We even irrigate at night to reduce evaporation,” Dakir Berrada and Tazi said.

The company’s state-of-the-art milling facility also uses a minimal amount of water. “The residual water from olive washing is settled and filtered before being safely returned to the environment or the groundwater,” they added.

Dry weather has affected Morocco in recent years, with significant consequences for agriculture. Noor Fès is also facing the challenges brought by persistent drought.

“We experienced a reduced harvest due to adverse weather conditions last season,” Dakir Berrada and Tazi said.

“The lack of rain in Morocco was a disaster. Climate change is now a global issue, and it is increasingly affecting olive production,” they added.

According to the company, the outlook for the coming olive season is promising. “As always, the main challenge remains water availability,” Dakir Berrada and Tazi said. “Climate change is reshaping our environment, but it also pushes us to do better.” 

They added that their olive oil, produced using “regenerative and biodiverse systems,” is part of their vision for a sustainable future for Moroccan olive oil production. 

To that end, the company offers olive oil tastings and allows visitors to explore the modern olive oil production process.

“We are doing a lot of consumer education: how to choose a good olive oil, how it should be pressed, how it should be stored, how it should be bottled, and more,” Berrada and Tazi concluded.

“We have been olive growers and producers for centuries,” he told Olive Oil Times. “Our archive documents report oil supplies to Pope Leo XII, even before his election in 1823, from one of our estates that belonged to the branch of the Misciattelli. Also, the Bernardini have been landowners and farmers since at least 1600, and managed a mill and a winery.”

Today, the ancient family building, in the village’s historic center, houses the company’s headquarters and store. It is also the residence of Misciattelli Bernardini and his life and work partner, Elena Gorelli, who also comes from a family of farmers in Tuscany.

Their home on the upper floors and the farm shop on the ground floor of the mansion define an all-Italian style of warm hospitality.

“All those who arrive in Allerona are welcome here. We will offer them a glass of wine and a bruschetta drizzled with our extra virgin olive oil, for free,” Misciattelli Bernardini said.

“Within the walls of the old town, we are a few dozen permanent residents, and tourists are present from Easter to early September. We opened this small store here, which, from an economic perspective, doesn’t make much sense. But we just love this way of working and living,” he added.

Customers and visitors are invited to enjoy the charming garden of the residence, which features a summer lounge adorned with frescoes from the late 1800s.

“Elena and I greet not only our customers but all the travelers who visit Allerona, which is in the circuit of Italy’s most beautiful villages, and invite them to sit at our table,” Misciattelli Bernardini said. “We welcome them to our home. Sometimes we spend even hours together talking, during which there is always an enriching human exchange.” 

“We are always glad to give them tips to have a pleasant stay, and through the tasting of our products, we introduce ourselves, our company and the territory to them,” he added.

Hospitality is a passion for the couple, who manage two agritouristic structures, including one in the countryside of Montepulciano, Gorelli’s hometown. 

Their farmhouse accommodation in Allerona comprises four apartments surrounded by an olive grove, which is part of a 120-hectare estate that also cultivates vines and cereals.

The orchard is made up of 1,000 Leccino, Moraiolo and Frantoio trees. About 300 olive trees were recovered by the company last year, which aims to increase production while preserving the landscape.

“Many olive groves have been abandoned in the last decades, as it happens often in these marginal hilly areas,” Misciattelli Bernardini said. “Initially, we wanted to plant new trees, but then we realized that there was no point in creating new orchards when we already had wonderful trees that just needed to be rejuvenated. So, we started recovering them, also with the intent to restore the land contours.”

“However, we don’t want to enlarge the production capacities much,” he added. “A bigger company should be managed differently. This is an approach to business that many see as starry-eyed, but working according to our entrepreneurial vision continues to bring us great satisfaction.”

Misciattelli Bernardini worked alongside his father until the late 1980s and then took over the reins of the company, which had previously sold oil in bulk. In 2000, he and Gorelli decided to reorganize the business and created two extra virgin olive oil brands.

“Some years ago, I became friends with a neighbor, who, after retiring from another job in Milan, moved here, where his father had worked as an agronomist and had connections with my family,” Misciattelli Bernardini said.

“We often exchanged advice, as he also started making olive oil,” he added. “This collaboration gave me a new boost, since I saw how much he loved this place as well, despite coming from somewhere else. Together, we decided to apply to get the Protected Designation of Origin for our products, with the intent to highlight the territory.”

Ripalta was then certified as Umbria Colli Orvietani PDO, and a few years later, at its first participation in the 2025 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, this outstanding blend of native varieties received a Gold Award.

“We pick the first olives for this extra virgin olive oil around mid-October, then we collect those for Aristide, named in honor of my great-grandfather Aristide Bernardini,” Misciattelli Bernardini said. “They are both blends, with different characteristics, which allows us to satisfy different tastes.” 

“We do not have a company mill and we don’t intend to have one, because there are excellent millers whom we can rely on,” he added. “We are now collaborating with the milling facility managed by Paolo Brizi in Orvieto, which boasts the latest generation Alfa Laval equipment.”

During the year, the company implements eco-friendly farming practices on the estate, aiming to improve soil health and promote local biodiversity.

“We manage our orchards sustainably, also considering that we are the first consumers of our products, but primarily to preserve this precious environment,” Misciattelli Bernardini said. “Our company started several years ago to use the no-tillage technique, a now increasingly widespread regenerative farming practice to favor the growth of spontaneous plants under the olive trees and limit soil erosion.”

“Let me say that everything we do is not only for our company, but above all for this land,” he said. “I live and work here because I deeply love this village, which is where I have my roots. This is my heart’s place, and I am committed to respecting it.”

To preserve the traditional olive landscape, the company has maintained the extensive planting patterns of the orchards, which feature a spacing of six meters by six meters or even greater.

“The olive trees in this area were almost all wiped out by the great frost of 1956, then from the still living ancient stumps the new trunks were reborn, which is why they appear as relatively young,” Misciattelli Bernardini said.

“I do believe that we farmers should act as custodians of the territory,” he added. “And I am convinced that places like these, where the beauty of the territory goes hand in hand with the healthiness of the environment thanks to sustainable farming, can be an example for an agriculture that looks at the future of the new generations.” 

“Moreover, we have so much history behind us, and all of these elements contribute to the quality of our productions,” Misciattelli Bernardini concluded. “Within a bottle of our extra virgin olive oil, you will find its rich history, its wonderful territory and its healthy environment. It’s precisely here that I, as a quality producer, can make a difference.”

Previous research has shown such treatments to be beneficial against certain pest insects, but none have examined their effects on oil yield or quality.

The study, published in the journal Horticulturae, reports the results of field experiments conducted in Lakonia, Greece, during the 2021 cultivation season. 

Koroneiki, the most common olive cultivar used for oil production in Greece, was chosen, and trees under both rain-fed and irrigated conditions were studied. 

Before the trial, preliminary experiments were conducted in Crete and Sterea Ellada prefectures using the Megaritiki cultivar, in addition to Koroneiki.

The trees studied were selected based on uniform growth and similar expected yields, and were free from visible symptoms of nutrient deficiencies, pest infestations, or disease infections. 

All trees were 30 years old, open-vase trained, and planted in a 7‑meter by 7‑meter grid, managed following standard local practices (fertilization, pruning, pesticide application, etc.), which were applied uniformly to all trees.

During the trial period, the maximum temperatures in July, August, and September were 40 °C, 43 °C, and 36 °C, respectively. 

In recent years, several Mediterranean countries have experienced drastic reductions in their olive oil production, with yields as low as 50 percent of the standard. 

Despite olive trees’ natural resilience, extreme heat, high solar irradiation and prolonged drought, especially during flowering and fruit development, can have a significant impact on tree health and productivity.

Trees from both groups were sprayed with mineral clays using particle film technology in either July or August. 

The clays utilized were kaolin, talc and attapulgite. Kaolin clay has previously been trialed in the protection of pomegranate fruit from extreme heat and solar irradiation in southern Spain with some success.

Under irrigated conditions, the application of talc increased oil production per tree by approximately 22 percent, kaolin by 17 percent and attapulgite by five percent compared to untreated trees. 

In rain-fed conditions, where trees face greater environmental stresses, talc applied in July resulted in the highest increase in oil yield, at 80 percent. Attapulgite, applied in August, increased oil production by 57 percent, while kaolin, applied in July, increased it by more than 50 percent. These gains were attributed to the clays’ reflective and water-conserving properties, which help maintain leaf hydration and reduce canopy temperature.

In addition to yield, oil quality was analyzed. Ultraviolet absorbance indices, such as K232 and K270, which reflect primary and secondary oxidation, improved with all three clay treatments, particularly talc and kaolin. 

Talc and kaolin also increased phenolic content under both irrigation conditions, though the effects were negligible under irrigated conditions, with the sole exception of tyrosol. Tyrosol concentration was significantly affected, being higher in oils from trees treated with talc in July.

This aligns with previous research highlighting the role of heat and water stress in stimulating the synthesis of antioxidant compounds in olive trees. Under rain-fed conditions, the concentrations of nearly all detected phenolic compounds (oleocanthal, oleacein, tyrosol, luteolin and apigenin) were significantly influenced by the treatments.

Analysis of fatty acid composition revealed that oils from treated trees had a higher proportion of oleic acid and monounsaturated fatty acids, particularly under rain-fed conditions. 

The authors note that lower canopy temperatures may preserve enzymatic activities involved in oil biosynthesis, mitigating the conversion of oleic to linoleic acid under heat stress. This has previously been hypothesized to account for differences in oil composition between warm and cool climates.

Climatic stresses affect every stage of olive development, from bud differentiation and flowering to fruit growth and ripening. 

Reduced chilling hours can disrupt floral bud development, while extreme summer heat may lower oil content and alter fatty acid profiles. 

The authors note that by increasing the trees’ resilience to harsh summer conditions, the following year’s production is also positively affected due to improved floral induction, fruit development and new shoot growth.

While concluding that clay particle application is an effective tool, the authors caution that multiple factors influence the degree of improvement achieved. 

These factors include, among others, the timing of application, soil conditions and management practices, such as irrigation. 

They believe that further research is needed to tailor the technique to the local conditions and cultivars of target regions, and to integrate such treatments with other measures that could enhance resilience.

“I believe the next steps should be the combined application of mineral clays with other alleviating products with different mode[s] of action,” lead author Petros Roussos told the Olive Oil Times. 

“Furthermore, further research is needed to find the exact time and which mineral clay fits better under certain conditions in each cultivar, since we saw that different cultivars respond differently to these clay materials while irrigated groves [also respond differently] to rainfed ones,” he added.

Roussos also believes that while independent research is vital, governments can do more to address climate threats to the olive industry. 

“There are many ways to help the industry adapt to climate change,” he said. “First of all, education and information [about] what the industry can do – easy, cheap, affordable and effective methods – to adopt them.”

“Then take measures on specific aims,” Roussos concluded. “This means funding specific areas of research, such as the evaluation of indigenous olive cultivars under climate change scenarios, adapting cultural methods to alleviate stress impacts, etc.”

• Encyclopedia

“We will increase production, open new markets and guarantee the profitability of farmers, the industry and distribution,” he told Expoliva last month.

However, Juan Vilar, the chief executive of agricultural and olive oil consultancy Vilcon, believes this is an optimistic forecast.

He told Olive Oil Times that Spain, which produced 42 percent of the world’s olive oil in the 2024/25 crop year, can currently produce 2.5 million metric tons of olive oil annually. 

To date, Spain’s record-high production total was 1.79 million tons in the 2018/19 crop year, and the world’s largest olive oil producer averaged an annual yield of 1.4 million tons in the five years from 2017/18 to 2021/22.

While Spain could produce more than three million tons of olive oil “without a problem” in ten to 15 years, there are doubts that even with increased production in Portugal and Tunisia, global capacity would reach four million tons by 2040. 

Vilar previously estimated that global olive oil production could reach 4.4 million tons by 2050 and does not doubt that Spanish production could reach four million tons at some point, but this would require increasing efficiency in mills and a shift to more irrigated super-high-density olive groves.

“To reach that level of efficiency, every mill needs a higher level of optimization,” he said.

Indeed, Vilar recently coordinated a study of the Iberian Peninsula’s 2,219 olive mills, including 1,047 registered as social enterprises and 1,172 industrial mills. 

The team of researchers calculated the minimum amount of olives that a mill needs to transform into olive oil to be profitable. In general, every kilogram of olives milled lowers the cost of milling for the campaign, which has seen fixed costs rise steadily.

The researchers found that in years with poor harvests, exemplified by the 2022/23 crop year, 363 mills in Spain and 137 mills in Portugal would be unable to mill enough olives to cover operating costs and be at risk of closing down.

“What will happen? All the small oil mills that don’t have the efficiency will gradually be incorporated or integrated into other larger mills, and ultimately, the number of oil mills will decrease, but their capacity and efficiency will increase,” Vilar said.

“This is leading to a concentration in the countryside,” he added. “Farms are getting larger or are working cooperatively with small farmers. Packers are getting bigger. Distribution is getting bigger, meaning food and other distribution companies are getting bigger.”

Vilar pointed out that the trend is already beginning to unfold, with eight mills in Portugal responsible for milling 46 percent of the country’s olives and the largest mills in Spain transforming 45 times more olives each harvest than the average mill.

He said that small and medium mills must increasingly specialize to stand out by emphasizing quality, diversifying their product portfolio, telling a distinctive story about themselves and focusing on native olive varieties that are not compatible with super-high-density cultivation.

“They must also continue to optimize by-products in an appropriate way and integrate new activities such as oleotourism,” Vilar said.

In the meantime, Planas told Expoliva that a government priority is to guarantee fair prices for farmers and olive growers, who he described as the “weakest link in the chain and must be fairly compensated for their efforts.” 

Planas stated that the role of mills and cooperatives in achieving this goal was fundamental, emphasizing that quality was the key to increasing margins across the entire value chain.

“Our greatest asset is quality; we must continue to focus on it as our hallmark,” Planas said. 

He also emphasized that exporters could not be complacent and continue to promote Spanish olive oil in the more than 150 countries to which it is exported.

“We must defend our position in strategic markets like the United States and open new ones like Mercosur, Japan, Korea, Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union,” he said. “The potential is enormous, and we must intensify our promotion.”

• Interempresas
• La Moncloa

“Our company was born out of our love, appreciation and respect for the exceptional treasures of the Greek land,” the two founders and owners told Olive Oil Times.

The philosophy of Hellenic Fields in olive oil production is reflected in its brand, Ena Ena, which translates to “one by one,” highlighting the thoroughness with which all production operations are completed.

“We are farmers and producers of our extra virgin olive oil, organic herbs and honey,” Philippidis and Moforis said.

“We are personally engaged in every production stage, from cultivation to packaging, as active workers and watchful overseers,” they added. “This allows us to ensure the superior quality of our products and the preservation of the pristine land we own and cultivate.”

Hellenic Fields has been in business for just over a decade. Nevertheless, the meticulous production of top-tier extra virgin olive oil has brought the company to the world stage, winning a Gold Award at the 2020 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition and in every subsequent edition of the NYIOOC.

“The NYIOOC awards we have won over the years validate the high quality of our olive oil and further solidify our corporate identity,” Philippidis and Moforis said, hailing six straight years of success in New York.

Hellenic Fields has relied on its topline olive oil, the Ena Ena Superior Organic Olympia, to claim the coveted awards.

Ena Ena, which also carries a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) certification to denote its place of origin, is crafted from early-harvested Koroneiki olives grown in the village of Ancient Skyllountia, close to Olympia in the western Peloponnese.

The company describes Ena Ena olive oil as having a vivid green color, with unique fruity and freshly cut grass aromas, and a pleasantly bitter taste with a long-lasting aftertaste.

“It also holds a high ranking in polyphenols, those miraculous natural antioxidants found in high-quality olive oils,” Philippidis and Moforis noted.

Friends since childhood, Philippidis and Moforis decided to professionally involve themselves in the production of extra virgin olive oil, tapping into the potential of their native lands.

“We found that the unique terroir of our homelands, Ancient Olympia in western Peloponnese and Mani in the southern Laconia region, can foster the production of high-quality olive oil,” they said.

The two farmers also stayed loyal to their one-by-one philosophy from the outset, vertically integrating all production stages. 

From harvesting olives in their olive groves to processing them at their privately owned mill and bottling the fresh olive oil at their bottling facility, they carefully assemble all the pieces of the production process, putting their stamp on each one.

The olive oils of Hellenic Fields are produced from Koroneiki olive trees, which are aged between five and 200 years, grown on the Peloponnese Peninsula. The company’s groves are kept organic and traditional, also preserving the local ecosystem.

“We know and nurture our plants ena-ena (one by one), monitor their flowering and witness their fruition throughout the year,” the owners said.

“Our groves thrive in harmony with the local ecosystem,” they added. “Oregano, thyme and other native herbs grow naturally among our olive trees, enriching the land and enhancing the aromatic complexity of our olive oils.”

They also apply sustainable and strictly organic farming methods, entirely free of chemicals and pesticides. Part of their organic cultivation involves reusing branches and leaves that remain from the harvest and from pruning the trees.

“We make compost of the olive leaves, used as an organic fertilizer to give our trees the necessary nutrients,” Philippidis and Moforis said. “As such, we safeguard the vitality of our groves, maintaining and protecting the characteristics of the microclimate and agricultural landscape without using chemical pesticides or fertilizers.”

Pruning is another essential part of the care given to the trees of Hellenic Fields.

“Pruning prolongs the productive period of the olive trees, facilitates harvesting and saves soil water,” Philippidis and Moforis said. “By improving the air circulation among the branches and exposing them to more sunlight, we enhance growth healthily and productively and, at the same time, control infestations from pests in a natural way and protect our olive trees from diseases.”

All the care the owners of Hellenic Fields offer to their olive trees throughout the year culminates when the harvest begins in late October each year.

Depending on the olive grove and the fruiting of the trees, a quantity of 1.5 to three tons of olives can be harvested each day from the company’s groves.

In the 2024/25 crop year, however, the prolonged drought that southern Greece experienced in the autumn required the two producers to draw on all their expertise and knowledge in olive cultivation.

“This year, we saw the impact of climate change on our non-irrigated olive trees,” Philippidis and Moforis said. “The thermal stress the trees suffered reached a point where they were even absorbing the moisture from the olive fruits to survive.” 

“In addition, harvesting at high temperatures presented challenges in bringing out the complex and distinct aromas that our unique terroir gives to the Koroneiki variety,” they added.

High temperatures during harvest can have a detrimental impact on the quality of olives and the resulting olive oil.

At Hellenic Fields, if atmospheric temperature rises excessively on a harvest day, the olives are cooled, making them more suitable for the milling process that takes place later on the same day.

Immediately storing the freshly produced olive oil after milling is a key final stage of the production process at Hellenic Fields.

“To preserve its character, our olive oil is stored in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks with added nitrogen, protecting it from oxidative damage and locking in its natural freshness and aroma until bottling,” the owners said.

The stored olive oil is then filtered and bottled to order in numbered bottles, ensuring easy traceability.

Hellenic Fields exports its extra virgin olive oil, with a focus on Asian countries, Australia, Scandinavia and the United States. 

In Greece, the company specializes in supplying its oil to high-end gastronomic establishments, such as select restaurants and hotels, as well as to retailers of premium agricultural products.

Hellenic Fields is deeply rooted in Greece’s rich agricultural heritage. The NYIOOC awards the company has won over the years attest to their expertise in crafting high-end olive oil and signal the product’s quality to consumers.

“At the heart of our vision at Hellenic Fields lies Ena Ena,” Philippidis and Moforis said. “Each bottle is a story of place, people and purpose, meticulously harvested and crafted to preserve its nutritional and organoleptic richness.”

“The New York accolades are a clear indication of the quality of our olive oil and the labor we put into olive cultivation,” the Hellenic Fields owners concluded.

The Italian producers and millers received the highest number of awards for the tenth year in a row, making their entry in the Official Guide to the World’s Best Olive Oils with a record 163 Gold Awards and 37 Silver Awards. 

They also have submitted the highest number of entries, 258, just two short of the record 260 entries set in 2021.

Such significant figures crown a successful decade, during which farmers across the country have consistently proven their quality and demonstrated an ever-growing expertise in crafting outstanding blends and monovarietals. 

Overcoming pressing issues, such as the effects of climate change and increased production costs, they have remained true to the value of sustainability, implementing organic and regenerative practices that are now widely adopted among top-tier producers.

The 2025 NYIOOC saw a massive participation of producers from central and southern regions of the country, including Tuscany, Puglia, Sicily, Umbria, Campania and Lazio. 

Entries also came from Liguria, Marche and Abruzzo, as well as the island of Sardinia, and the northern regions of Emilia-Romagna, Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige.

“We had a great harvest, thanks to a good distribution of rainfall throughout the year, not excessively long dry periods and that, in any case, prevented olive fruit fly outbreaks,” said  Daniel Ronca of Frantoio Il Mandorlo.

“The flowering was very good both in terms of ‘mignolatura’ (bud growth) and pollination, so let’s say it was an ideal year,” he added.

His family’s company received a Gold Award for Il Mandorlo Bio, an organic blend primarily composed of Frantoio and Moraiolo, with smaller percentages of Leccino and Pendolino.

Scattered over six hectares of organic land, their 2,000 olive trees thrive on the Florentine hills, north of the Tuscan capital, where the company mill was established in 1974. Today, the facility boasts the latest generation technology.

“We also work for third parties, and some of our clients participated and won awards at the NYIOOC,” said Ronca, who has been in charge of the milling operations since 2019. 

“This adds to the satisfaction of obtaining our Gold. We decided to participate in the World Competition because it offers prestige and recognition, as well as through tools like the Olive Oil Times World Ranking,” he added. “Since we have customers in the U.S. and worldwide, our participation was aimed precisely at giving them further proof of the quality of our oil.”

In the adjacent town of Pontassieve, the hamlet of Sieci is home to the organic producer La Gramigna, which received a Gold Award for its Olio Grullo, a Maurino monovarietal.

This and other native varieties, such as Leccino, Frantoio, Moraiolo and Pendolino, for a total of 6,000 olive trees, many of which are centuries old, are cultivated on the hills east of Florence by Renata Conti and her family.

“This oil is the result of a great harvest, probably the best of the last years, both in terms of quantity and quality, but also of the great care that we put in producing our extra virgin olive oils in our small, state-of-the-art mill,” she emphasized. “The NYIOOC is an important showcase on the international market, and this award pays off our commitment to quality.”

“We have chosen this name for our oil because we like to joke a bit,” Conti pointed out, referring to grullo, a regional word often used affectionately to describe a loopy person. “The label, which my son designed, includes a ‘funny story’ that changes every year.”

Deep corporate values counterbalance light-heartedness in packaging. The company is firmly committed to protecting the environment, maintaining soil health and preserving the landscape.

“Our orchards are sustainably managed, and renewable energy sources power our facilities,” Conti said. “Furthermore, we are engaged in safeguarding the beauty of this landscape, both carrying out recovery interventions of abandoned olive orchards and planting new trees, also aiming at restoring the hydrogeological cycle.”

In northern Lazio’s Tuscia, an excellent harvest earned Pietro Re top honors for Tamia Gold Organic, at its tenth accolade, and Tamia Caninese Organic, at its seventh Gold Award.

“I am glad to say that this is our tenth successful World Competition and we rank seventh among the Italian companies in the World Ranking,” Re said.

At the Sergio Delle Monache farm in Vetralla, he enhances native varieties, including Caninese, used to create the namesake award-winning monovarietal, along with Maurino, Frantoio, Bolzone and Leccino, some of which are accurately blended to create the flagship blend, Gold Organic.

Favorable weather during the warm months secured an excellent fruit development. The olives were then crushed in a latest-generation mill in the area.

“The World Competition is a global reference point and gives us producers visibility, also thanks to [its] effective communication system,” Re noted. “Indeed, we became known to our importers thanks to the Best in Class that we won at our first participation in 2014, and from that moment on, we have participated every year.”

Producers in the south had to face more challenging weather conditions, primarily due to drought, which in some cases led to lower production volumes; nonetheless, quality remained high.

Among the Apulian extra virgin olive oils recognized in the Official Guide to the World’s Best Olive Oils, three monovarietals were produced by I Pavoni in Cerignola: Pavoni Masseria Fortificata Coratina, at its seventh Gold Award in a row; Pavoni Masseria Fortificata Peranzana, at its second Gold Award; and Pavoni Masseria Fortificata Leccino, which received a Silver Award (its sixth accolade).

“We had a medium to low production in terms of quantity, but the quality was still excellent,” owner Giovanni Simeone said. “Last summer was dry, but we could irrigate the orchards and overcome this issue. Drought is certainly one of the most urgent challenges at the moment. Therefore, we recently invested in building a new well and improving our irrigation system.”

An ancient masseria lies at the heart of the estate, which encompasses 30 hectares of organic olive groves featuring 9,000 trees of various varieties, including the native Coratina, Peranzana, and Bella di Cerignola, as well as Ascolana, Nocellara and Leccino.

“After converting to organic farming, at our first participation at the NYIOOC years ago, we obtained a Gold Award. It was thanks to this competition that we found our current importer and entered the international market,” Simeone revealed, adding that today they export almost 60 percent of their production to the United States.

In Sicily, the Mandranova farm is situated a few kilometers from the southern coast of the island, in Palma di Montechiaro, in the province of Agrigento.

“This year, we participated in the World Competition with Selezione, a new blend that we have created in the mill with our Nocellara, Biancolilla, Cerasuola and Giarraffa,” co-founder Silvia di Vincenzo specified after receiving a Gold Award for this extra virgin olive oil made up of autochthonous varieties.

Promoting biodiversity and protecting the environment are core values of the family company. The Mandranova estate spans approximately 180 hectares and encompasses nearly 40 hectares of olive groves, many of which are centuries old. Younger trees have been recently added to increase production.

“We can better manage the quality of our products thanks to an irrigation system and careful monitoring of the orchards,” Di Vincenzo said. “Very high temperatures and drought are ever more frequent, making the farming operations more challenging. Nevertheless, we are structured to cope with all the variables at play. We check on the olives daily, and we carry out an early harvest. The fruit is crushed in our state-of-the-art mill, which allows us to set every detail of the production process.”

The Sicilian farmer explained how sustainable farming practices have become not only necessary to preserve the environment, but also beneficial in improving soil health.

“We let the spontaneous herbs grow, and the no-tillage technique helps us keep the soil moisture high,” she said. “We mow the crop a couple of times a year, which acts as a natural fertilization.”

Farmers from the northern regions had to contend with various weather challenges, but thanks to careful production management, the results were still outstanding.

San Massimo, located in the south of Valpolicella, near Lake Garda, is where Azienda Agricola Ca’ Crespana produces Paneolio Amethyst and Paneolio Peridot, as well as Leccino and Grignano monovarietals, both of which have received a Gold Award.

“We are really happy about these awards,” said Johannes Pan, the co-owner of the family company. “They are an important confirmation of the work we do every day with passion.” 

“We always face the challenges of agriculture with enthusiasm, to constantly improve,” he added. “The bar is always raised higher, and this motivates us. These awards also serve as a significant showcase in the international market. Even if our main focus remains the regional market, we are happy to make our products known beyond the borders.”

The nearby lake creates a Mediterranean microclimate ideal for the olive trees, which enjoy the wide temperature range between day and night typical of these northern latitudes. Very calcareous and well-drained soils, shaped by glaciers millions of years ago, offer optimal conditions for olive farming.

“Last crop year was quite challenging – we had more rain than in recent years,” Pan said. “In agriculture, everything can change radically from one year to the next, and you always start from scratch.” 

“Thanks to targeted agronomic measures carried out by my brother and a very disciplined harvest, we still managed to obtain excellent quality,” he concluded. “This shows how important experience, flexibility and teamwork are.”

“The story began when I was at NYU [New York University] finishing my Bachelor’s degree in pure mathematics in Japanese in 2019,” said Arsen Khachaturyants, the founder of Arsenio.

At that time, Khachaturyants, whose family lives in Florence, the capital of Tuscany, saw an opportunity to begin producing wine.

“We started planting vineyards, which take about three to five years before the first harvest,” he said. “While waiting for the vineyards, I saw that we had all these beautiful old olives and decided to produce olive oil.”

Khachaturyants was already familiar with the product, having worked in Michelin-starred restaurants in France, and was eager to experiment with the local varieties.

He began harvesting the centuries-old trees that remained in good condition, taking the olives to a local mill equipped with state-of-the-art Mori-Tem equipment to transform them with minimal oxygen exposure. 

Khachaturyants also replaced some trees damaged by the 1985 frost, adding new Tusan olive varieties.

“We specialize only in Tuscan varieties: Frantoio, Leccino, Leccio del Corno and Moraiolo,” he said. “I especially like Leccio del Corno, which is not a very famous Tuscan variety, but I decided to plant it because I think it has a very nice balance as a monovarietal and in the blends.”

Khachaturyants harvests and mills each organically cultivated variety separately at its peak of ripeness, then meticulously tastes each batch to craft the Ora brand.

His goal is to balance bitterness and spiciness that is still widely appealing to the public, who may be accustomed to milder olive oils.

“We must be balanced,” Khachaturyants confirmed. “We must not overpower with spiciness. Although we still make it spicier than the average olive oil, balancing with the sweetness of Leccino.”

On social media, Khachaturyants posts videos to educate people that the bitterness and spiciness of extra virgin olive oil indicate it is rich in polyphenols, adding that the North American market, especially in California, is quite receptive to the message.

Khachaturyants’s mission to produce high-quality and flavorful extra virgin olive oil has been internationally recognized, with the Ora brand receiving consecutive Gold Awards in the 2024 and 2025 editions of the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

“Entering quality competitions is a nice way to understand that you are moving with the markets in the same direction and that others appreciate your taste profile,” he said. “These competitions also show your customers that you are legitimate as a producer.”

“With the blend, we see olive oil with the same philosophy as wine production,” Khachaturyants added. “We don’t try to make the same blend every year. Olive oil is a living product, so it should not be the same every year.”

For example, the 2024/25 crop year was marked by an extremely hot summer in Tuscany, which Khachaturyants said resulted in a smooth and less spicy blend.

Looking ahead to the 2025/26 crop year, he said the situation in the groves appears promising after a warm start to spring gave way to cooler weather, although excessive rain could alter that. 

“ Since we’re at the top of the hill, the microclimate is very particular, and the terroir is also distinct,” he said. ”The flowers are blooming, and the germination is just beginning.  Right now we have a lot of rain, maybe too much, but I’m sure we still have a lot of surprises to come.”

Khachaturyants is sanguine about the situation. He said the rain has not been very heavy so far, which has not interfered significantly with pollination. 

As part of his efforts to educate his customers about olive oil, he provides frequent social media updates from the olive grove. 

“ We try to give these updates to our consumers and followers, so they understand what’s happening,” he said. “We try to be fully transparent about what’s happening in our olive grove.”

Khachaturyants believes this openness with consumers helps them understand why extra virgin olive oil costs significantly more than other edible oils.

Through the videos and posts, they can see the labor-intensive nature of the manual harvest, which Khachaturyants cannot mechanize due to the steep terrain.

His production costs are further elevated by harvesting earlier, which frequently achieves a six to ten percent oil yield, and by his decision to maintain full-time employees to complete the harvest instead of hiring seasonal workers. 

While it increases his annual costs, Khachaturyants said he never has to worry about having enough people to harvest, a problem cited as a top concern by 34 percent of producers in the 2024 Olive Oil Times Harvest Survey.

“I don’t believe in hiring seasonal workers,” he confirmed. “You need to train them to identify trees ready to harvest and select healthy olives while discarding unhealthy ones.”

Instead, Khachaturyants said that climate change and its links to an increase in extreme weather events are the main challenges facing olive oil producers in Tuscany, citing extreme heat at unusual times of the year and heavy rainfall during others as examples.

Based on some of his university coursework, including a mathematics and climate change class, Khachaturyants believes a tipping point has been reached; current and future generations must adapt.

“If you stop all the production of oil and gas, stop deforestation and plant millions of hectares of forest, there’s not much chance of changing what’s happening,” he said. “For sure, we need to be ready for the impacts of climate change to escalate.”

Leaning once again on his background in mathematics, Khachaturyants said artificial intelligence could provide a solution for olive oil producers, augmenting the natural resilience of the olive tree.

For example, he said AI analysis of data collected from special sensors or image detection could quickly identify olive peacock spot disease on olive leaves and the telltale signs of olive fruit fly damage.

Khachaturyants has installed several meteorological stations in the olive groves and vineyards to analyze soil, wind, and rain patterns, as well as temperatures and humidity.  

“ AI can help us react faster,” Khachaturyants added, citing its potential to breed more heat and drought-resistant olive tree varieties.

“At some point, we can start thinking about clonal selection like the wine industry,” Khachaturyants said. “They try to use the same variety, but a clonal variation that might be better adapted to climate change.”

Each year, Khachaturyants produces between 8,000 and 10,000 bottles of Ora, which he mainly sells via e‑commerce. He is beginning to export to China, Japan and the United States and plans to expand to the United Kingdom in 2026.

“China is an interesting market, it’s a growing market, and you feel that they have this interest in olive oil,” he said. “It’s not as strong yet as the Japanese market. The Japanese love Italian food and culture, but China is growing quickly.”

“This year we are also going to enter the American market on Amazon,” despite the ten percent tariff imposed by the United States on nearly all imports, he said. 

Khachaturyants anticipates that the cost of paying the tariff will be somewhat offset by using Amazon’s transport network compared to his usual e‑commerce platform. However, he said raising prices is a possibility.

“We  don’t have large margins,” he said. “We try to give to our customers the best possible product with the most realistic price we can provide them.”

A Coroncina monovarietal extra virgin olive oil milled from 65 ancient olive trees spanning a single hectare earned a Gold Award in its World Competition debut.

“It was our first time,” said Giancarlo Biagioli, an expert taster and owner of Biagioli Farm. “While we already knew that our extra virgin olive oil was good, the Gold Award in New York confirmed that we are doing what it takes to bring Coroncina to the world stage.”

“It’s a very rare cultivar, one of the most unknown even in Italy, and yet it has a strength of its own,” he added. “Our oil convinced the judges also because of these features: a clear aroma, with notes of artichoke and fresh grass, and that uniqueness you can’t find elsewhere.”

After years of training and practice as a professional taster, Biagioli enrolled in the early 2000s in the national register of olive oil tasting experts maintained by the Ministry of Agriculture.

“I wanted to understand this cultivar truly. For years, it was harvested too late, at the expense of its aromatic intensity,” Biagioli said. “So I decided to anticipate the harvest to mid-October, right at the beginning of veraison, to respect its soul.” 

Nestled in the heart of the Marche region at almost 500 meters above sea level, Biagioli Farm’s new olive grove sits between Caldarola and Serrapetrona.

“Here, the Coroncina tree reigns supreme,” Biagioli said. “It grows on calcareous soil, full of gravel and stones, which makes any agricultural operation difficult. But it is precisely in that harsh terroir that the plant finds its fullest expression.”

The fascinating history of the Coroncina cultivar complements its award-winning flavors.

“I found a municipal ordinance from 1453 that required those who owned small plots of land to plant two-thirds with Coroncina olive trees and one-third with fig trees,” Biagioli recalled. “And they did that for a reason. They believed the figs would attract the olive fruit fly to protect the olives.”

“They show that even in ancient times, people here were already looking for quality olives,” Biagioli said.

Coroncina farmers count on the thick skin of the drupes, which makes it far more difficult for the olive fruit fly to colonize an orchard.

According to Biagioli, the balance between nature and tradition, modern technique and historical memory, defines the quality of his award-winning olive oil.

“I don’t use any chemical treatments. Not even those allowed in organic farming. I had the soil analyzed before starting to ensure no pesticide residues. It’s land that has never seen anything foreign to its natural cycle,” he explained.

The orchard itself required a long wait and a bit of luck. “It took me 15 years to find the right plot. Those who own these olive trees hold on to them tightly. It’s like waiting for a front-row spot at the beach resort. When the owner finally decided to sell, she told me: ‘I’m not giving away my father’s olive grove to just anyone.’”

This is why Biagioli hopes to expand the production area in the coming years, though he is not entirely optimistic about it.

“I’d love to acquire another olive grove, but you have to win the owners’ trust,” he said. “It’s not a matter of money. There’s an almost religious attachment to these trees. They’re not sold to just anyone. I was lucky.”

According to Biagioli, the origins of Coroncina date back many centuries.

“I found references connecting this area to the Basilica of San Clemente a Casauria, in Abruzzo,” Biagioli said. “Around the year 1000, Cistercian monks are believed to have brought some cultivars here to produce oil for sacraments and lighting.” 

“Coroncina may be a derivation of Toccolana, an Abruzzese variety with which it shares genetic and sensory traits,” he added. “It’s only a hypothesis, but a fascinating one.”

Once the grove became available, Biagioli decided to introduce a long series of improvements to enhance the rare cultivar’s natural qualities.

“I chose the mill: a new one, equipped with the latest-generation Mori-Tem system, working in the absence of oxygen,” he recalled.

The farm organized the harvest so that all the olives would be collected and transported to the mill within three to four hours.

“I filtered the oil after about 20 days, storing it in stainless steel tanks under nitrogen,” Biagioli said. “Then I bottled everything in small 250 milliliters bottles, ideal for the restaurant industry, so the oil always stays fresh.” 

The Coroncina monovarietal is now winning new supporters locally due to the growing interest of several chefs. Having been featured on the world stage, olive oil is also attracting international customers.

“I shipped a few bottles to Norway. I was impressed by the attention Northern Europeans give to olive oil’s quality and health aspects. There, it’s seen not just as an ingredient but as a health ally,” Biagioli noted.

Coroncina seems to lose its soul outside this tiny region, Biagioli believes.

“Taken from here and grown elsewhere, its oil becomes something else. Terroir is everything. Moving it means canceling what makes it unique,” he said.

According to Biagioli, producing olive oil means telling a story.

“There’s still so much to uncover in the quest for excellence. Extra virgin olive oil can bring out something deep, even primordial. I feel ancient echoes when I taste my oil,” he concluded.

According to partial data from the Olive Growers Cooperative, the small Mediterranean archipelago nation, home to about half a million people, produced 37 metric tons of olive oil from 227 tons of olives in the 2024/25 crop year. 

The current harvest came after the bumper crop in 2023/24, which yielded 121 tons of olive oil, and is 48 percent below the average of the previous four harvests.

Growers attributed the reduced olive harvest to strong winds, an unseasonal April heatwave and insufficient rainfall. 

Jimmy Magro, president of the Olive Growers Cooperative, described the past season as “terrible.” The wind destroyed blossoms, and the warm weather prevented trees from hibernating, reducing productivity. 

“2024 was not only a very hot and very dry year; at the end of April, we also faced a series of spring storms that wiped out many of the blossoms,” Kurt Mifsud, the chief executive of Mediterranean Culinary Academy, confirmed to the Michelin Guide. “Those powerful winds greatly diminished the chances of pollination, which is essential for fruiting.”

Ramla Valley, a family-run cottage industry producing extra virgin olive oil on Gozo, Malta’s second-largest island, is among the producers hit hardest by the harsh conditions. 

“Since we began cultivating olive trees in 1997, we have never experienced such a low fruit yield,” owner George Carl Camilleri told Olive Oil Times. “The primary causes were a lack of rain, despite continued irrigation, extreme temperatures and other adverse weather conditions.”

The trees initially bloomed vigorously, but unexpected rainfall disrupted pollination just as the flowers opened. Two additional flowerings followed, both met with severe environmental challenges. 

“The second bloom coincided with strong southeasterly winds, turning the skies yellowish-orange for an extended period, while humidity levels soared to 98 percent, further hindering pollination,” Camilleri said. “The third flowering took place under intense heat, causing many flowers to dry out completely.”

As a result, individual trees bore olives in three distinct stages, leading to an overall yield reduction of nearly 80 percent.

Despite the difficulties, Ramla Valley remained proactive. Continuous watering, applying Kaolin clay to reduce heat stress and installing olive fruit fly traps helped protect their remaining crop. 

“Excessive temperatures kept olive flies from being a significant threat,” Camilleri said. “We also closely monitored other pests, such as the olive bark beetle and wood borers, which thrive in dry conditions, particularly in neighboring fields that lacked irrigation access.”

“Soil management also played a crucial role in mitigating damage,” he added. “By mowing grass and repurposing it as mulch, we prevented water evaporation while sustaining soil fauna and microorganisms.” 

Camilleri said the harvested olives yielded high-quality extra virgin olive oil despite dramatically lower yields. 

“While the weather remains beyond our control, our longstanding investment in drip irrigation systems has been invaluable,” he said. ‘Though expenses were substantial, we were well-prepared and avoided being caught off guard.”

On the main island of Malta, local olive farmer Immanuel Grima confirmed that his endemic Bidini olive grove also suffered from a low harvest.

“That’s obviously disappointing for us and other small-scale producers, as well as for top-tier Maltese restaurants that like to use our olive oil,” he said.

Indeed, Darren Mifsud, director of Diar il-Bniet, a restaurant and greengrocer that promotes local products, said he had to raise his olive oil prices from €12 per liter to €16 to €18 per liter.

However, most of Malta’s 1,000 metric tons of annual olive oil consumption comes from imports. After rebound harvests in the rest of the region, food importers Alf Mizzi & Sons anticipated lower prices for imported oils.

Despite very low production compared to nearby Tunisia or Italy, Grima said he sees potential to increase Bidini production, similarly to how Albanian producers are working to market the endemic Kalinjot variety despite the challenges faced by Maltese olive oil producers.

“The name ‘Bidni’ refers to the valley around Bidnija, some two kilometers south of St Paul’s Bay,” Grima said. “This unique Maltese cultivar has been present there since Roman times.”

“We could expand our acreage, but arable land is scarce in Malta and, due to the islands’ rapid economic expansion in recent years, its price has become exorbitantly high, increasing fivefold in a short time,” he added. 

“We have observed that olive tree cultivation on small-scale farms in Malta has doubled in the last decade, which has enabled this revival to gain further momentum,” Grima concluded. “Demand for Bidni olive trees is also on the rise.”

• Times of Malta
• Michelin Guide

The USDA Foreign Agriculture Service economists predict that olive oil production will fall to 3.016 million metric tons in 2024/25 from the 3.331 million tons in 2024/25.

The USDA anticipated European Union olive oil production to fall to 1.98 million tons in 2025/26 from 2.079 million tons in the previous crop year. 

Olive oil production in Turkey is also expected to fall to 275,000 tons from the record-high 450,000 tons in 2024/25. 

A separate USDA report published in March forecasted Tunisian olive oil production to sink to 200,000 tons, “reflecting the alternating high fruit bearing cycle which had high production [340,000 tons] in 2024/25.” 

The agriculture department added that production in the rest of the world is also likely to decline. 

The USDA’s production forecasts are based on a combination of market intelligence, cyclical and historical trend data and weather assumptions, which the agency updates in its monthly oilseed markets and trade report.

However, producers in Spain said that conditions have thus far been ideal, leading up to the 2025/26 crop year. Still, the coming months will be critical to determine how well abundant flowering converts into a significant fruit set.

“We are having a year with very good weather,” Álvaro Olavarría, the manager of Andalusian cooperative Oleoestepa, told Agropoular. “We are at a critical stage of flowering, very advanced in some areas, even with fruit set, and therefore, the overall harvest outlook in Spain is very good for the 2025/26 season.”

According to one large bottling company, olive oil production in Spain could reach 1.6 million tons under ideal conditions. Other producers across Spain have told Olive Oil Times that they expect another good harvest in 2025/26.

“We’ve had a rainy winter, and spring is also bringing us very good rain. For now, everything points to the 2025/26 season being better than the 2024/25 season,” said Rosa López, the company director of Aires de Jaén. “Even so, we must wait because we are always exposed to adverse weather conditions.”

“We anticipate a very good harvest in terms of quantity and quality, considering the current condition of the olive trees,” added Luís Rubio, the export manager of Castilla-La Mancha-based Olivapalacios. 

Outside of Spain, Olavarría said current conditions also point to “very good harvest prospects for Tunisia next year,” in contrast to the USDA’s forecast. 

Yahya Chemli, co-founder of Olyfo, which has 300 hectares of olive groves in northern and eastern Tunisia, sees signs that the harvest could be fruitful.

“It’s too early to make predictions, but we’ve had good rainfall recently, and the flowering season is going well,” he said. “It gives us hope for a strong harvest, but we’re watching closely.”

Olavarría added that he expects Portigal to “repeat and slightly improve this year’s production. Greece is also expecting a very good harvest next season.”

Producers in Portugal have told Olive Oil Times that the conditions in the olive groves have been excellent, including mild temperatures and plenty of rain. However, the next few months are critical. 

“The weather forecast shows mild temperatures for the coming weeks, and conditions look ideal for an adequate fruit set,” said Alberto Serralha, the chief executive of Sociedade Agrícola Ouro Vegetal in central Portugal. “Our reservoirs are overflowing, so there won’t be a lack of water for irrigation this year.”

• USDA
• Agropopular