At the heart of the workshop was a critical issue: how to safeguard the future of the olive tree in a world increasingly defined by drought, heatwaves and pathogens.

According to an IOC note, the three-day event held in Rende, Calabria, marked a significant step forward in the olive sector’s efforts to build resilience against climate change.

More than 25 delegations from olive-growing countries participated in the event, organized in collaboration with Italy’s National Research Center for Olive, Fruit and Citrus Crops (Crea Ofa), and Ciheam Zaragoza, the Mediterranean agronomic institute based in Spain.

According to the IOC, key experts and institutions in olive genetics, plant breeding, and agricultural policy have strengthened their cooperation in defining new mitigation strategies, studying the impacts of climate change, and identifying and producing resilient genotypes.

Participants included IOC deputy executive director Abderraouf Laajimi, scientists from Italy’s National Research Council, olive producers and industry representatives, national and regional officials, and delegates from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Enzo Perri, director of Crea Ofa, said the core objective of the workshop was to connect and coordinate the world’s most crucial olive germplasm collections.

“The idea is to create a network of all major collections recognized by the IOC and national governments,” Perri told Olive Oil Times. “Not just for cataloguing purposes, but to build a true international infrastructure for research and knowledge sharing.”

Germplasm banks are living libraries of genetic diversity. They are essential resources at a time when changing environmental conditions are putting a strain on olive trees that once thrived in the Mediterranean climate.

Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall and declining winter chill hours are becoming common across many Mediterranean regions, threatening flowering and fruit set.

In southern Italy, parts of Greece and Tunisia, among other regions, harvests have declined sharply as key climatic triggers for olive development fail to materialize.

“Drought is only part of the story,” Perri said. “We are also seeing problems caused by insufficient winter chill. Many olive cultivars require a cold dormancy period to flower properly in spring. Without it, productivity collapses.”

Adding to this is the rising threat of pathogens, particularly the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa, which has devastated olive groves in Puglia.

One of Crea Ofa’s most ambitious projects is an open-field experimental site in the heart of the infected area, where more than 250 olive varieties are cultivated side by side to assess their response to the disease.

“It’s a real living laboratory,” Perri said. “And it gives us a chance to test our assumptions under extreme environmental pressure.”

In his remarks, Laajimi stressed the strategic importance of conserving olive genetic resources as a key tool for adapting to climate change and preventing genetic erosion.

Genetic erosion poses a growing threat to the future of olive cultivation. As traditional varieties are lost and replaced by a small number of high-yield cultivars, the genetic diversity crucial for resilience is disappearing.

This loss might undermine the ability to adapt to climate change, fight emerging pests and diseases and secure long-term sustainability.

According to the experts in Rende, preserving this biodiversity is essential for breeding new, climate-resilient cultivars and maintaining the cultural and agricultural heritage of olive farming across the Mediterranean and beyond.

Participants at the Rende workshop also saw the event as a call to rethink how countries collaborate or fail to do so.

“Spain has spent the last 30 years continuously investing in olive breeding programs, developing new varieties for super-intensive systems and disease resistance. Italy, by contrast, has remained largely static since the 1970s. We’ve lost momentum,” Perri said.

One notable exception is the Lecciana cultivar, a hybrid developed by Apulian professor Salvatore Camposeo in collaboration with researchers from Catalonia.

The result of a carefully planned crossing program, Lecciana has demonstrated strong adaptability and resilience, making it suitable for both traditional and intensive cultivation.

“This proves that targeted genetic work can deliver practical results,” Perri said. “But it shouldn’t be the exception, it should be the norm.”

Perri warned that Italy’s research infrastructure needs a renewed and coordinated national strategy. As an example, he noted that there are currently fewer than 30 researchers in the country specializing in olive genetics.

In an era of climate change, Perri argued, the scientifically sound use of resources in the Mediterranean basin is critical. Water and irrigation are central to this effort.

“In traditional narratives, olives are often described as drought-tolerant crops. But that’s only true to a point,” he said.

In increasingly arid regions such as the Ionian coasts of Calabria and Sicily, months may pass without rainfall.

Under such conditions, trees may flower but never set fruit, or olives may form and then fall prematurely. Similar problems are being reported across many Mediterranean regions.

“Emergency irrigation is no longer optional,” Perri warned. “Without it, many growers will have no harvest at all. And that’s not just a local issue, it’s a systemic one.”

Investing in modern, efficient irrigation systems is now crucial, not only in industrialized super-intensive groves but across the board.

“It’s needed to maintain baseline productivity and fruit quality, and therefore the quality of the olive oil,” Perri said.

“Our goal is not just to increase yields or resist disease. It’s to preserve and enhance the nutritional and sensory quality of olive oil,” he added. “That’s what gives our work meaning. Not just surviving the crisis, but producing olive oils that are healthier, tastier and more sustainable.”

Research and collaboration toward sustainable goals are already delivering significant impacts, particularly in the use of olive milling by-products.

“Olive mill wastewater, once seen as an environmental problem, is now being studied for its high content of polyphenols and antioxidants,” Perri said. “We’re realizing that the olive tree fits perfectly into a circular economy model. Nothing has to be wasted.”

Today, olive genetics research spans three main areas. The first involves exploring and conserving lesser-known local varieties that may carry traits functional for future breeding.

Second, the development of new resilient cultivars through controlled hybridization, such as the Lecciana. Third, the long-term potential of biotechnologies, particularly new genomic techniques.

Italy has already sequenced the full genome of the Leccino cultivar, a key step forward. However, applying gene editing remains difficult due to the olive tree’s resistance to in vitro regeneration.

“We’re not ready yet, but we will be,” Perri said. “And when we are, we’ll have new tools to accelerate the species’ improvement.”

According to Perri, the presence of an international institution such as the FAO at the Rende workshop reflects the olive tree’s global relevance as both an economic and nutritional resource for countries in North Africa, Latin America and Asia.

“FAO sees olive oil as part of the solution,” Perri explained. “It’s rich in polyphenols, vitamin E and healthy fats. It fits into sustainable diets and can support smallholder farmers. That’s why FAO strongly supports projects like this.”

For Italy, the stakes are particularly high. Despite soaring prices on international markets, many small and medium growers are struggling.

“They simply don’t have the capital to modernize,” Perri said. “We need targeted public investment in mechanization, water infrastructure and training. Without it, our olive sector will continue to decline.”

The harvest season is fast approaching in the foothills of the Simonsberg mountain range near Stellenbosch, in the heart of a vast nature conservancy in South Africa’s Western Cape region.

“While some farms in our region will enjoy a highly productive harvest, we face greater challenges due to the heavy rains between last October and November,” van Dyk said.

“Groves in lower areas, where the roots awakened earlier, experienced earlier flowering,” he added. “Our farm, situated on a mountain slope with cooler temperatures and heavier soil, was hit by rainfall right in the middle of flowering.”

Despite these challenges, Tokara remains committed to producing high-quality extra virgin olive oil. The company’s dedication has earned it recognition as one of the country’s top producers and a Gold Award at the 2024 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

Tokara’s journey with olive oil began at the dawn of the 21st century. “In 2001, Mr. and Mrs. Ferreira, the founding owners of Tokara, had the vision of creating world-class extra virgin olive oil alongside our renowned wines,” van Dyk said.

Van Dyk attributes much of Tokara’s success to its commitment to sustainable farming practices.

“As a farmer, I want to work as naturally as possible,” he explained. “I would like to be biodynamic or organic or in some way try to be the closest to it that I can be.”

A cornerstone of Tokara’s olive cultivation is its commitment to Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

Traditional farming relies on predefined chemical intervention protocols for grove management.

“In other words, the conventional way is that prevention is better than cure,” van Dyk said. “Obviously, it is a very expensive system too.”

“To develop our IPM, we monitored the large areas weekly. The managers would go through those areas and file specific reports,” he added. “This allowed us to implement targeted treatments, addressing pests only in affected areas rather than across the entire farm.”

This approach enabled the farm to identify the yellow and black striped olive beetle populations, South Africa’s primary olive pest. The larvae feed on leaves and burrow into them, harming new growth.

“Detecting the beetle in its larval stage allows us to control it before it matures, preventing future population surges,” van Dyk said.

This led to precise spraying operations that targeted pests while preserving their natural predators.

“Pesticides should be pest-specific,” van Dyk said. “Instead of using broad-spectrum pyrethroids that kill everything, we apply targeted treatments that eliminate only the intended insect.” 

In addition to pest control, the farm prioritizes soil health through environmentally sustainable practices.

“I call them biopods,” van Dyk said. “When we prune, we process the pruning through the chipper. It makes a big heap of mulch in between the trees.” 

“Rather than evenly spreading the mulch, we leave the heaps intact, only removing the top layer,” he added.

These heaps create a long-term habitat for microorganisms, enhancing soil fertility.

“If the mulch is spread out, sunlight burns off carbon, reducing its benefits,” he explained. “With biopods, the organisms live there for about two to three years.”

Van Dyk noted that biopods transform the farm’s compacted soil into a richer, more fertile environment.

“They condition the soil to such a point that you can dig there by 30 centimeters and the soil will be soft,” he said. “There will be earthworms and white fungus, the roots will come into that area. It creates soil conditioning.”

“This creates a sustainable cycle. Improved soil leads to stronger root systems and healthier, more balanced trees,” van Dyk added.

Tokara’s groves are situated at a high altitude near the sea and are impacted by a cool climate and refreshing sea breezes. “These natural conditions create an ideal environment for olive growing,” van Dyk said.

The farm grows several renowned Italian olive cultivars, including Frantoio, Coratina, Leccino and Favolosa, as well as the American variety Mission.

“The blend obtained from these cultivars brought forth the desired aromas and taste preferred by the owners,” van Dyk said.“Of course, a crucial aspect is the olive milling process.” 

“We count on a boutique-style olive oil mill with a state-of-the-art Pieralisi continuous-cycle extraction plant,” he added. “That enables the miller to work with smaller batches of the highest quality handpicked oil olives.”

Van Dyk emphasized that olive producers in the region must account for the trees’ alternate bearing cycle when establishing a farm.

“That is the biggest challenge in the industry. When you buy your trees, you should buy trees that are genetically less prone to alternate bearing,” he explained.

“When starting, check the nursery’s mother blocks to ensure they have a strong production history,” van Dyk added. “If you plant the clone of something that is not here or there in terms of production, then you’re going to fight your whole life to have good crops.” 

Weather patterns have also changed over the years, posing new challenges for local farmers.

“When I entered the industry 27 years ago, the Southeaster wind reliably began blowing on October 1st,” van Dyk said. “This dry wind played a crucial role in pollination.” 

“Now, the wind arrives in November or December, creating a more humid microclimate among the trees,” he added.

Tokara’s operations manager also observed shifts in rainfall patterns, with rains that previously arrived in March and April now falling in June or July.

“When the trees have to wake up in August, they cannot because it’s too cold and too wet. The soil is too cold. The roots go into a semi-hibernation when the soil temperature is under 12 ºC,” van Dyk noted.

Coping with those challenges and aiming at quality, Van Dyk believes there is a bright future for olive oil in the country, as consumer awareness about extra virgin olive oil’s health benefits increases.

“Continuous education through extra virgin olive oil tastings and presentations, highlighting health benefits and food pairing options, remain the core focus for the miller at Tokara,” he concluded.

In a last-minute decision, the United Nations Biodiversity Conference of the Parties (COP16) finalized a long-anticipated strategy for mobilizing and allocating global funds to combat biodiversity loss.

Additionally, COP16 endorsed strengthened mechanisms for planning, monitoring, reporting and reviewing the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), established during COP15.

The GBF is seen as a pivotal framework that lends structure and impact to global biodiversity conservation efforts.

Its primary goal is to curb biodiversity loss by safeguarding at least 30 percent of the world’s land and marine areas by 2030.

The GBF aims to expand natural ecosystems by 2050, properly acknowledge biodiversity’s critical role in sustainable development, facilitate genetic resource sharing and knowledge to enhance biodiversity and increase funding for the least developed countries, transforming biodiversity conservation into a key development opportunity.

Simultaneously, COP16 sanctioned the creation of the Cali Fund, designed to guarantee the fair and equitable distribution of benefits derived from digital sequence information on genetic resources.

The fund is named after Cali, Colombia, where the inaugural COP16 session occurred in November.

The Rome conference also granted indigenous peoples permanent seats, allowing them to voice their perspectives directly at future biodiversity COPs.

Colombian environment minister and COP16 president Susana Muhammad hailed the agreement as “historic,” emphasizing that “we have given legs, arms and muscle to the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework.”

Jessika Roswall, the European Union’s commissioner for the environment, water resilience and a competitive circular economy, said the agreement “secured a global roadmap to support financing for biodiversity beyond 2030.”

“The results of this meeting demonstrate that multilateralism works and serves as the vehicle to forge the partnerships needed to protect biodiversity and advance peace with nature,” added Astrid Schomaker, executive secretary of COP16.

She further noted that the world is on the verge of equipping itself with “the means to close the biodiversity finance gap.”

Wealthier nations’ active participation in global biodiversity efforts remains a critical challenge for COP16. The conference’s first session in Cali ended without an agreement.

Although an agreement was reached in Rome, the question of funding remains unresolved. Major economies such as China and the United States did not participate.

Moreover, none of the financial commitments discussed at the conference are legally binding. However, the agreement outlines a $200 (€183) billion fund to support global biodiversity efforts, financed by governments and private entities.

“More than any other issue, the successful implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework will depend on whether the world meets its financing targets,” said Brian O’Donnell, director of advocacy group Campaign for Nature.

The GBFF, the fund designated to support GBF implementation, currently holds $382 (€350) million, far short of the billions pledged at the Conference.

Only a handful of countries contribute to the GBFF, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Norway, Japan, New Zealand, Canada, France, Austria and Luxembourg.

Bolivian delegate Juan Carlos Alurralde Tejada told The Guardian that uncertainty about who is willing to pay and how the funds will be distributed is draining the global effort.

“Biodiversity cannot wait for a bureaucratic process that lasts for ever, while the environmental crisis continues to get worse,” he said. “Forests are burning, rivers are in agony and animals are disappearing.”

• Convention for Biological Diversity
• The Guardian

Since its founding in 1948, the IUCN has been at the forefront of global conservation efforts, providing critical insights into the health of our planet. It reviewed the results of academic research on different olive cultivation areas and management types and their impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem services and yields.

The study recommended adopting a systemic approach, which should include the “way by which these crops are produced, traded and consumed and the socio-economic context in which these value chains are embedded.”

According to academic articles reviewed by a specially selected olive cultivation expert, traditional olive groves can have higher biodiversity, but lower yields are usually obtained. Moreover, 40 percent higher plant species richness was found in organic settings compared with conventional systems.

On the downside, the study highlighted that intensive (high-density) olive cultivation has been found to have a more significant negative impact on wintering bird species, whose richness has declined significantly in super-intensive (super-high-density) orchards.

The IUCN study underlined the perennial olive tree’s slower initial growth, with an average time until initial production between three and five years, and its high susceptibility to pests and diseases as drawbacks compared with annual oil crops. Still, with a long lifespan (500 years on average), olive trees can tolerate drought and poor soils.

The study also focused on the vital aspect of water needs. Among the oil crops considered, olive groves have the highest water footprint, with an annual amount of 14,500 cubic meters of water required to produce one ton of oil. Linseed follows with 9,400 cubic meters, groundnut with 7,500 cubic meters and sunflower with 6,800 cubic meters annually.

Olive groves are traditionally non-irrigated and have broadly spaced trees (80 to 120 per hectare), as they are typically grown in the Mediterranean region. 

Due to their deep root systems, olive trees are highly tolerant of drought. However, they are highly sensitive to the amount of rainfall received during the winter.

Optimal olive drupe development cannot be guaranteed in case of prolonged water scarcity and extreme temperatures, such as those experienced in the spring and summer across Spain and much of the rest of the Mediterranean basin in 2022 and 2023, when olive oil production fell to historic lows.

Indeed, water scarcity is a mounting risk for oil crops due to climate change. The study also stresses the adverse effects of extensive oil crop monocultures on rain and climate patterns worldwide, with “extreme weather events projected to become significantly more frequent, leading to substantial reductions in oil crop production.”

“It should not be forgotten that Spain’s traditional olive grove landscape is a monoculture, with all its consequences for biodiversity. Its ecological impact is considerable,” said Beatriz Lozano, a member of the sustainable use and management of soils research team at the University of Córdoba’s Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Edaphology and Microbiology.

The increased introduction of intensive (200 to 600 trees per hectare) and super-intensive (1,000 to 2,000 trees per hectare) olive cultivation, with their widespread use of irrigation, has been an upward trend in Spain over the last decade, particularly in the Andalusian province of Jaén. 

This intensification reduces harvesting costs, increases production and diminishes the impact of the olive tree’s natural alternate-bearing nature. 

However, “there is not much difference between the impact of traditional cultivation and that of intensive and super-intensive cultivation on biodiversity,” Lozano said. “In the latter two cases, it only results in a larger surface area being covered.”

The IUCN study further underlined that, as a perennial crop, olives can minimize the loss of natural ecosystems and biodiversity if grown in polyculture, thus allowing complex vegetation to develop in the olive grove. Thus, olives can play a crucial role in maintaining the quality of habitats.

The integration of olive trees and crops as part of a silvoarable alley-cropping system has been found to provide ecosystem services – benefits that people obtain from ecosystems – such as soil restoration, water preservation, climate regulation and biodiversity enhancement. 

In 2022, Lozano and her team carried out a study on intercropping in non-irrigated Mediterranean olive groves as part of the European Union’s Diverfarming project where “the aim of cover cropping was to improve biodiversity and soil quality, as well as enhance growers’ returns.”

Sustainable soil conservation measures such as intercropping saffron (Crocus sativus) or lavender (Lavandula x intermedia) in non-irrigated olive groves “can be very effective in preventing soil erosion and improving soil properties,” Lozano said.

However, she also warned that “climatic variables can have a profound impact, especially on the traditional olive growing system,” and “a cover crop’s harvest may not be guaranteed.” Moreover, “it is very difficult to obtain a positive financial return from a second crop grown in alleys in non-irrigated olive groves.”

“In times of severe water shortages, affecting even olive trees which are very resistant to drought, cover crops can hardly withstand the lack of water and have often proved unsustainable as an additional source of income for olive growers,” Lozano added.

Despite the risks associated with the viability of cover crops in non-irrigated olive groves, “in general, there has recently been an expansion in cover cropping in Spanish olive groves, spurred by specific E.U. subsidies,” Lozano said. 

Indeed, official data on the surface area of olive groves with intercropped cover crops shows an impressive increase from 1.4 million hectares in 2022 – before the latest iteration of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) came into force in 2023 – to 2.4 million hectares in March 2024.

As practical examples, two projects in Spain related to intercropping in olive groves – including efforts to promote biodiversity through beekeeping, lavender cultivation and rural tourism in the ‘Olivares de Miel’ project and ‘Olivares Vivos,’ which, with its LIFE Olivares Vivos+ project, has extended beyond Spain into Italy, Greece and Portugal – are aimed at increasing biodiversity, reducing soil erosion and making the investment in cover crops profitable.

This can be achieved mainly through additional, comprehensive training in intercropping and dedicated efforts to improve marketing, communication and branding strategies to sell high-quality, value-added products to environmentally conscious consumers.

The IUCN Species Survival Commission declared in its report published in June 2024 that “the transition to more sustainable practices, such as organic farming and the use of cover crops, is essential for reducing the environmental footprint of olive oil production.”

This goal has been reinforced by the new provisions laid out in the E.U.’s CAP, which runs until 2027, namely the introduction of eco-schemes (for Spain, as specified in the Spanish CAP Strategic Plan and the E.U.’s Biodiversity Strategy for 2030), with the recognition of the high ecological and social value of conscious olive growers’ environmental conservation performance for increased non-commodity benefits.

• Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
• Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment

The Italian National Research Center (CNR) laboratory tested several tree samples and confirmed that their DNA does not match any known variety listed in the IBBR-CNR database in Perugia.

The database includes more than 5,000 genetic profiles and a repository with more than 10,000 samples.

CNR’s analyses indicated that the two newly found cultivars might be genetically related to cultivars in Veneto, a northern Italian region, particularly the Favarol variety.

“They are trees that originated in our region and have thrived here for centuries,” Pierluigi Turchetta, the olive grower who discovered the new varieties, told Olive Oil Times.

He added that the discovery did not surprise him. “We were specifically searching for native olive cultivars in our region because we suspected that some trees did not belong to the typical cultivars here,” Turchetta said. “However, we couldn’t be certain.”

“We decided to send four samples to the CNR specialized laboratory,” he added. “Two samples revealed the unique nature of at least some of our trees.”

While a few more steps are needed to formally include these varieties in the official list of Italian olive cultivars, local growers hope this discovery could establish a new area for certified-origin olive oil production.

Such geographical indications are fundamental to the European Union’s Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) certifications, which link food to its unique production area and enhance the value of local products.

Recently, researchers found 21 previously unknown olive varieties on Capri, an island dotted with olive trees since ancient times.

“Olive tree biodiversity carries significant value from an environmental and ecological perspective,” said Thomas Vatrano, olive oil taster and agronomist. “It dynamically interacts with all living organisms in a territory, making it thrive.”

According to Vatrano, olive tree biodiversity is crucial in times of climate change. “Look at southern Italy, where prolonged water stress impacts olive oil quality annually,” he said.

“Ancient olive groves in regions like Calabria act as guardians of these territories and resist drought well, offering a strategy to mitigate climate change,” Vatrano added.

Trees with high adaptability in harsh climates may also provide valuable insights into preventing the spread of emerging diseases.

“The Mediterranean basin is the largest olive-growing area globally,” Vatrano said. “The risky choice of varieties for oil yield or market needs has led to the abandonment of native varieties in favor of foreign or national ones.”

“This biodiversity loss can make a difference in resistance strategies against new pathogens or pests,” he added.

Vatrano emphasized that the discovery of new olive tree varieties in Italy will continue.

“Italy holds about 30 percent of the world’s olive germplasm,” he said. “The number of varieties is underestimated, as unknown individuals are frequently discovered through modern molecular biology techniques.”

According to Turchetta, the newly found varieties could yield significant results for olive growers.

“We tasted the olive oil produced by these trees with expert tasters and found the quality truly interesting,” he said. “Hence, we have already invested in their propagation.”

“Currently, we are planting hundreds of trees, with 600 young olive trees for each cultivar,” Turchetta added.

Turchetta is also developing a mobile app using artificial intelligence to identify specific cultivars quickly.

“With a team of young coders, we have developed an app that can identify olive trees,” he said. It can indicate, for instance, ‘this olive tree seems to be a Leccino’ with a confidence level of, say, 80 percent.”

While molecular genetic analysis is necessary for complete results, Turchetta said the app addresses a common question among olive growers.

“A beta version of the Olivamea App is available for Android, and an iPhone version will soon follow, with the official launch set on June 21st,” he said.

The research, published in Scientia Horticulturae by the Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources of the National Research Council (IBBR-CNR) of Perugia, followed more than a decade of restoration work done by L’Oro di Capri in the abandoned olive groves on the western part of the island.

“Our investigation focused primarily on the ancient trees, according to the indications received by the association’s technical committee,” Soraya Mousavi, the research group’s leader, told Olive Oil Times. “We gathered 67 samples from 27 monumental olive trees.”

The researchers collected samples from the canopy and rootstock. “We usually analyze these two parts of the ancient trees separately to detect whether there are grafting scenarios,” Mousavi said.

However, only canopy samples were taken in 13 trees where a small trunk sprouted from the original stump or the trees grew like shrubs.

The molecular identification revealed that most samples are genetically identical to the variety Dritta di Moscufo, native to the central Italian region of Abruzzo.

Grafts were found in two olive trees, the canopies of which belong to the variety, while most of the trees turned out to be clonally propagated.

The genotypes of a smaller group of samples were identical to the Throumbolia variety, mostly grown on the Greek island of Crete.

Furthermore, the genetic profiles of Itrana, Frantoio and Leccino were found in a few other trees.

“An interesting finding is the detection of 21 ancient genotypes which turned out to be unique after having been compared with 475 olive cultivars worldwide,” Mousavi said. “All this results in considerable genetic diversity on the island.”

The plant material was genotyped using single-sequence repeat markers, widely applied for cultivar characterization in most olive germplasm collections.

Now, the detected genotypes will enrich the IBBR-CNR collection, which includes a database with more than 5,000 genetic profiles and an olive DNA repository with more than 10,000 samples.

The database and repository represent fundamental reference points for germplasm banks at a national and international level.

“Having found trees of the Throumbolia variety, we delved into the history of the olive cultivation on the island to understand how and when these plants arrived,” co-author Roberto Mariotti said. “Documents provided by our colleagues who study the history and archeology of the island testify that olive cultivation was already practiced 500 years ago.”

“The presence of Greek people is attested in ancient times on the island,” he added. “We can hypothesize that they introduced and cultivated varieties which seemed interesting at the time for trade or other purposes, especially considering that Throumbolia is a variety with large fruits.”

Meanwhile, trees belonging to the Dritta variety were likely brought to the island by friars from the Moscufo monastery in the province of Pescara, Abruzzo.

Furthermore, birds may have played a part in spreading the other olive genotypes on the island.

“The olive trees have been both propagated by those who moved to the island bringing the trees with them from other places and born from seeds which have been dispersed by birds, especially migrators,” said co-author Saverio Pandolfi.

“Often due to these factors, it is easy to find a rich genetic diversity within the olive trees widespread on islands,” he added. “Birds take the seeds from another place, keep them in their stomachs or crops [part of the alimentary tract used for storage of food before digestion] and eventually drop them.”

“Their digestive system creates ideal conditions for the development of the seeds, which then are naturally fertilized and, once on the ground, germinate very quickly,” Pandolfi continued. “Whatever the origin, from humans or birds, the genetic uniqueness of these plants makes them useful for the upcoming studies.”

Radiocarbon dating estimates that 12 monumental trees on the island are between 100 and 900 years old.

This is evidence that olive tree cultivation and domestication went on for a long time before the olive groves were abandoned in the past century and eventually recovered by L’Oro di Capri.

“Identifying previously unknown ancient genotypes, which translate into new olive varieties at our disposal, has great utility when it comes to finding solutions for today’s global agricultural challenges,” Mariotti said.

“The characteristics that have made the trees resistant for hundreds of years in this specific environment can be exploited to address today’s issues, paying particular attention to the urgent problem of climate change, which is greatly affecting the yield of the olive trees.”

Today, the unique genotypes found on the island may be used in upcoming breeding projects. In agronomic terms, the olive trees could be propagated and tested for environmental and biological stresses.

“These trees indeed represent a useful genetic reservoir that can be used to address new and emerging diseases,” Pandolfi said. “Hence, they have a great value in terms of conservation of genetic material.”

In the study’s conclusions, the researchers emphasized how humans have contributed significantly to the drastic decrease in olive diversity at all levels, from subspecies to cultivars.

They thus believe it is now “mandatory” to retrieve the remnants of ancient genotypes, starting with the study of monumental olive trees and their rootstocks, and to preserve the biodiversity included in the ancient olive groves worldwide.

“We do not know much about the agronomical behavior of these olive trees, and now the aim is to understand this aspect,” Pandolfi said. “It is important to keep a database with all the information collected, including their location and photos. This will also help create an oleotourism itinerary along which visitors can find scientifically validated information.”

The legislation defines agriculture’s role in protecting the environment, promoting economic activities in areas at risk of abandonment and reversing the depopulation of rural villages.

According to the law, farmers are responsible for maintaining agricultural land, which protects against hydrogeological risk, extreme weather events and wildfires.

They are also deemed responsible for promoting “rural biodiversity” to conserve the natural landscape while adding value to local crops.

According to the new law, farmers combat biodiversity loss by protecting the habitats of bees and other pollinating insects, promoting the growth of nectar and pollen-producing herbaceous cover and hedges, trees and other native plant species.

Local authorities are encouraged by the law to deploy specific projects and protocols to promote the role of farmers as custodians of the land.

According to Istat, the National Institute of Statistics, there are about 1.1 million companies in the agricultural sector. Of these, 401,000 are solely dedicated to farming, including 330,000 operated by a single person. The average size of a farm in Italy is about 11 hectares.

The law also establishes the National Day of Agriculture, which will be celebrated every year on the second Sunday of November “to raise awareness about the fundamental role played by agriculture, which, in its phases of sowing, care, waiting and harvesting, embodies the essence of life.”

Central and local authorities will promote the day with communication campaigns on television and other media and initiatives in schools.

According to Italian lawmakers, agriculture “is essential for meeting the basic needs of humans and achieving the country’s economic, environmental and social well-being.”

Further strengthening the role of the category, the government will also be responsible every year for a national prize, De agri cultura, a Latin expression meaning “about agriculture.”

This prize will award €20,000 to farmers deploying innovative farming techniques or practices, which result in better quality goods and a lower environmental impact.

The definitive approval of the new law was greeted with enthusiasm by farmers’ unions.

“Such a meritorious intervention contributes decisively to a strong relaunch of the image of the primary sector, too often targeted by unacceptable accusations of environmental pollution, which in many cases have unfortunately conveyed community policies that pay little attention to those who produce healthy, high-quality food and who contribute daily with their work to defend the country’s productive capacity,” said Tommaso Battista, the president of the Agricultural Producers Confederation (Copragri).

In a similar vein, Cristiano Fini, president of the Italian Farmers Association (CIA), noted that the new law shines a spotlight “on the value of [the farmer], central not only in terms of agricultural production but also from an environmental and ecological perspective.”

“Indeed, the strategic role of the sector is not just to produce healthy and safe food for everyone, but also to ensure the maintenance and development of rural areas; to safeguard the soil and land against hydrogeological instability; to manage water resources; to produce energy from renewable sources; to defend the landscape and biodiversity,” he said.

The study, published in the Journal of Applied Entomology, concludes that the species is an ideal candidate.

Tapinoma nigerrimum was previously considered a single ant species harmful to European agriculture. However, a 2017 study determined that the T. nigerrimum complex comprises four distinct species that can be identified only by high-resolution numeric morphology-based alpha-taxonomy methods. One of these species is the Iberian ant Tapinoma ibericum.

To correctly identify the species involved in their study, the team sent specimens from olive orchards and natural habitats throughout the survey area to the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History in Görlitz, Germany, to be identified using the numeric morphology-based alpha-taxonomy technique.

The results showed that T. nigerrimum tends to inhabit more natural ecosystems than T. ibericum, which was found to inhabit olive orchards in the study region.

Far from being detrimental to agriculture, the study showed that the opposite is true for the Iberian species, which feed on the same type of food regardless of the agricultural management applied in the different olive orchards.

This is important because a predator not affected by management could be used to enhance local biological control planning and strategies.

“Undoubtedly, this study can help those who work with agricultural ecosystems, such as farmers and technicians, to apply biological pest control both in olive cultivation and in other plantations,” said Rubén Martínez-Blázquez, a researcher at the Biological Station of Doñana.

To determine the role of Tapinoma ibericum in Iberian olive orchards, the researchers applied stable isotope analysis. This novel approach analyzes the quantity and ratio of stable isotopes in the tissues of organisms.

Stable isotopes are atoms with the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons and are not radioactive. Different isotopes accumulate in living tissue at different rates according to environmental factors.

Analyzing the isotopes nitrogen-15 and carbon-13 makes it possible to track energy or mass flow through ecosystems and discern complex trophic interactions within a food web.

This is because carbon-13 is eliminated through respiration and nitrogen-15 through urine excretion, allowing one to estimate both the carbon sources in an organism’s diet and the position of said species within a food web.

However, this requires a set of prior data, such as the time needed for isotopes to accumulate in the tissues of the organism in question and how the isotopic fingerprint changes or is maintained over time according to diet.

The research team acquired this base dataset by rearing ants within a laboratory setting, feeding them with one of four diets: a mixture of honey and yeast, aphids that consume cover crop plants, olive moth larvae or the carnivorous insect Chrysoperla carnea (green lacewing) which is another important olive moth predator.

The final analysis concluded that Tapinoma ibericum readily preys upon Prays oleae at critical stages in the pest’s life cycle, making it an integral part of the biological control of the species.

In addition, including the green lacewing in the initial laboratory stage allowed the researchers to conclude that the ants do not assume the role of hyper-predator, consuming other species beneficial to the natural control of the olive moth.

“Ants are opportunistic, and if there are pests, such as the olive moth (Prays oleae), the ants feed on them,” co-author Francisca Ruano said. “Having also proven that they do not become hyper-predators, which could be a problem for other species necessary to maintain the health of the soil and the olive tree itself, [they are] ideal candidates to act in the control of this type of pest.”

In Andalusia, the world’s largest olive-producing region, the olive moth is one of the most common olive pests.

Prays oleae produces three generations per year: the phyllophagous generation, which feeds on olive leaves from November to April and overwinters in the canopy; the anthophagous generation, which feeds on floral buds from April to June; and the carpophagous generation when larvae penetrate the fruit and feed on the stone from June to October.

All three generations can cause damage to olive groves, and the success or failure of each generation determines the size of the following generation.

Throughout the study, the researchers note that biodiversity is critical to controlling pest species by natural predators. This is demonstrated by the increased abundance of ants in areas with more complex semi-natural habitats and reduced pesticide use.

They found, for example, that ants living next to and within organic olive orchards tend to move from the natural adjacent vegetation to the olive trees mainly when the ground cover starts to wither, corresponding with the time that the olive moth lays its eggs on young olive fruits. Predation at this stage can have a marked impact on subsequent generations.

• Spanish National Research Council
• AntWiki

The California Healthy Soils Program funds climate-friendly practices, including planting hedgerows, which have been found to improve carbon sequestration, increase pollinators, reduce erosion and water consumption and facilitate insect management. All of this reduces costs for olive farmers in a low-margin industry.

“We have put in about 8 miles (13 kilometers) of native pollinator hedgerows here on the farm-not immediately in the olives,” Don Cameron, the vice president and general manager at Terranova Ranch, told Olive Oil Times. 

“I believe that anything we can do to increase the native population of native pollinators not only benefits the olives but a wide range of other agricultural crops that are dependent on insect pollination,” he added.

Terranova Ranch grows various crops, including olives for oil, fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds in the San Joaquin Valley, with extensive experience growing hedgerows in California.

“We started with a healthy soils grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) about four years ago,” Cameron said. “We applied for and received a grant for a half mile (0.3 kilometers) of native pollinator hedgerows. We were able to extend the length to approximately 1 mile (0.6 kilometers).” 

“Now, these plants are well established and provide excellent habitat for native pollinators along with a wide range of birds, snakes and other wildlife,” he added. “We have an abundance of hummingbirds all season, along with other species that have taken up residence here on the farm.”

Jo Ann Baumgartner, the executive director of Wild Farm Alliance (WFA), told Olive Oil Times that hedgerows provide a range of benefits for farmers and the environment. 

“Installing hedgerows along field edges supports natural enemy insects, beneficial birds for pest control and pollinators for increased pollination services,” she said.

Besides adding biodiversity and beauty to the farm, the shrubs and trees within a hedgerow can also improve water quality, prevent erosion and store significant amounts of carbon in their tissues and the soil. 

Farmers turn to various conservation agencies, government, private and non-profit organizations for help with hedgerows. The United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) offers a national program for farmers with technical assistance and funding. 

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation provides hedgerow kits, among their native plant species kits, for ranchers and farmers. WFA assistance helps farmers with the healthy soil program application and partnering with local resources for hedgerow installation.

Cameron noted that they worked extensively with Xerces to monitor species using the hedgerows and to add to their original planting.

Olive growers new to hedgerows can use proven best practices for maximum success. 

“Make sure to install native plants, as they are well adapted to California climates and ecosystems,” Baumgartner said. “Native plants also better support the native insect and bird species that have evolved to utilize them, whereas weedy, non-native plants can attract more pests.”

A diverse mix of native plants provides a spread of flowering and fruiting periods, providing food resources for beneficial species for most of the year. 

One hurdle farmers can face is making enough time to care for a new hedgerow. “The first year is critical to success, so make it easier by setting up the site for low maintenance by using mulch, vertebrate protection and a timer for irrigation,” Baumgartner said.

Baumgartner offered practical tips for low maintenance. “Add a 6‑inch (15-centimeter) layer of mulch around the plants,” she said. “This will help to smother weeds and retain moisture. Tree-cutting companies will often deliver mulch for free.”

She also advised using cages or silt fence fabric to protect against deer, rabbits, gophers and ground squirrels.

Baumgartner also emphasized that irrigation efficiency is easier with a timer. “If a timer is not possible, put plantings on the same system as nearby crops so both are watered at the same time, making sure that they don’t receive fertilizer through that irrigation water; fertilizer makes the plants grow too fast and lodge over,” she said.

According to Cameron, following best practices is especially crucial in regions of California where hedgerows struggle to grow naturally. 

“We have found that the original establishment can be tricky as for our hedgerows and our climate here in the San Joaquin Valley, the heat can cause difficulty establishing small shrubs and other plantings,” he said. 

“Soil preparation, seasonal timing, weed control, and irrigation all influence the success of plantings. It takes work and care to make these projects work,” Cameron added.

On-farm habitat is an essential indicator of a healthy, resilient farm. People may mistakenly believe that hedgerows will use precious water resources and take away land that could be producing crops.

Baumgartner confirmed the contrary. “Hedgerows only require irrigation in the first three years,” she said. “After that, hedgerows’ deep roots help with infiltration and prevent runoff during times of excess rain.”

“As for losing valuable cropland, transitioning land to permanent habitat helps increase yield in adjacent crops, preventing the loss of overall crop yields,” Baumgartner added.

According to the CDFA website, healthy soil improves plant health and crop yields and increases water retention and infiltration. CDFA notes that healthy soil can hold up to 20 times its weight in water. Improving soil and controlling erosion is vital to maintaining the integrity of the land, levees and roadsides.

“Once established, irrigation and weed control is reduced, and the plantings add a benefit that is aesthetically pleasing,” Cameron said. “It sort of is the finishing touch to the farm. The flowering plants are great to look at and are a nice complement to our typical row crops and permanent planting, including our olives.” 

“I believe that the hedgerows will provide sanctuary for beneficial insects that will help not only olives but also many other crops grown here in California,” he added. 

The work of planting hedgerows is ambitious yet with a compelling historical precedence. Baumgartner said the WFA has set a goal of planting 500,000 miles (800,000 kilometers) of hedgerows in the U.S.

“Historically, Great Britain’s hedgerows could have reached that distance. The U.S. is approximately 40 times Great Britain’s size, so we can achieve this distance and go even farther,” she concluded. “California growers, including California olive groves, play a critical role in reaching this goal.” 

• CDFA

Since the 1980s, the Western Monarch butterfly population has declined by more than 95 percent. More generally, insect pollinator populations have dropped, likely due to climate change, pesticides and habitat degradation.

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is among the groups fighting against the decline in pollinators, providing climate-smart native plants to project partners.

Native habitat kits of more than 100,000 plants have already been provided to 144 farming partners in California between 2019 and 2021.

“The Xerces habitat kits program in California matches people and places who want to plant and care for pollinator and beneficial insect habitat with transplants of native plants with high conservation value,” Stephanie Frischie, an agronomist for Xerces, told Olive Oil Times.

She added that the company provides technical assistance to farmers to make sure the solutions are long-term and sustainable. The company also helps farmers identify the most well-suited species to their particular location and source them locally to rebuild endemic habitats.

While Frischie advises farmers across Canada and the United States, Frischie said some of her earliest research focused on olive groves in Spain “through on-farm habitat research and projects, such as studying the suitability of native cover crops for olive orchards in Spain.”

“We found nearly a dozen high-priority species, and I worked with a native seed grower to develop the supply of those cover crop species,” Frischie added. “I continue to do this type of work in my role at the Xerces, increasing the seed supply of plants that are of high value to pollinators and other insects so more habitat can be created to add or enhance biodiversity on farms.”

In Yolo County, Temecula Olive Oil Company is the hub where farmers can pick up Xerces habitat kits.

“Even though olive trees evolved before the dawn of insects and do not need them for pollination – they are anemophilous [spreading pollen via the wind] – working with Xerces and creating more native pollinators is important for many reasons,” Thom Curry, the owner of Temecula Olive Oil Company, told Olive Oil Times.

“The most important benefits are plant and animal diversity,” he added. “A diverse community is much more resilient and healthy. Over time, our monocultural farming practices have had a detrimental effect on the diversity and, therefore, the overall biome health.”

In the San Joaquin Valley, Don Cameron, the vice president and general manager of Terranova Ranch, praised the kits. He said they helped him determine which pollinators would do well in his grove, taking some of the risk out of the investment.

“I believe that anything we can do to increase the population of native pollinators not only benefits the olives but a wide range of other agricultural crops that are dependent on insect pollination,” he told Olive Oil Times.

According to Frischie, climate-smart native plants have far-reaching benefits for farmers and producers.

“The habitat supports birds and other wildlife, adds to soil carbon and organic matter and can improve water infiltration and water storage capacity of the soil,” she said. “There are typically more than 12 species of plants in each kit, which also add colorful leaves and flowers to farmscapes.”

For olive farmers specifically, Frishie said that habitat kit also creates natural environments for predators of common olive pests.

“Cover crops and recovering native pollinator sites help improve the tilth of the soil and lessen the amount of outside inputs,” Curry added. “Studies also show that these practices also improve the amount of carbon sequestered by the olive grove.”

Farmers take different approaches to where to plant the kits.

“Depending on the farm, the habitat kits may be planted along field edges or in other places near the olive trees or other crops,” Frischie said. “For orchard species, cover crops in the lanes between tree rows are another way to add beneficial habitat to farms.”

“Not only is there a benefit to the native pollinators in the area by providing a food source,” Cameron added, “but for instance, in planting native pollinator hedgerows, we have seen other benefits, including erosion control in areas with slopes and sandier soils that maintain the integrity of our levees and roadsides.”

Some myths persist about native plants, pollination and restoration of insect habitats. For example, Curry said some people erroneously assume that European and Africanized honey bees are the only or most effective pollinators.

“These insects are interlopers and tend to push out native pollinators with the assistance of the human propagation of them,” he said. “Creating a stronger native pollinator population helps the native and non-native plants thrive much better.”

Some raise concerns that cultivating native plant habitats for pollinators in the olive groves could have side effects.

“There’s some concern that the habitat areas may lead to larger populations of rabbits, hares or other rodents that could damage crops or farm infrastructure, and snakes,” Frischie said. “I’m not aware of evidence that shows these beneficial insect plantings result in higher incidences of damage from these animals.”

She added that October and November are an opportune moment for olive growers statewide to find the suitable kit for them and begin planting.

“I am sure that it will become much more mainstream due to the efforts of Xerces and other such programs,” Curry said. “It seems that the practice is really taking off in the mainstream farming community.”

Cameron agreed. “I believe that by getting these kits out to olive growers, they will find similar attributes to what I have seen and will continue to invest in expanding projects on their farms to diversify habitats,” he concluded.

• Lodi Wine Growers
• Yolo County Resource Conservation District

In terms of olive biodiversity, recent years have seen a growth of attention among operators in the agri-food sector and researchers, who are committed to counteracting genetic erosion, as well as to studying and breeding more resilient varieties.

“The olive tree (Olea europaea subsp. europaea) is a very ancient tree species with a great wealth of genetic diversity,” said Samanta Zelasco, a researcher at the Center for Olive, Fruit and Citrus Crops of the Council for Agricultural Research and Agricultural Economics Analysis Research (CREA-OFA) of Rende, in Calabria.

“First, we must clarify that ‘genetic diversity’ is the scientific definition that in the public debate is generally substituted by ‘biodiversity,’” she added. 

According to the last official calculation carried out by CREA in 2012 on the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Second Report on the State of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, the olive germplasm present in the major ex situ collections in the world amounted to at least 2,629 different varieties. 

Italy has the richest genetic diversity, with 734 denominations listed in the national register of fruit plant varieties, updated in 2020 by the Italian Agriculture Ministry.

“Italy boasts a very high number of varieties, and the composition of its olive germplasm is the largest and most varied in the world,” Zelasco said. “Being in the center of the Mediterranean, over millennia, the country has undergone several historical events and people movements that have favored the importation and exchange of plant material, contributing to enriching its varietal heritage.”

Today, frequent reports of allegedly new genotypes indicate a great germplasm diversity. Yet, researchers warn that the precise number of varieties cannot be defined with certainty due to multiple cases of synonymy and homonymy.

“We recently carried out an in-depth molecular investigation of the Italian varieties using a very large number of markers that cover almost the entire genome,” Zelasco said. “We have not completed the study yet, but we can already say that presumably a good part of the genetic material, perhaps half, is represented by cases of synonymy.” 

“The same probably happens in other countries,” she added. “Still, Italy has a huge number of varieties, which are the result of local selections. In most Italian regions, we can find about 30 to 40 varieties, then a wide germplasm also at a local level.”

Several lines of scientific evidence indicate that the domestication area of the olive tree is the Levant (i.e., the Eastern Mediterranean region that includes present-day Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and most of Turkey), from which it was spread around the Mediterranean basin. 

The vegetative propagation played a crucial role, for which reason a lot of synonymy cases can be found in olive germplasm – Zelasco provides the example of the Tuscan variety Santa Caterina that shows the same molecular profile of the Spanish cultivar Gordal Sevillana. Meanwhile, the olive tree has differentiated locally, generating many varieties.

“When cases of synonymy, namely different denominations of the same cultivar, come into play, there may be commercial problems,” Zelasco said. “Legal disputes relating to the sourcing of table olives and extra virgin olive oils from different geographical sites than those envisaged by the Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) and Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) production regulations are increasingly frequent.” 

“The resequencing of the genomes of the varieties included in the specifications could help to select cultivar-specific markers able to unequivocally identify the single varieties and provide a more effective genetic certification system,” she added.

In the current context, where research aims to identify solutions in the field of sustainability, a rich and varied gene pool can become useful also to draw genes for genetic improvement programs.

“A wide biodiversity is useful for researchers who want to carry out new breeding programs,” Zelasco said. “The first step is to understand the behavior of a variety at an agronomic level, to detect the genes in its DNA which improve particular traits, or rather the mutations within the genes responsible for the improvement of the agronomic traits.”

To observe the genetic expression of diverse varieties, their behavior must be studied in a single environment, hence the importance of collections.

“It takes years to phenotype and characterize a variety since we must consider ‘on-years’ and ‘off-years’ in the olive tree’s alternate bearing cycle, and we need robust data repeated at least over three or four years,” Zelasco said. 

“Since most of the agronomic traits are conditioned by the environment, the varietal comparison must also be extended to other environments that can be precisely represented by the collections containing common varieties,” she added. “Once the comparison among varieties has been concluded, we can trace what genes are involved and the mutations which are responsible for the improving traits.”

Currently, such mutations are used in the innovative genomic technique called genome editing, which is part of the assisted evolution techniques,  the latest novelty in the sector. Genome editing consists of a punctual modification of the genome in a specific site, differing from the traditional mutagenesis that acts randomly.

“The improving mutations are identified through a statistical approach, and we do not transfer the DNA, but we identify the sequences and give instruction to an enzymatic complex which is able to reproduce the mutation,” Zelasco said. 

“This is a clear example of enhancing the genetic diversity of the olive tree,” she added. “Namely, we identify the improving traits and reproduce them in the variety to be improved without altering its genetic background.”

To take one concrete example, Carolea, the most widespread variety in Calabria, is one of the cultivars studied by CREA researchers for its susceptibility to Spilocaea oleaginea, which causes the peacock spot disease, a potentially significant phytosanitary problem.

“Recently, we have phenotyped the susceptibility to Spilocaea oleaginea of at least 150 varieties in our collection, and therefore we will soon be able to identify the improving mutations by relating the genotype to the phenotype,” Zelasco said. 

“The genes responsible for the plant’s response to the pathogen have also recently been identified by the research group of the University of Palermo,” she added. “Then, in the next few years, we will probably be able to reproduce the improving mutation in this variety through the genome editing technique and therefore to have an improved Carolea that tolerates peacock spot.”

Considering the reduction of phytosanitary treatments with plants less susceptible to certain diseases, research on innovative genomic techniques pave the way for the selection of more plants suitable for new climatic scenarios.

Finally, the study of germplasm makes it possible to rediscover varieties that had been set aside and which have characteristics that can prove to be useful in the current context. 

“I can bring the example of a neglected Apulian variety called Toscanina, which has a very high content of oleic acid and phenolic compounds and enters production early while being quite productive with a moderate alternation,” Zelasco said. 

“We are now testing it for tolerance to water stress and biotic stress,” she added. “This kind of information is still missing since these aspects have recently become a priority for the scientific world.”

At the time of writing, five new accessions are ready to be included in the CREA’s collection in Mirto Crosia, located on the Ionic coast of Calabria, in the province of Cosenza – having been genetically characterized, the accessions have unique molecular profiles.

“These are still unpublished accessions, therefore potential new varieties, which do not have a defined name yet,” Zelasco said. 

She specified that they had been found in Calabria and other Italian regions, and some of them come from root suckers of centuries-old, monumental plants, including one from the rootstock of the Olivone of Fibbianello in Semproniano, Tuscany.

“Monumental olive trees are an interesting object of study to understand the phylogenesis of the species,” Zelasco said. “A very thorough genomic analysis allows us to understand how the species has evolved from the domestication phase to date.”

“A current trend is indeed to create collections of wild plants, and a new collection of this kind has been recently created in Croatia,” she added. “We must consider that wild olive material is a reservoir of new genes very useful for a breeding program, especially for identifying more resilient agronomic traits.”

From this perspective, the Italian Center for River Restoration (CIRF) has proposed measures to address the nationwide lack of water, which could also be implemented globally.

The current situation finds more than a quarter – 26.9 percent – of the European Union in a warning condition of drought and 10 percent in a state of alert, according to the latest data from the European Drought Observatory.

Nonetheless, in the first half of 2023, Italy received abundant rains, which even caused deadly flooding in the northern region of Emilia-Romagna.

Since the equivalent of five to six months’ worth of rain fell in 40 days between May and the first half of June, the hydrology group of the National Research Council’s institute for geo-hydrological protection calculated that civil, agricultural and industrial use should be satisfied by the water reserves this summer in Italy. Though, a deficit of snow and water in the ground persists.

All this indicates the strict link between climate change, the increased frequency of extreme weather events and the intensification of the hydrogeological cycle.

“This condition must be considered in the context of the ongoing global climate and ecological crisis,” CIRF president Giuliano Trentini told Olive Oil Times. “Their primary cause is a decades-long pursuit of economic development that has ignored the ecosystemic constraints and is now leading to severe consequences, considering that more than 80 percent of natural habitats in Europe are in a poor state of conservation.”

CIRF researchers take into account that the continent has seen wetlands shrink by 50 percent since 1970, a reduction of fish and amphibian populations of 71 and 60 percent, respectively, in the last decade and a decline of bee and butterfly populations by one-third with one-tenth of these species on the verge of extinction.

“We must consider that, to overcome the water crisis, there is a hierarchy of issues to address,” Trentini said. “At the top stands the protection of biodiversity, and only at the end do we find technological solutions.”

“The first thing to consider is that human permanence on Earth requires biodiversity to be safeguarded,” he added. “Seen as a luxury by many, this is a primary necessity and implies that food production should be first and foremost sustainable. Starting from this premise, we can question how water is used.”

According to the United Nations, agriculture accounts, on average, for 70 percent of all freshwater use globally and even more in arid and semi-arid regions.

Estimates from the National Association of Consortia for the Management and Protection of Land and Irrigation Water (ANBI) show that in Italy, 14.5 billion cubic meters of water are used for agricultural purposes per annum, equal to 54 percent of total water use.

Farmers can therefore play a significant role in preserving water resources. In this regard, soil management emerges as a critical element.

“Considering the type of soil, its geology and slope, through micro-interventions in the farms, it is possible to slow down the water so that it infiltrates more,” Trentini said. “For example, just working the soil minimally and using the cover cropping method helps the soil have a greater capacity to retain water.”

“These and other highly effective actions are presented in the Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM) platform drawn up by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Environment,” he added.

The measures proposed in the strategy are multi-functional, including intercropping, planting green cover, early sowing, mulching and traditional terracing, among others, which aim to protect and manage water resources and address water-related challenges to achieve and maintain healthy ecosystems while offering multiple benefits.

“We know several Italian farmers that carry out hillside olive farming who are already applying these measures working on the ability of the soil to have a greater water retention,” Trentini said. “In contrast, other companies do not care and nourish unsustainable crops imported into areas experiencing a water crisis.”

“These aspects are often connected. It is then a priority to rethink which crops are worthy of being encouraged, favoring less water-demanding crops, varieties, types of farming and actions in the field,” he added. “All this becomes crucial since our soils are becoming dysfunctional, prone to desertification, less capable of retaining water and nutrients and with a lower production capacity.”

Data from the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) indicate that 70 percent of soils in the E.U. are degraded, and 28 percent of Italy shows signs of desertification.

ISPRA warns that the degradation process, which is inextricably linked to biodiversity loss and the impacts of climate change, is a complex phenomenon affected by many interdependent factors.

These consist of a reduction or loss of the biological and economic productive capacity of the soil resource – one of the most urgent environmental issues and a global challenge that affects everyone through food insecurity, rising food prices, and the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

“In light of the current situation, we call for the adoption of measures aimed at increasing the ecological functionality of agricultural areas, which means enhancing their ability to retain and let rainwater infiltrate and to prevent soil degradation,” Trentini said.

CIRF researchers also consider the urban environment and the efficient use of water networks to complete the framework.

The latest report by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) on the Italian water system found that more than half of Italian municipalities (57.3 percent) have total water losses equal to or greater than 35 percent of the volumes introduced into the network. In this context, the priority should be the reduction of network losses.

“At present, the public debate in Italy covers almost exclusively a solution to cope with the water crisis, namely building new artificial reservoirs,” Trentini said. “Yet, going back to the aforementioned hierarchy of issues, the reservoirs are found only at the end and should be considered not exclusively but alongside many other technological or agronomic solutions.”

“We then advise against building new dams along rivers, while we are more open to small hillside reservoirs aimed at collecting surface runoff, although they are not free from critical issues,” he added.

CIRF researchers note that reservoirs can further cause soil consumption and alteration of the water and sediment flow regimes, which is already happening with the existing reservoirs.

They observed that in Europe, dams are currently the most significant pressure factor in at least 30 percent of water bodies and the cause of failure to achieve good ecological status in at least 20 percent.

The researchers noted that, among other issues, the reservoirs disperse a large amount of water by evaporation (the Italian average is no less than 10,000 cubic meters per annum for each hectare of water body surface area, and this quantity is greater in the south and for smaller reservoirs).

Moreover, their water can reach high temperatures, causing anoxic conditions, algal blooms and the development of cyanotoxins, one of the most important emerging problems worldwide. These are all factors that compromise the use of these waters.

“The best place to store water is the aquifers,” Trentini said. “Today, it is possible to apply strategies for managed aquifers recharge (MAR) that bring many benefits beyond that of storage.”

“Among other things, high aquifers support numerous indispensable humid, lentic and lotic habitats; they slowly release water into the hydrographic network, supporting low flow rates; and they counteract the intrusion of the salt wedge,” he added.

“MAR systems cost an average of €1.50 per cubic meter of annual infiltration capacity, while for reservoirs, the costs can reach €5 to €6 per cubic meter of volume,” Trentini continued. “Controlled recharging systems consume much less land and, in addition, it is easier to find suitable sites for them.”

Finally, a further area CIRF considers is wastewater reuse for irrigation. According to the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), roughly half of Italian agricultural irrigation demand could be satisfied by this source.

The Italian legislation was restrictive on this matter, but the new E.U. Regulation 741/2020 recently entered into force opens the door to this usage.

“In conclusion, it is clear that we will increasingly have to learn to live with the two extremes of long droughts and intense rainfall and consequent floods, which only a more natural territory and hydrographic network can cope with,” Trentini said.

“To do this, it is necessary to introduce a truly integrated adaptation strategy, starting from an extensive plan for the regeneration and increase of biodiversity, as suggested by the current European regulatory strategies and proposals,” he concluded.

• European Commission

A new study published in PNAS, a peer review scientific journal of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, considers a massive amount of data retrieved in 28 European countries across 37 years.

A team of international scientists assessed 170 common bird species in 20,000 different sites and researched how those species reacted to four sources of anthropogenic pressure: urbanization, change in forest cover, temperature change and agricultural intensification.

In the area being considered, researchers found that farmlands’ birdlife dropped by 60 percent in the four decades from 1980 to 2016.

The researchers’ goal was to establish the extent of the bird population decline and to uncover the relationships among those four different pressures and their combined impacts on birdlife. Intensive farming was singled out as the most impacting pressure.

European Union official data show that almost 40 percent of the E.U. is dedicated to agriculture. According to the researchers, such extensive farmland helps explain its potential impact on birdlife.

The new research measured intensive farming as the cover of farms with high input of pesticides and fertilizers.

“Among the reasons for the sharp decline in birds population as intensive agriculture expands, there is the significant drop in available prey, such as insects,” Federica Luoni, a biodiversity management and protection scientist at the Italian Association for the Protection of Birds and Nature (Lipu), told Olive Oil Times.

“Previous research, such as a recent study in Germany, showed how in the last 20 years, there were areas where the insect population dropped by 80 percent,” added Luoni, who is not directly involved in the new research.

Crucial insects such as pollinators are directly affected by the widespread use of chemicals in agriculture.

“We are reaching the point where some are planning manual or mechanical pollination operations where the wild insect population cannot guarantee pollination anymore,” Luoni explained.

According to the study, invertebrates are a crucial part of many bird species’ diets, especially at specific stages of their development. Of the 170 species considered, 143 depend on insects during breeding.

The researchers wrote that a highly curtailed insect population will likely affect reproduction, parental behavior and nestling survival “in addition to direct contamination by seed consumption and trophic accumulation with sublethal effect.”

“Chemicals indirectly hit birdlife by slashing available prey,” Luoni said. “But they also affect birds directly, provoking acute intoxication or, more frequently, chronic intoxication. Those are caused by several different molecules such as neonicotinoids and others that are under investigation.”

According to Luoni, in a country widely praised for its biodiversity, such as Italy, bird numbers in agricultural areas have dropped by 30 percent since 2000. If only plains are considered, where most intensive farming is done, the drop exceeds 50 percent.

Considering the four anthropogenic pressures, the new research found intensive agriculture has broader effects in the western regions of Europe, where it has been expanding faster. Of the 50 bird species affected by intensive farming, 31 were negatively affected.

“We find a mostly negative influence of high-input farm cover not only for farmland species but also for species with a diet at least partly based on invertebrates during the breeding season, long-distance migrants, and woodland birds, i.e., a vast majority of the common birds,” the researchers wrote.

The research also hinted at how large agricultural operations use intensive farming practices more than smaller ones. Data show that birdlife fares better in countries where small farms are the norm.

The study showed how bird species reacted evenly to the pressure factors. For instance, rising temperatures negatively impacted 27 species, while 28 seemed to benefit from those changes.

Scientists also found that expanding forest cover affected nine species and benefited 16.

“Forest cover often expands in areas where agriculture is not profitable anymore, areas that end up being mostly abandoned,” Luoni said. “While this might benefit some woodland species, it also reduces those open meadows crucial for other species.”

While some species may profit from changes triggered by human activities, the overall number of birds follows a trend of sharp decline.

Whereas the farmland bird population dropped by almost 60 percent, other bird populations were hit by a slower decline. Woodland bird numbers dropped by 18 percent, urban dwellers by 28 percent, cold dwellers by 40 percent and hot dwellers by 17 percent.

“To counter these trends, it is crucial to establish and follow good agricultural practices,” Luoni said. “That means an approach to agriculture which must be based on agroecology, where sustainable farming works with nature.”

According to Luoni, the increase in organic farming in some areas provides hope for the future.

However, the authors of the new research warned that further studies are needed to fully understand the deep casual relationships among the different anthropogenic pressures and bird numbers decline.

They also underlined how crucial data are often under-reported by local and national institutions. Still, they noted how their study provides evidence of the agricultural practices’ impact on a continental scale.

“Considering both the overwhelming negative impact of agricultural intensification and the homogenization introduced by temperature and land-use changes, our results suggest that the fate of common European bird populations depends on the rapid implementation of transformative change in European societies, and especially in agricultural reform,” the researchers concluded.

• European Commission

In a note, IOC announced that the olive plant collection established at the Experimental Agricultural Facility of San Juan in Argentina had become South America’s only international germplasm bank.

Argentina’s collection is part of the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA), and it is maintained in collaboration with the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET).

“This recognition was granted after a specific mission to this country to verify the accomplishment of the needed requirements took place. This mission was attended by Lhassane Sikaoui, Head of the olive growing, olive oil technology and environment Unit of the IOC, and by Melek Veral, IOC expert and Head of the International Olive Collection of Izmir, Turkey,” IOC noted.

Olive germplasm banks play a crucial role in enabling the correct classification of olive tree cultivars. As olive farming has spread to new countries and farming areas, the need for accurate classification of the plants has occurred.

On top of that, the 21 germplasm banks that make up the IOC network certify and verify the health status of any plant material exchanged between member banks.

Thanks to the network, research projects have been launched to authenticate and ensure the health of the most propagated cultivars in olive-growing countries.

Today’s announcement does not come as a surprise. Last May, IOC representatives, local authorities and promoters of the initiative took part in a series of meetings paving the way for Argentina’s formal entry into the germplasm bank network.

The other three international IOC banks are located in Córdoba, Spain; Marrakech, Morocco; and Izmir, Turkey.

• IOC

The intensification of farming methods is the driving force, according to SEO/BirdLife, with super-high-density olive groves being particularly detrimental to key species.

SEO/BirdLife noted that although such a significant average decline is deeply concerning, many individual species have suffered even more significant losses.

The rufous-tailed scrub robin, for example, saw a decline of nearly 95 percent since 2003; the little bustard, about 69 percent from 1998 to 2018; and the black-bellied sandgrouse, 34 percent between 2005 and 2009.

The most significant overall threats to all three of these species in Spain are rooted in widespread changes to agricultural methods.

Previous research showed that farmland is the most important habitat for bird conservation in Europe, harboring more than 50 percent of bird species in the European Union and 55 percent of European bird species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.

The Iberian peninsula is particularly important to many endangered and vulnerable species, with some 60 percent of the surviving global population of the great bustard now confined to Spain and Portugal, for example.

The intensification of agriculture has changed the Spanish landscape radically in recent decades. With increased productivity as its sole driving force, it has led to the massive expansion of monocultures, the reduction of wild and fallow areas, the transformation of large areas of dry land into irrigated land, and the widespread use of pesticides and herbicides.

These factors have decreased the quantity and quality of territory available to wildlife in general and birds in particular.

Monocultures, by definition, reduce biodiversity, leading to fewer plants with seeds as a food source, fewer places to breed and less shelter from predators and the elements.

In the case of super-high-density olive groves, immense tracts of land are used mostly for uniform rows of olive trees and much of the other vegetation is removed.

Not only does this create an environment hostile to wildlife, but it also involves the destruction of the existing environment, leading to the death or displacement of the entire local ecosystem.

As many species of bird are migratory, complex and long-established migration routes can also be interrupted or irrevocably broken.

Over the same period, the significant decline in European insects has also affected bird populations since approximately 60 percent of all known bird species are at least partly insectivorous.

A 2017 analysis estimated a seasonal decline of 76 percent and a mid-summer decline of 82 percent in flying insect biomass since 1990.

The exact causes of this decline remain unresolved. Still, the study’s authors noted that “agricultural intensification, including the disappearance of field margins and new crop protection methods, has been associated with an overall decline of biodiversity in plants, insects, birds and other species in the current landscape.”

In addition to the general decline of flying insects, intensive farming methods result in drastically reduced numbers of local ground prey species such as spiders, caterpillars and grasshoppers.

This results from the same factors that make the environments hostile to the birds, most notably lack of ground cover, an engineered monoculture, uniformity of landscape and increased use of artificial herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers.

The landscape has been further altered by the construction of vast industrial and transport infrastructures and, more recently, renewable energy installations such as photovoltaic and wind farms.

Due to their commercial nature, many of these projects are sited on land deemed “unproductive” by humans but vital to other species as their natural habitats.

Discussing the implications for the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 2022, José Eugenio Gutiérrez, delegate of SEO/BirdLife in Andalusia and head of the Life Olivares Vivos+ project, said that “to conserve our natural heritage… stopping this transformation of farmland into woody cropland or solar photovoltaic plants is a top priority that must go through adequate strategic planning at the territorial level, and compliance with the environmental objectives of the new CAP.”

The Olivares Vivos farming model, based on research carried out by the ecology department of the University of Jaén and the Arid Zones Experimental Station of the Spanish National Research Council seeks to reduce the negative environmental impact of olive farming while increasing biodiversity.

This is accomplished by introducing non-crop native species, installing support infrastructures for fauna such as ponds, nesting boxes, and fencing posts; and restoring so-called “unproductive areas” in olive groves such as gullies, streams, tracks, and walls.

SEO/BirdLife and the Life Olivares Vivos+ project have made numerous recommendations to regional, national, and E.U. government bodies regarding the need to consider the habitats of agricultural bird species when creating agricultural and environmental policies.

• SEO/Bird Life

The new Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) has been signed by the nations participating in the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) held in Montreal, Canada.

From December 7–19, hundreds of indigenous associations, environmentalists, researchers and business leaders from around the world joined environmental ministers from almost 200 countries to address the biodiversity crisis crippling the planet.

The signatories of the GBF also agreed to provide new funds to the least developed countries and developing states with the goal of boosting biodiversity.

“The stakes could not be higher: the planet is experiencing a dangerous decline in nature due to human activity. It is experiencing its largest loss of life since the dinosaurs. One million plant and animal species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades,” the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) wrote in a note announcing the new agreement.

The framework should achieve a few primary global goals, which include the tenfold reduction of the extinction rate for all species by 2050 and ending the human-induced extinction of threatened species.

Other significant commitments of the agreement include developing a sustainable approach and using biodiversity to acknowledge the value of nature. The agreement also aims to fairly share the benefits of genetic resources and digital sequence information.

The United States and the Vatican did not participate in the Convention or sign the final agreement.

Still, the U.S. administration’s biodiversity envoy, Monica Medina, met with COP15 delegates and discussed the U.S.‘s current biodiversity strategies, which include the protection of at least 30 percent of land and oceans and consistent participation in the United Nations Global Environment Facility.

To become effective, the framework will have to be ratified and adopted by the signing countries. “Success will be measured by our rapid and consistent progress in implementing what we have agreed to. The entire U.N. system is geared to support its implementation so we can truly make peace with nature,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP executive director.

The final agreement also listed 23 sectorial targets. They include restoring 30 percent of terrestrial and marine ecosystems, reducing the loss of highly relevant biodiversity-rich areas to near zero and halving global food waste.

The framework included a series of financial and credit commitments destined to impact biodiversity. It asked participating countries to reduce subsidies that harm biodiversity, such as those supporting the fossil fuel industry, by at least $500 billion per year. Countries should accompany this decrease with incentives for companies developing biodiversity and conservation-friendly solutions.

The agreement also asks for $200 billion annually to fund biodiversity-related projects. Such funds will be added to the at least $30 billion a year that developed countries will transfer to developing nations. These funds will help sustain the framework’s goals.

Finally, the GBF targets require transnational companies and financial institutions to monitor, assess and transparently disclose the risks and impacts on biodiversity their operations, portfolios, supply and value chains create.

As reported by The Guardian, the minister for Environment and Climate Change Canada, Steven Guilbeault, called the agreement “a major win for our planet and all of humanity, charting a new course away from the relentless destruction of habitats and species.”

“Governments have chosen the right side of history in Montreal,” World Wildlife Fund International director general, Marco Lambertini, told Reuters. But he warned that the GBF “could be undermined by slow implementation and failure to mobilize the promised resources. It also lacks a mandatory ratcheting mechanism that will hold governments accountable to increase action if targets are not met.”

“Make no mistake: this is a historic result for nature. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework provides a long-needed international blueprint to guide our collective turnaround of nature’s fortunes within this crucial decade,” Andrew Deutz, Nature Conservancy’s director of Global Policy, Institutions and Conservation Finance, said in a note.

• The final agreement official announcement

“The Olive Tree Park is a redevelopment project of an urbanized context that for centuries has been dedicated to the olive tree cultivation,” Nicola Malorni, one of the project’s promoters, told Olive Oil Times.

“This translates into recovering century-old olive trees and planting new ones, with the purpose of promoting social and work inclusion of vulnerable individuals and well-being of citizens.”

Inaugurated on the ‘Walking Among Olive Trees Day,’ the project was supported by local officials, Città dell’Olio, an association that includes more than 400 olive-growing municipalities, the Kairos social cooperative and several other local businesses and organizations.

The park was inaugurated with an olive oil tasting and other festivities centered around olive trees and olive oil.

Eighty seedlings belonging to the 20 registered regional olive varieties were planted: Gentile di Larino, Oliva Nera di Colletorto, Oliva di San Pardo, Salegna di Larino, Aurina, Olivastro d’Aprile, Rossuola, Olivastro Dritto, Sperone di Gallo, Cellina di Rotello, Rumignana, Olivastro, Rosciola di Rotello, Cazzarella, Olivetta Nera, Paesana Bianca, Cerasa di Montenero, Gentile di Mafalda, Paesana Nera and the recently-discovered Olivo Fumo di Guardialfiera.

“The creation of this unique place dedicated to olive biodiversity is confirmation of Molise as a small but great laboratory in the olive tree and olive oil sector,” said Pasquale Di Lena, who took part in the development of the project.

Similarly to its other projects, Kairos involved people belonging to vulnerable categories, including victims of violence, people with disabilities and people on probation in the management of the olive grove and extra virgin olive oil production.

Furthermore, the olive oil produced from the park’s trees will be donated to those in need and local health and social services.

“Besides the inclusion purposes, the project promotes the safeguard of the millenary olive culture of Molise,” Di Lena said.

“Moreover, it helps fight urban pollution thanks to the olive trees’ ability to capture and store carbon dioxide; it enhances a public green area now equipped for cultural, educational and sports activities; it promotes healthy lifestyles and food habits,” he added.

Trails with educational signage informing visitors about the different olive varieties run through the park, which also includes play and fitness areas, a topiary garden with plant sculptures, and a 30-seat agora located in the shade of an ancient olive tree.

“Accessibility is a fundamental point,” Malorni said. “All the itineraries are made with materials and slopes suitable for people with reduced motor and sensory skills. We have also planned the construction of naturalistic engineering works in view of accessible tourism projects.”

Known as the Terra Verte (green earth) program, the funds will be used to invest in food production, agricultural development and biodiversity protection.

At first, the initiative will be rolled out in four pilot regions, with plans to expand depending on its success.

The European Commission said the project’s primary goals are to develop a sustainable agricultural and forestry value chain in the country and equitably create jobs.

“Morocco has just experienced the worst drought in 40 years, threatening water and agricultural systems,” said Olivér Várhelyi, the European commissioner for neighborhood and enlargement. “In addition, the war in Ukraine is exacerbating tensions in the food markets, including in the E.U.‘s southern neighborhood region.”

The funds are expected to supplement two Moroccan development strategies: Generation Green and Moroccan Forests.

The government said Generation Green is meant to invest in rural communities and provide new opportunities, especially for young farmers, through mechanization and modernization of existing infrastructure.

Mohammed Sadiki, the country’s agricultural and forestry minister, told local media in a March 2022 interview that Generation Green promotes food security and food sovereignty while adding value to agricultural products.

One of the project’s goals is to expand agricultural cultivation areas, including olives. According to the International Olive Council, Morocco produced 200,000 tons of olive oil and 130,000 tons of table olives in the 2021/22 crop year.

Since records began in 1990, olive yields in the country have increased steadily. As of last year, Morocco was the world’s sixth-largest olive oil and table olive producer.

Meanwhile, the Moroccan Forests strategy will plant 600,000 trees, comprising more than eight different species, by 2030. The government added that the effort would also incentivize local populations to practice sustainable forestry.

Frans Timmermans, executive vice president for the European Green Deal, said the Terra Verte program recognized the importance of Morocco to the “green transition.”

“The support to Moroccan agriculture and forestry provided through this program shows that the E.U. is on Morocco’s side in the fight against the climate and biodiversity crises,” he added.

• European Commission
• Moroccan Communication Ministry
• Morocco World News

The trees will be planted in former olive groves, which were decimated by the spread of Xylella fastidiosa over the past nine years.

The municipality of Specchia, Lecce, in southern Puglia, signed an agreement with Foundation Sylva, an organization that restores landscapes through reforestation, to plant thorny oak, carob, strawberry, holm oak, mastic and other Xylella-resilient trees on 20 hectares in the province.

The project comes on the heels of a previous experiment in nearby Minervino di Lecce, where the foundation successfully replaced a Xylella-stricken area with 11,000 new trees. Along with planting the trees, the agreements also charged the foundation with taking care of the new forests for at least five years.

“Promoting a greater variety [of plants] in the area means creating a more protected environment concerning future plant epidemics,” Luigi de Vecchi, the president of the Sylva Foundation, told Corriere Salentino.

“After the reforestation project started a year ago in Minervino di Lecce… we are happy today to contribute to the post-Xylella landscape regeneration in the Specchia area,” he added.

While some of the involved areas are partially uncultivated, the remaining hectares were home to centuries-old olive trees, which died in just a few years as Xylella fastidiosa spread through the region.

“Thanks to the partnership with Foundation Sylva, Specchia can now create a large green lung,” said Anna Luigi Remigi, Specchia’s mayor. “The forest will generate oxygen and biodiversity, which will restore the biological cycles of our land, with the return of endangered flora and fauna.”

Xylella fastidiosa, a pathogen native to the Americas, is believed to have arrived in Italy from an infected coffee plant imported into Salento, at the southern tip of Puglia, in 2013.

Two subspecies of the pathogen infect olive trees, causing the deadly Olive Quick Decline Syndrome. In the past nine years, the disease has killed millions of olive trees, mostly in the Gallipoli area.

It took quite a long time for authorities to identify the cause of the disease and establish the actual proportions of the infection, which has spread to France, Portugal and Spain.

In just a few years, large portions of Salento’s historic olive tree landscapes were transformed into a graveyard. The spread of the disease also took a profound toll on the local economy, which was largely centered around olive oil production.

Thousands of olive growers, millers, bottlers and associated businesses had to cope with the effects of the unprecedented sanitary emergency, which included substantial eradication zones and large buffer areas to try and stem the spread of the disease.

As a result of these containment measures, the spread of Xylella fastidiosa has slowed significantly. However, there is still no cure or treatment for the disease.

• Corriere Salentino
• Lecce7

In a research article published in Bird Conservation International, the team evaluated the percentage of different land uses between 2000 and 2018 using data from the Corine Land Cover inventory, a pan-European satellite land survey database, concerning the birds’ natural habitats and known ranges.

They found that over this period, new olive groves occupied 2.14 percent and 2.61 percent of the Andalusian range of the Eurasian great bustard and little bustard, respectively.

Though previously widespread throughout Eurasia, from the British Isles to China, some 60 percent of the surviving population of the great bustard is now confined to the Iberian peninsula.

The little bustard has suffered a similar fate. Once breeding as far north as Poland, it has become extinct in its former central-European range over the past few decades.

All bustards are naturally grassland and steppe birds but are well-suited to open arable farmland. It is the conversion of such farmland to olive groves and other woody cropland that the authors believe may threaten the species’ future, not only because of overall habitat reduction but also because of habitat fragmentation.

Though capable of flying vast distances, bustards are primarily ground-dwelling and feed by foraging on vegetation and insects.

Iberian flocks of the great bustard, in particular, appear to migrate only very rarely, and even then for relatively short distances in response to extremes of temperature.

Therefore, “these changes in landscape configuration suggest a decline in both habitat availability and habitat quality for steppe birds that could affect their distribution and population size,” the researchers wrote.

“This article accurately shows the impact of habitat loss in cereal agrosystems in favor of woody crops, in this case, olive groves,” said José Eugenio Gutiérrez, a delegate of SEO/BirdLife in Andalusia and head of the Life Olivares Vivos+ project. “It exposes the effect of this habitat loss on the great bustard and the little bustard, something we already knew, but to which this interesting scientific work puts figures.”

“Although the expansion of olive groves in the last two decades has not been so important quantitatively… it has been qualitatively because it has occurred at the expense of farmland [previously] dedicated to cereal crops and has had an impact on the loss and fragmentation of habitat that has added to that accumulated over previous decades,” he added.

Of particular concern to conservation groups such as SEO/BirdLife is the authors’ observation that “no differences were found in the proportion of new olive groves planted inside and outside of Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) from 2000 to 2018, specifically designated to conserve these steppe birds.”

“This leads us to think that conservation policy should be reviewed and improved to prevent changes in land use from being detrimental to different species,” they added.

In response to this and other studies, both SEO/BirdLife and the Life Olivares Vivos+ project have made numerous recommendations to regional, national, and E.U. government bodies regarding the need to consider the habitats of steppe species when creating agricultural and environmental policy.

Discussing the implications for the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), Gutiérrez affirmed his belief that “to conserve our natural heritage (and, as we are seeing, to improve our food independence), stopping this transformation of farmland into woody cropland or solar photovoltaic plants is a top priority that must go through adequate strategic planning at the territorial level, and compliance with the environmental objectives of the new CAP.”

“Biodiversity conservation cannot fall entirely on the shoulders of these farmers who resist change, and until the agri-food market (and consumers) have incorporated biodiversity into the rules of the game, it is time for agricultural policy,” he added.

SEO/BirdLife said that if adequate management plans are in place, the impact can be mitigated. For example, in those cases where olive groves and arable land are interspersed in the so-called “mosaic” landscape that provides an overall benefit to biodiversity, including birdlife.

• SEO/BirdLife
• Cambridge University Press