Olive groves

The management of the olive grove contemplates several activities aimed at keeping its efficiency and the health of the plants high, including cutting the grass, harvesting the fruit at the right times, fertilizing the soil to ensure the right nutritional approach and pruning once a year. The olive grove can survive even in conditions of water shortage, however, to increase its profitability, it is best to proceed with localized irrigation while avoiding wetting the canopies. Generating an environment provided with biodiversity and balanced is the best condition to reduce the need for human intervention to defend the plants.

Proper oil farming involves specific equipment to manage the plants (harvesters, defoliators) and adequate fertilizers for plant nutrition and defense against diseases and insects. All this is needed to bring excellent oil to the table every day. Whether operating in classic type olive groves (with large trees) or managing modern olive groves with high or very high density, the introduction of mechanized and facilitated operations in the daily management of the olive grove allows in most cases to increase its productivity, reducing the use of labor and lowering its related costs.

The main objective in the maintenance of an olive grove is to maintain an appreciable constancy of production: in this way, healthy plants can be maintained by ensuring good ventilation and sufficient sunlight, making them less susceptible to disease and infestation by various pests.

Maintenance of the olive grove includes several activities necessary to ensure that the plants remain healthy, such as: removing dry branches, carrying out light pruning, applying lime and copper to wounds to disinfect them, and separating sterile branches (suckers) that take away nourishment from the healthy part. These practices make it possible to improve the overall health of olive trees by reducing the use of herbicides, toxic substances that poison the soil and groundwater.