Apulian Village Bets on Olive Growing Heritage to Revive Economy

Summary

The small vil­lage of Orsara in Italy is focus­ing on its ancient olive oil pro­duc­tion tra­di­tion to boost its econ­omy and pro­mote the region, with efforts to cre­ate a unique olive oil brand and involve local pro­duc­ers in sus­tain­able prac­tices. The ini­tia­tive includes train­ing courses for res­i­dents to become cer­ti­fied olive pruners, empha­siz­ing the impor­tance of young farm­ers in revi­tal­iz­ing the olive oil sec­tor and embrac­ing inno­v­a­tive approaches to agri­cul­ture.

A small Apulian vil­lage is bet­ting on its mil­len­nia-old olive oil pro­duc­tion tra­di­tion to revive its econ­omy and give new value to the region.

Nestled in the Dauni Mountains in the province of Foggia, Orsara is home to a com­mu­nity of 2,500 res­i­dents, known for unusual health and longevity.

“The idea came to us while vis­it­ing and restor­ing the agri­cul­tural path­ways in our coun­try­side,” Michele Terlizzi, del­e­gated coun­cilor for agri­cul­ture, vet­eri­nary doc­tor and olive grower, told Olive Oil Times. 

“There are so many cen­turies-old trees, fam­i­lies involved in olive oil pro­duc­tion, beau­ti­ful land­scapes and olive mills,” he added.

Most local olive oil pro­duc­tion comes from more than 20,000 olive trees, pre­dom­i­nantly of the Ogliarola cul­ti­var, with some Coratina and Leccino vari­eties.

Local extra vir­gin olive oil is known for its excep­tion­ally low acid­ity, often below 0.2 per­cent.

“As the munic­i­pal admin­is­tra­tion, we real­ized that we had the oppor­tu­nity to give our unique olive oil tra­di­tion the place it deserves in Orsara’s present and future,” he said.

The first step has been for­mally join­ing the nation­wide net­work of Città dell’Olio (Olive Oil Municipalities).

This well-estab­lished asso­ci­a­tion actively pro­motes sus­tain­abil­ity and high­lights the unique his­tory and fea­tures of olive-grow­ing ter­ri­to­ries across Italy.

“The sec­ond step was involv­ing local pro­fes­sional pro­duc­ers, some of whom imme­di­ately embraced a path that would lead to the cre­ation of an Orsara-spe­cific olive oil brand,” Terlizzi said.

Producers and local admin­is­tra­tors are devel­op­ing guide­lines to insti­tu­tion­al­ize agri­cul­tural prac­tices rooted in local tra­di­tions to achieve this goal.

“It’s not ready yet, but the guide­lines will include pro­vi­sions such as a zero-pes­ti­cides pol­icy,” Terlizzi said.

“Our meth­ods are based on tra­di­tion, cen­tered around tra­di­tional orchards. Intensive olive farm­ing isn’t part of our tra­di­tion,” he added.

According to the coun­cil, the new Orsara olive oil brand will empha­size soil nour­ish­ment and bio­di­ver­sity-enhanc­ing tech­niques, such as shred­ding prun­ings instead of remov­ing them and employ­ing treat­ments based on soil analy­sis.

Kaolin and zeo­lite treat­ments will replace chem­i­cal sub­stances that may harm bio­di­ver­sity.

“By adopt­ing shared prac­tices within the same ter­ri­tory, grow­ers will sup­port each other,” Terlizzi said. ​“For exam­ple, if a grower receives an order for large quan­ti­ties of extra vir­gin olive oil, they could part­ner with other local pro­duc­ers to ful­fill it.” 

“Another impor­tant step is cre­at­ing job oppor­tu­ni­ties in the olive oil sec­tor for younger gen­er­a­tions,” he added.

The munic­i­pal­ity has part­nered with Giorgio Pannelli’s prun­ing school to hold upcom­ing courses directly in Orsara.

“The coun­cil will fund the courses, enabling more res­i­dents to become cer­ti­fied olive pruners,” Terlizzi said.

Pannelli, a researcher at the Olive Research Center (CRA) in Perugia, cen­tral Italy, is among the pro­mot­ers of the sim­pli­fied poly­conic vase prun­ing tech­nique, a fast and highly effi­cient method gain­ing pop­u­lar­ity across Italy.

According to local offi­cials, the active par­tic­i­pa­tion of local grow­ers is a cru­cial fac­tor in the ini­tia­tive’s suc­cess.

Mario Simonelli, mayor of Orsara, empha­sized that the pro­jec­t’s great­est asset is the enthu­si­asm and energy of young farm­ers.

“Young pro­duc­ers are adopt­ing inno­v­a­tive approaches focused on organic farm­ing and mul­ti­func­tion­al­ity,” he said. ​“We intend to sup­port this path, enhanc­ing our ancient tra­di­tions and turn­ing them into mod­ern oppor­tu­ni­ties for growth.”

“On aver­age, olive grow­ers here are 40 years old,” Terlizzi high­lighted, empha­siz­ing their ini­tia­tive and con­tem­po­rary approach to agri­cul­ture.

This is sig­nif­i­cant, con­sid­er­ing that the National Agency for Agricultural Market Services (Ismea) has iden­ti­fied the aging pop­u­la­tion of olive grow­ers as one of the main chal­lenges fac­ing the Italian olive sec­tor.

This demo­graphic trend is believed to ham­per the adop­tion of new tech­nolo­gies and inno­v­a­tive prac­tices in olive oil pro­duc­tion.

In 2021, Ismea cal­cu­lated that for every olive grower under 40, there were eleven grow­ers over 65 nation­ally.

The first pro­duc­ers join­ing the Orsara ini­tia­tive are fea­tured in early pro­mo­tional mate­ri­als cre­ated by the admin­is­tra­tion. ​“But the ini­tia­tive remains open to all local pro­duc­ers who can join at any time,” Terlizzi remarked.

Alongside these ini­tia­tives, Orsara offi­cials sup­port expand­ing olive-grow­ing areas and recov­er­ing aban­doned groves.

“This morn­ing, we were unload­ing more than 100 new olive saplings,” Terlizzi said.

Oleotourism will play a sig­nif­i­cant role in the municipality’s plans.

“Tourists vis­it­ing Orsara will not only be able to buy some of the finest extra vir­gin olive oil from Puglia but will also expe­ri­ence first­hand how it’s pro­duced, vis­it­ing the olive groves and the ancient trees from which it comes,” Terlizzi said.

Visitors will also be able to immerse them­selves in the his­tory of local olive orchards.

“For exam­ple, in the past, local mar­riage agree­ments between two fam­i­lies always included an olive orchard as part of the dowry,” Terlizzi recalled. ​“The aim was clear, new fam­i­lies needed their own olive oil.”

In addi­tion to olives, honey and other agri­cul­tural prod­ucts con­tribut­ing to res­i­dents’ longevity, Orsara offers tours of his­tor­i­cal churches, muse­ums and ancient straw-clay ovens.

Additional activ­i­ties among the olive groves are planned as warmer weather approaches.

“Ultimately, olive oil will allow Italian and inter­na­tional tourists to expe­ri­ence the his­tory and char­ac­ter of Orsara’s unique and beau­ti­ful ter­ri­tory,” Terlizzi con­cluded.