Olive growing in FVG, training through the EVO Oil Producers Consortium

Accompanying the professional growth and development of the sector and making Friulian olive growing more ambitious and profitable . The new challenge of the Consortium of Evo Oil Producers Fvg – a reality born in 2022 and now made up of 34 olive growing companies – is called training. As a provider of the Integrated System of Agricultural and Rural Development Services (SISSAR) of the FVG Region , the Consortium has in fact started a path of consultancy and specialist assistance to companies in the Provinces of Udine and Pordenone . The first of a series of technical refresher meetings – organized in agreement with ERSA and open to all interested parties – will be held on Wednesday 2 July starting at 3 pm at the Consortium headquarters, in via Malignani 26, in Martignacco (Ud).

Speakers will include Professor Enrico Maria Lodolini (Polytechnic University of Marche), who will address the basic agronomic and physiological issues for crop intensification, and Professor Raffaele Testolin (President of the Agricultural Society Contessa Florio), who will focus on olive tree pollination. The end of the classroom training session will be followed by a visit to a high-density olive grove in the municipality of Flaibano, in via Grazarolli, and to the experimental field of the Servadei Agricultural Company of the University of Udine.

THE PUSH TO THE SECTOR – In recent years, there has been significant growth in the olive growing sector. The Friuli Venezia Giulia Region has reawakened the sector, offering concrete help to businesses, and financing approximately 1.8 million euros in the two-year period 2022-2024 for the project of the Consorzio Produttori Olio EVO FVG and its members, for the production of olives, the transformation of the raw material and the marketing of extra virgin olive oil. The aim is to provide an opportunity for diversification of income in the agricultural sector, supporting investment in the extension of olive grove surfaces, promoting cultivation practices to increase production per hectare and aiming for an excellent extra virgin olive oil, as a valorization of an excellent product of the territory. To concretely support businesses, the Region has then made available subsidized financing, with debt forgiveness of up to 80%, responding to the liquidity needs of micro-, small and medium-sized businesses, deriving from investments for the production of olives, the purchase of machinery and equipment to be shared among members and for the marketing and promotion of products that derive from the processing of olives.

THE CONSORTIUM'S STEPS - The measures have had the desired effects. The FVG EVO Oil Producers Consortium, which by the end of the year will have 26 thousand plants on the ground on 53 hectares, has created a cutting-edge processing center in Martignacco, equipped with a latest-generation mill capable of processing 10-12 quintals of olives per hour for members and also for third-party producers. With a view to providing valid technical-scientific support for the relaunch of olive growing in FVG, also through higher-density plants, the Consortium has entered into an important collaboration with the Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences of the Polytechnic University of Marche for the three-year period 2025-2028 : the intention is to develop innovative cultivation techniques specifically adapted for higher-density olive growing models , taking into account the particular soil and climate conditions of our region and enhancing the varieties that are an expression of the territory. The goal is to optimize yield while maintaining high quality of the oil produced and ensuring the sustainability of agricultural practices.