In the heart of the Gargano, in Puglia, we met Giovanni Trombetta, the olive grower who produces Bios, Monini's 100% organic extra-virgin olive oil. He told us everything about the olive harvest: how and when it happens, the daily challenges and the daily rewards.
The olive harvest is a special annual event for production areas such as the Gargano in Puglia, where the landscape seems painted in the soft shades of olive green. Entire villages mobilise to pick and press the olives, then bring extra-virgin olive oil to Italian tables — and beyond. One of these is Carpino, in the province of Foggia, where Giovanni Trombetta has been an olive grower since 1996. His large, rough-skinned hands bear the clear marks of twenty years of experience cultivating 50 hectares of olive groves, choosing to follow the principles of organic farming, "because I have always believed in eating food that is genuine, healthy and clean," he says.
Since the early 2000s he has been producing Bios oil for Monini, an Italian company that has been producing quality extra-virgin olive oil for three generations. It is a 100 per cent organic product, an oil that is "almondy, floral and fresh," as Trombetta describes it.
In Carpino the cultivar — that is, the type of olive grown — is the Ogliarola garganica, "the only one that adapts to this climate," Trombetta specifies. The harvest of this variety depends on the position of the olive groves. "This is a warm area, so véraison happens earlier. Here we start harvesting on 2 October: in Carpino itself there are those who start on 2 November because in some less exposed areas not too much summer sun comes through, whereas here we are always in full sun," Trombetta explains. The pressing of the olives — and therefore their transformation into extra-virgin olive oil — at his mill, also in Carpino, always takes place within 24 hours of harvesting.
Read also: Understanding extra-virgin olive oil
The harvest period lasts until January or February, depending on the area. In organic farming it must in any case be brought forward somewhat relative to full fruit ripeness in order to avoid "attacks by the olive fly, which is the most dangerous in terms of olive quality," Trombetta specifies. "It is a fly that attacks the olive by making a puncture. When there are many of them and the olives are damaged, the quality of the product is compromised, the oil becomes less good and no longer has the characteristics of extra-virgin olive oil." Harvesting olives early is also important for favouring a higher antioxidant content in the oil, whether organic or not.
One of the main defences against attacks by the fly and other pests is seasonality — that is, "when the seasons work as they should," in the olive grower's words. The disruption of seasonal climate cycles — increasingly extreme due to the greenhouse effect raising global temperatures and causing climate change — brings other risks too. "When it is too hot, the plant goes haywire," Trombetta explains. "The olive tree usually produces more one year and less the next: if warm weather arrives in December, for example, by February the plant flowers but it is too early and cold spells can still come. The blossom freezes and there is no crop."
The challenges linked to olive growing are therefore many. Tackling them on Trombetta's land is a team of ten people. Seven for the harvest, himself included, while for other tasks such as pruning and plant maintenance there are three. The help of technology makes it possible to speed up the harvesting process and also makes it less physically demanding.
"Hand harvesting is the traditional method that has been used since the time of the Romans," Trombetta recounts. Although it is associated with images of an idyllic bucolic life, on relatively flat terrain like that of Carpino it is not necessary to adopt this method, which in truth entails great sacrifices — both physical, because pickers have to climb the trees and hold uncomfortable positions, and economic. Hand harvesting is reserved for olive groves on steep terrain, and it is precisely here that production is most likely to be abandoned, because this method does not pay given the cost of labour.
To avoid the effort of hand harvesting and make the process more efficient, from the 1980s people began using rakes, which then became pneumatic — powered by compressed air — known as abbacchiatori. The latest advance has been shakers, which use vibrations to make the olives fall onto nets laid on the ground that allow them to be gathered together. "We use the abbacchiatori when the plant is not heavily laden — for example it has only 15–25 kilograms of olives," Trombetta explains. "If we grip a plant that has only 15 kilograms with the shaker machine we break it because it is more fragile. When the plant is heavily laden, on the other hand — it can carry as much as 50 kilograms — it 'closes up' to focus on the fruit, meaning less sap passes through the bark and it becomes thinner, so gripping it does not break it."
Talking with an olive grower about the techniques involved in the olive harvest throws into relief the importance of knowledge and experience in that role. For Trombetta this role is not just a job but a way of life, and he even highlights how one can come into tune with the trees: "When the plants are unwell I walk past them and they seem different, like people. By seeing the plants every day I can always step in — always naturally. The plant needs me."
Just as olive trees need passionate growers and companies committed to enhancing the quality of both product and territory, we too need players who can safeguard this tradition — which lies at the heart of our wellbeing and our Mediterranean identity. People and companies, like Monini, that act as a bridge between respect for the land and our desire to eat genuine, high-quality products, day after day.