The Association
Who we are
Save the Olives ONLUS is a non-profit organisation of volunteers tackling the Xylella Fastidiosa epidemic in Apulia, southern Italy. Detached from politics, far from polemics and indifferent to conspiracy ideas, we act together in a millenary landscape trying to concentrate the forces of the interested parties to raise awareness and educate the inhabitants of the attacked territory. We are agronomists, farmers, artists, engineers, students, businessmen and researchers, but above all we are great defenders of our land who believe in a sustainable future for the olive culture.
Association Save the Olives
The operating arm of Save the Olives ONLUS, Associazione Save the Olives, is a non-profit organisation open to all those who, lovers of olive trees and Apulia, wish to make their own small contribution to the preservation of this territory, and to be involved and updated on what is happening about the Xylella issue.
Donato Boscia
RESEARCHER CNR BARI
Pietro Petroni
AGRONOMIST
Costantino Parma
AGRONOMIST
Nicola Di Noia
GENERAL MANAGER UNAPROL
DIRECTOR CNR BARI
Diane Adrianssen
De Spoelberch
Emanuela De Nora
Costantino Parma
Helen Mirren
Donato Boscia
DIRECTOR CNR BARI
Pietro Petroni
AGRONOMIST
Costantino Parma
AGRONOMIST
Nicola Di Noia
GENERAL MANAGER UNAPROL
DIRECTOR CNR BARI
Diane Adrianssen
De Spoelberch
Emanuela De Nora
Costantino Parma
Helen Mirren
Our goal
Save the Olives collaborates with the most important players in the fight against Xylella: C.N.R.'s Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, Coldiretti, Unaprol, and Forestaforte.
Our actions focus on two fundamental lines of action:
» The first and most urgent, is the preservation of the centuries-old olive trees of the Plain of Monumental Olive Trees, the area of Apulia with the highest concentration of monumental and ultra-century-old olive trees in the world. This is a unique and irreplaceable landscape and historical heritage for Puglia and for all humanity.
» The second is the search for new native olive varieties that are productive and resistant to the Xylella fastidiosa bacteria. New varieties, soon to be announced, are the result of ten years of scientific research achieved through crosses of native plants and genetic improvements.
OUR ACTION
We try to fight Xylella on two fronts: on the one hand, we aim to raise awareness among a wider public, trying to get more parties and experts to join our cause. This is why we attend conferences and organise public events, always inviting researchers and agronomists to discuss the issue. On the other hand, we try to demonstrate in the field the correlations between good agronomic practices and scientific research innovation. Through a careful combination of the two we will try to tackle the epidemic attack of Xylella Fastidiosa that is destroying Apulian olive groves.
Grafting is a reversible agronomic practice that allows the anatomical-physiological fusion of two individuals belonging to different species or varieties, rootstock and graft, of which the former constitutes the basal part of the plant and the latter the aerial part that allows biological continuity. It has been shown that some varieties of olive trees are more resistant to Xyllella, and therefore grafting on centuries-old olive trees could save them, thus protecting the historical and landscape heritage of Apulia.