The European Soil O-live project has completed its first phase of research on soil health in Mediterranean olive groves in 2024 and has begun the phase of implementing solutions. Furthermore, training and awareness-raising in the agricultural sector regarding soil health and soil sustainability has been another of the pillars of the work of the project coordinated by the University of Jaén. The Soil O-Live project has analysed more than 500 soil samples from 52 farms in Spain, Greece, Portugal, Italy and Morocco. The first results show ‘a picture of the soil that can be improved’ in key indicators for its health, especially with regard to its compaction, copper accumulation, erosion rates, amount of organic matter, presence of microplastics, fertility and soil respiration, the latter parameter that approximates the biodiversity contained in the soil. This assessment has been presented at the 14 sustainability trainings held within the project this year and at the Soil Mission Week in Brussels in November.
With regard to training and awareness-raising in the agricultural sector, the University of Jaén and Deoleo Global, members of the Soil O-Live consortium, have taught more than 300 farmers the responsibility of implementing sustainable practices in their olive groves to care for the soil and maintain its function. They have done so in the 14 aforementioned training sessions that have been held in recent months in Andalusia, Extremadura and Portugal. In each of these seminars, the first part explained the objectives of the project, the research that has been carried out and the first results. And a second part, in which Deoleo explained its sustainability protocol, highlighting the importance of raising awareness for the production of sustainable olive oils.
The second phase of the project has also begun, in which remediation solutions are being sought to improve the situation of the olive grove soil, using for example biochar, compost or the inoculation of micro-organisms such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. One of the actions in this line has been carried out on the ‘El Valle’ farm, located between the Cordovan towns of Cañete de las Torres and Baena, one of the 52 experimental farms where the researchers of this project are working. Specifically, different organic amendment and electro-remediation treatments have been implemented to study their possible impact on soil health indicators and also on the yield of the treated olive trees. One of them consisted of the application of biochar generated from olive pomace. This high quality charcoal, produced by the company Carboliva based in Puente del Obispo, has a very porous structure and therefore has a great capacity to retain water-soluble nutrients and water, thus improving soil conditions. In addition, a microbial inoculum, provided by the Dutch company Reka, has been applied to determine the effect of the inoculated mycorrhiza-forming fungi in order to improve crop nutrition.
In the field of research, the discovery of a new genus of free-living nematode has been the subject of the first scientific publication in the framework of the Soil O-Live project. The journal ‘Zoosystematics and Evolution’ published in July the article ‘Oleaxonchium olearum gen. et sp. nov. (Nematoda, Dorylaimida) associated with an olive grove in the southern Iberian Peninsula, and new insights into the evolutionary relationships within Belondiridae’, by Reyes Peña Santiago, Miriam García Ruiz, Alba N. Ruiz Cuenca and Joaquín Abolafia Cobaleda, members of the Department of Animal Biology, Plant Biology and Ecology of the University of Jaén and researchers attached to the project.
Another of the milestones of 2024 for the Soil O-Live project was the celebration of the 1st Soil O-Live Olive Oil and Saldable Soils Competition, in which not only the quality of the oils but also the health of the olive grove soils was assessed. The prizes, which were awarded at the University of Jaén’s facilities located in the Cazorla, Segura y las Villas Natural Park, went to an arbequina oil from Almazaras de la Subbética, an itrana from the Iannotta estate and a hojiblanca from Finca la Torre located in Málaga. In addition, a special mention for the farm with the healthiest soil was awarded to Dimitris Mitaros (Briani, Island of Lesbos, Greece). This first edition of the competition was a pilot experience and was limited to the 52 farms participating in the Soil O-live project, with plans to extend participation in the next edition to all olive farms and commercial partners who wish to take part.
Precisely at the same time as the aforementioned awards ceremony, the workshop ‘Diagnosis of the Mediterranean olive grove soil’ was held at the headquarters of the University of Jaén in the Torre del Vinagre. In this working meeting of the consortium members, some of the most relevant results of the first months of this European project were analysed, including soil contamination due to the use of phytosanitary products such as pesticides, copper or antibiotics, or the nitrogen cycle in the olive grove and how it affects soil loss, among other issues.
In addition, the Soil O-Live project has participated in numerous events related to both the olive and soil sectors, such as the Olive Oil World Congress; the 6th International Yale Symposium on Olive Oil and Health held in Crete; the II Forum of Young Soil Researchers in the Soil Carbon; the European Mission Soil Week in Brussels; the Meeting on Integrated Protection of Olive Crops in Baeza; the ‘Symposium on Environmental Engineering in Palermo’; the ‘Annual meeting of the ISO Technical Committee for Soil Quality ISO/TC190’; the ‘II Oliday Conference’ in Greece; the ‘OrgHort 2024 Symposium’ in Warsaw (Poland); the ‘Agroecology Europe Association annual meeting’ in Brussels; the ‘#75thISE de Montréal’; or the ‘Annual meeting of the European Soil O-Live Project’, which took place in January in Mytilene.