Over the coming months, the European project Soil O-Live and Deoleo will develop new training courses on sustainability for farmers in different parts of Spain and Portugal. The aim of these sessions, which will be held in collaboration with Jaencoop, Oleand Manzanilla Olive, Viñaoliva, Almaliva, Olivomundo and interóleo, is to instruct and inform farmers on the implementation of sustainable practices in their olive groves and soil care.
After the training session on 2 April in the Extremadura town of Entrín Bajo, the next event will be held today, 29 April, at the SCA Nuestra Señora de la Cabeza in Fuente del Maestre (Badajoz). During the month of May, a training session will be held on the 8th at the SCA Nuestra Señora de la Misericordia in Torreperogil (Jaén); on the 12th, at Bodegas La Aurora, in Montilla (Córdoba); on the 20th, at the SCA Virgen de la Torre, La Victoria (Córdoba); and on the 21st of May at Oleand Manzanilla Olive.
The next one will be on 11 June at the SCA Gutamarta in Cortijos Nuevos. On 17 June it will be the turn of the SCA San Isidro de Villanueva del Arzobispo; on 19 June at Aceites Carrascal de Torres de Albanchez; and on 25 June at the SCA Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Villacarrillo. In September, the first appointment will be on the 1st at the Olivomundo olive mill in Santa Clara de Louredo in Portugal and on the 3rd at the Unión Oleícola de Cambil (Jaén). There are also plans for additional training courses in Italy and Greece, the dates of which are still to be decided.
In the last two years, almost 1,000 farmers have been trained in the importance of soil care for the maintenance of the tree and the quality of olive oil through this project, which is 100% funded by the European Union. Precisely, one of the objectives of Soil O-Live is to study the effect of agricultural management on the general state of health of soils in Mediterranean olive groves, as well as its impact on the production and quality of olive oils produced in the Mediterranean region.