The Soil O-Live project has announced its 2nd International Olive Oil Competition (The Soil Health & Olive Oil Quality Awards 2024), the only competition in the world that values both the quality of olive oil and the health of the soil.
This year’s edition incorporates an important novelty. While the previous edition was limited to those produced in the 52 estates that are members of the Soil O-Live project, this year’s edition is open to all olive oils that wish to participate.
In addition, the participation requirements for olive growers have been simplified to the maximum, as they only have to send the organisation two samples, one of 500 ml of the oil and another of 50 grams of the topsoil from the olive grove where it is produced, indicating the geographical coordinates for subsequent verification by satellite.
Antonio Manzaneda, professor of Ecology at UJA and coordinator of the Soil O-Live project, informed that the participating samples will be evaluated in two phases. In the first phase, the project’s scientific committee will analyse soil biodiversity, using soil basal respiration as a parameter, as set out in the forthcoming European Parliament and Council Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience [Soil Monitoring Act, 2023/0232 (COD)]. In the second phase, only oils whose soil samples are among the best ranked will be considered.
The oil tasting of the competition, which will be held on Thursday 10 July, will be judged by a jury of international experts of recognised prestige.
The tasting will be held at the Deoleo factory in Córdoba, the world’s leading olive oil company and a member of the project since 2023, in line with its firm commitment to quality and sustainability throughout the value chain.
After the deliberation, there will be three prizes for the best olive oils from healthy soils, based on intensity attributes: light fruity, medium fruity and intense fruity. In turn, the Soil O-Live project will award the prize for the healthiest soil among all the soil samples received. These awards will be presented at the International Conference on Sustainability in Olive Growing (ICSOC) to be held on 25 and 26 September 2025 in Úbeda.
At the presentation of this second edition held at the University of Jaén, Antonio Manzaneda, coordinator of the Soil O-Live project, emphasised that this competition aims to demonstrate that maintaining healthy soil is not incompatible with the production of the best olive oils in the world: ‘In the first edition of the competition, in which 52 samples participated, we could see that the production of high quality oil is possible with environmental sustainability, so this year we expect a significant participation of excellent oils and very healthy
Juan Carrasco, Deoleo’s Global Sustainability Manager, emphasised the importance of sustainability right from the source of the oil: “At Deoleo we understand that sustainability begins in the field. That is why we have been promoting our Sustainability Protocol and specific training for farmers for years, with the aim of encouraging practices that improve the health of the soil and the quality of the oil. Initiatives such as this competition are key to making this effort visible and demonstrating that it is possible to produce excellent oils while taking care of the environment from the source”.soils’.
Victoria López, Vice-Rector for Research and Knowledge Transfer at the University of Jaén, stressed that this competition highlights and gives visibility to the transfer to society of the European SOIL O-LIVE Project, ‘a pioneering initiative worldwide that will rigorously assess and reward the quality of EVOOs with high quality soil health’. He also recalled that Soil O-Live is a project that seeks to inform farmers about the implementation of sustainable practices and improvement of olive grove soils, highlighting the importance of promoting projects such as Soil O-Live, ‘which exemplify the value of public-private collaboration between universities and companies to advance sustainability and quality in the olive sector, within the framework of major European initiatives’.
María Teresa Reis, global director of Product Quality at Deoleo, stressed that “this competition is fully in line with our quality strategy, as it highlights the sensory excellence of the oil without disassociating it from respect for the environment. At Deoleo, we believe that good sustainable practices in the field are perfectly compatible with the production of top quality olive oils”.
