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Extra virgin olive oil and all the processes used for its production can represent a concept of sustainability.
Being a “sustainable olive oil” allows for a more targeted and balanced development both for today’s consumers and for generations of consumers in the future, near or far. This sustainability is possible by using the correct resources without further compromising our planet and ecosystem. We can therefore speak of sustainable extra virgin olive oil when an EVO arrives on our tables respecting a series of environmental, economic, social and moral rules, such as to guarantee respect for natural and human resources.
A product such as sustainable extra virgin olive oil requires that the production processes be such as to guarantee respect for the environment, the protection of the territory and of the workers, of all those people involved every day in the production process, always respecting the various economic, ethical and social aspects.
In order for our EVO oil to be a sustainable food product, it is necessary to maintain a low environmental impact during all processes, from cultivation to distribution; that biodiversity and the olive-growing heritage be valued, so as to preserve it for future generations; that waste is reduced and that a way is found to manage waste and residues in a sustainable way.
But environmental sustainability cannot be mentioned without mentioning economic sustainability, it is in fact also necessary to guarantee a fair income for producers and correct remuneration for employees, and social sustainability, aiming to improve the quality of life and guarantee respect for workers’ rights as well as the maintenance of local ties and culture.
The subject of EVO oil as a sustainable product is extremely topical and, although there is still no single definition of sustainability applied to the product and to the extra virgin olive oil supply chain, we can say with certainty that the public’s attention on this subject it’s skyrocketing.
The production of high quality extra virgin oil has a reduced environmental impact: consider that given the carbon dioxide sequestration capacity of an olive tree, each kg of olive oil absorbs 0.4 kg of CO2 from the atmosphere, during its agricultural stage.
If we worked in such a way as to use only solutions to reduce the consumption of energy and raw materials used in the phases following harvesting, the emissions generated by the production of 1 kg of extra virgin olive oil could approach to zero or even be zero.
Indeed, it is precisely for this reason that the olive oil supply chain is taken as a model for the development of new environmental strategies, aimed at mitigating climate change and protecting biodiversity and the ecosystems that surround us.
However, given the competitiveness and the drop in production in recent years, 6 proposals have been made on the subject of “sustainable Italian olive oil supply chain“, in order to be able to excel at an international level:
1. promote an agricultural system with multiple olive groves, expanding the existing surfaces and converting, from traditional to intensive, olive groves without a multifunctional role, in order to enhance the specific features of the different types of planting by rebalancing their distribution on the territory in the best possible way;
2. encourage the creation of synergies between universities, producer organizations and companies in the supply chain to stimulate entrepreneurship through training and technical assistance aimed at both tomorrow’s professionals and those currently active;
3. pay the right price to all players in the supply chain to increase the profitability of businesses and encourage the investments necessary for the future development of the sector in terms of technology;
4. reduce the environmental impact of production activities through the adoption of sustainable practices by all players in the supply chain, in order to protect the environment and increase the value of the product perceived by the market;
5. carry out food education on the nutritional value of olive oil through a broad involvement of key stakeholders through the combination of training and dissemination activities, in order to consolidate the perception of extra virgin olive oil as a healthy and nutraceutical;
6. promote the certification of an extra virgin olive oil that ensures a high quality and sustainable product, to overcome the information asymmetries present on the market, increasing the perceived value and accompanying the customer towards a more responsible consumption.
