Thou shalt have olive trees in all thy borders, and shalt not be anointed with the oil: for the olives shall fall off and perish. Deut.
I struck you with a burning wind, and with mildew, the palmerworm hath eaten up your many gardens, and your vineyards: your olive groves, and fig groves: yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord. Amos
The labour of the olive tree shall fail: and the fields shall yield no food: the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. Habacuc
The Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation has appointed Oleificio Morettini in Monte San Savino as the exclusive producer of the 'Jubilee oil', which will be used in all meals served at the Vatican and available for purchase at authorised sales points around the capital.
The cold-pressed oil, extracted from a selection of the finest Italian olives, will be marketed in specially designed cans carrying the logo of an olive tree resembling a cross. "The intuition of the can responds to Pope Francis' desire to export the Jubilee to all parts of the world, through a product that prilgrims can easily take with them and use in their homes as a symbol of this great event," sales director Alberto Morettini said. ansa Read More>>>>>
MARCH 2015
EU warning as olive tree disease spreads in Italy
Italy must step up efforts to contain a bacterial disease blighting olive trees in the southern province of Lecce, the European Commission has warned. The Xylella fastidiosa bacteria also threatens citrus fruit and vineyards. The Commission says at least 10% of the 11 million olive trees in Lecce are infected. It wants Italy to destroy infected trees and restrict any trade in species vulnerable to the disease. BBC Read More>>>>>>
MAY 2015
RACALE, Italy — Across the stony heel of Italy, a peninsula ringed by the blue-green waters of the Mediterranean, olive trees have existed for centuries, shaping the landscape and producing some of the nation’s finest olive oils. Except now, many of the trees are dying.
Sprinkled among the healthy trees are clusters of sick ones, denuded of leaves and standing like skeletons, their desiccated branches bereft of olives. The trees are succumbing to a bacterial outbreak that is sweeping across one of Italy’s most famous olive regions, as families who have manufactured olive oil for generations now fear ruin, even as officials in the rest of Europe fear a broader outbreak.
“It is devastating,” said Enzo Manni, the director of ACLI-Racale, an olive cooperative in the heart of the outbreak area. “It is apocalyptic. I compare it to an earthquake.” NY TIMES Read More>>>>>>
AUGUST 2015
Olive oil, staple of the much-ballyhooed Mediterranean diet, is about to get a little more expensive.
The world’s top producers, Spain and Italy, have faced a series of plagues that led one Italian newspaper to refer to 2014 as “the black year of Italian oil.” Ninety-five percent of the world’s olive trees are in the Mediterranean. Italy’s woes have knocked it down to third place in production, behind Spain and Tunisia, but it remains the world’s largest olive oil exporter. National Geographic Read More>>>>
More than a million ancient olive trees are being wiped out by a deadly disease in southern Italy, forcing a 20 per cent rise in the cost of olive oil across the EU.
The groves – which counts trees over 1000 years old among their number - were first infected in 2013 by xylella fastidiosa, a deadly bacterial pathogen that has no known cure.
To fight the outbreak, the Italian government last year approved the felling of 3,000 trees in Salento, a southern region in the country's heel to create a sanitary buffer zone between affected and non-affected areas. Daily Mail Read More>>>>>>
Comments
Post a Comment