For four years, the oLIVE CLIMA project in Greece has tackled the challenges posed by climate change in the Mediterranean by introducing innovative techniques for converting olive cultivation in a climate management tool.
Since October 2012, the olive groves in the most fertile areas of Heraklion (Peza), Lasithi (Mirabello) and Messinia (Nileas) in Southern Greece have participated in an ecological experiment under the auspices of the European Union. The techniques that have been used have immediate, visible and positive economic benefits.
The project aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase carbon sequestration, to reverse the loss of organic matter in soil and enhance fertility and water retention in the soil of the olive grove. Will provide farmers and consumers with a transparent system of information on the environmental performance of food production processes, will reduce the total olive oil production costs and create added value in the standardization of eco-friendly products.
The techniques that promotes the program are the recycling of wood from the pruning of trees to use as mulch or fertilization and the use of by-products produced by the mill for fertilization through composting. Then, trying to capture the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and transfer it in plants through photosynthesis and to achieve storage in plant tissue and soil by modifying the olive grove flora or the pruning of olive trees. Also experiments with conservation practices of organic matter through the non-soil tillage, to reduce erosion and destruction of organic matter and to improve the water storage capacity of the soil.