Development of a sustainability technical guide for the Italian olive oil supply chain

Cooperation, coordination, or collaboration? A structured review of buyers' partnerships to support sustainable sourcing in supply chains

The growing need of today's global supply chains for a paradigm shift to sustainability requires all supply chain members to establish partnership relationships. However, the existing literature fails to provide a comprehensive understanding of these partnerships. The present research contributes to understanding the nature and structure of the buyers' partnerships for enhancing sustainable sourcing. A structured review methodology is adopted to collect information about supply chain partnerships from the literature on sustainable sourcing. Then, a content analysis is conducted on the collected information using a comprehensive partnership framework, i.e., the McNamara framework. The framework suggests ten interconnected facets to characterize the structure of a partnership and classifies the nature of partnerships into three categories called cooperation, coordination, and collaboration. The findings indicate that cooperative partnerships are not effective for promoting sustainable sourcing as they lack the exchange of resources between the participating organizations. In contrast, coordinative partnerships are mainly effective for tactical and operational initiatives to address reactive, end-of-pipe solutions for sustainable sourcing. Finally, collaborative partnerships should be mainly initiated at the strategic level to design proactive solutions for sustainable sourcing. Some practical implications are provided to facilitate the transition of supply chains to sustainability. Some open questions for future research are also provided.

Innovations towards sustainable olive crop management: a new dawn by precision agriculture including endo-therapy

Olive trees (Olea europaea L.) are deeply interwoven with the past, present and future of Mediterranean civilizations, both as essential economical as well as cultural valuables. Olive horticulture constitutes one of the primary agroecosystems in the Mediterranean regions of today. Being inhabitant of ecological niches, Olea europaea is prone to a peculiar vulnerability towards climatic and socioeconomical transformations that are briskly reshaping regional and global agroecosystems. Because of climatic changes and the biosafety risks of global agricultural trades, olive plants are highly susceptible to newly emerging diseases and pests, and the traditional olive horticultural crop protection practices are under scrutiny towards reducing their ecological impact. Hence there is an eminent demand for a more nature-positive olive tree crop management. Recent innovations in precision agriculture are raising the prospect for innovative crop protection methods that may provide olive farmers the required agility to respond to present and future agricultural challenges. For instance, endo-therapy, which is the systemic delivery of active ingredients via trunk injection, is a technology that holds promise of a true step-change in sustainable olive crop management. Endo-therapy allows reaching vascular diseases inaccessible to foliar treatments and delivers active ingredients in a precise manner with no risks of off-target drifts. Similarly, progresses in biological precision delivery using controlled release of active ingredients based on innovative formulation technologies are showing an exciting potential for more targeted and sustainable crop protection solutions. This review summarizes the latest innovations on both physical and biological precision deliveries in the realm of olive arboriculture in the Mediterranean regions and gives an outlook how these technologies may help orchestrating innovative olive culture practices soon.

The Introduction of Allochthonous Olive Variety and Super High-Density System in the Abruzzo Region: A Study on Olive Oil Quality

The transition to a sustainable economic and environmental management of olive oil sector needs to be implemented in both national and regional territories through the introduction and development of innovative growing systems and variety. In this study, the olive oil quality parameters of local and allochthonous varieties cultivated in different orchards located in the Abruzzo region (Italy), using traditional and super high-density systems, were analyzed. Frantene, Lecciana, Koroneiki, and a mix of Arbequina and Lecciana provided olive oils rich in flavonoids and secoiridoids compounds with respect to the local varieties Frantoio, Leccino, and a mix of Dritta, Leccino, and Pendolino. Oleic/linoleic ratio was influenced by cultivar and training systems with super high-density olive oils rich in oleic acid. Frantene showed a peculiar fatty acid profile different from cultivars grown in the same location; moreover, interesting similarities were found between Frantene and the mix of Dritta, Leccino, and Pendolino in terms of health-related compounds. The potential development of innovative sustainable training system to improve olive oil quality was highlighted. The study's results identify olive varieties suitable for super high-density systems spread in the Abruzzo region, representing a valid alternative for the olive growers to improve both the quality of the olive oil, as well as the company's income.

Testing the Single and Combined Effect of Kaolin and Spinosad against Bactrocera oleae and Its Natural Antagonist Insects in an Organic Olive Grove

The presence and infestation level of Bactrocera oleae was monitored in an organic olive orchard divided into differently treated parcels with kaolin (K), spinosad (S) and with kaolin and spinosad (K + S) in alternate rows. The treatments did not seem to affect olive fruit fly population dynamics, while statistically significant protective effects were recorded against total and harmful infestation, but not against the active one. Eventually, neither kaolin nor spinosad were shown to have a particular detrimental effect against naturally occurring B. oleae parasitoids.

MIMERA: An online tool for the sustainable pesticide use at field scale

As echoed in the European Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategy, the EU agricultural policy has clear objectives of improving the sustainability (environmental, economic and social) of farm productions. The environmental goals are supported by promotion of organic farming and the responsible management of inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides. In this framework, there is a need is to provide farmers with tools to evaluate the best options for reducing environmental impact and measure performances in improving the sustainability of their productions. This paper introduces MIMERA, a GIS easy-to-use tool for the sustainable use of pesticides at farm level. MIMERA was developed in the framework of the Train-Agro project funded by the Lombardia Region (Italy), in the framework of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development Programme (EAFRD). The main goal is to help professional pesticide users to identify the best pest management strategies by comparing the environmental risk of authorized commercial formulations of pesticides, identifying parcel most at risk within the farm boundaries and suggesting the most appropriate risk mitigation measures for the prevention of surface water contamination. Finally, MIMERA offers the opportunity to track the risk trend of the selected pest management strategies utilized during years. The proposed methodology and structure of MIMERA are described along with underlying data and algorithms are described. An example of its application by considering different pest management strategies adopted by farmers in an area characterized by the intensive presence of maize crop in Lombardia Region is presented.