Granieri: “We must be able to read the market and look to the future. Olive growing represents an opportunity for local development and jobs.”
Ribbon-cutting with the Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida, at the “Colli Sabini” mill of OP Latium, the supply-chain organisation of Lazio’s olive-growing producers, led by Francesco Bosio, in Palombara Sabina.
A facility built with innovative techniques, covering two thousand square metres and able to process and store over 1 million litres of oil. A structure that uses sustainable, cutting-edge methods for processing olives, in compliance with the specifications of the various PDOs and the new Olio di Roma PGI. And it is also on promoting the new Olio di Roma PGI brand that the “Colli Sabini” mill has been working for over a year, with great economic results both in Italy and abroad.
“In Palombara Sabina we have built an important storage centre,” explains Coldiretti Lazio president David Granieri, “which today is already at full capacity and turns over 12 million euros. You need to be able to read the market and look to the future, and that’s what we have done with the facility we have just opened. This area was included by regional law a few years ago in a land reclamation zone, and is therefore strategic for olive cultivation. A crop that will increasingly need water, also in light of the climate change we are experiencing.” And again with an eye to the future, “we wanted to promote the new Olio di Roma PGI designation,” adds Granieri, “which represents a big step forward. We thank the Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida, for his presence at such an important moment for olive growing. A successful project that we will replicate for other supply chains too.”
The event was attended by institutional and sector representatives, the mayor of Palombara Sabina, Alessandro Palombi, who stressed how much his town represents an excellence for agri-food production, and in particular extra virgin olive oil; the vice-president of the Lazio Region’s Agriculture Commission, Giancarlo Righini, who, together with the Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida, and Coldiretti Lazio president David Granieri, after the opening of the “Colli Sabini” mill, continued the discussion on olive growing at the I.P.S.A.R. – I.P.S.S.E.O.A. Hospitality Institute.
“In Palombara Sabina I was able, once again, to see how the age-old history linking man to the land,” explains the Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida, “when it meets technical skills and boundless passion, creates wellbeing and acts as an economic driver for the community. There is a need to build networks between players in the sector, joining forces to bring development and appeal to the local area. Thanks to OP Latium and the National Association of Oil Towns for their work, which goes precisely in this virtuous direction. Lazio boasts a very long tradition in olive growing that deserves to be known and recognised.”
The “Towards the Oil Town” conference held at the hospitality institute in Palombara Sabina was also attended by the president of the National Association of Oil Towns, Michele Sonnessa, together with the head of the Hospitality Institute, Patrizia Marini, president of the National Network of Agricultural Institutes.
“This is not an easy time for agriculture,” concludes Granieri, “but when it comes to oil we will know how to command respect, in Europe too. Olive growing is not just a production system, it also represents tradition. An area like Sabina, which had the courage and distinctiveness to decide what its reference market could be. Here we have both a PDO and a PGI, and there is the possibility of growing this product further. We must know how to seize the opportunities offered by oil tourism, looking at the successful models developed for other supply chains, such as wine, bringing strength and wealth to the local area and jobs. With this in mind, it is also important to make the most of proximity tourism.”
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