Giovanna Mercante
&
Pierpaolo Dettori
Products Olive oil
Location: Nugoro – Su Tuvu
Extension: 4 ha and xxx olive trees
Employs: Themselves
Giovanna and Pierpaolo are a couple. They live and work on their land in su Tuvu, on the outskirts of Núgoro, since 2012. Giovanna grew on this plot of land, her parents also live there and still help with some of the work. Next to farming, she works as a florist in a shop in town and Pierpaolo as…
They grow organically but without certifications various vegetables and fruits, which they sell directly to loyal customers. They also produce and retail olive oil, Giovanna’s true passion.
The olive grove is old, and Giovanna’s father has extended it over the years, grafting wild plants that already grew in the area. Giovanna and Pierpaolo have also acquired some neighboring stretches and have restored traits of olive groves engulfed by macchia following years of neglect. They have nevertheless left several oak trees growing among the olives, together with pears grafted on wild rootstock and other fruit trees.
The grove receives no irrigation – as customary for olive trees. The grass among the plants is mowed with a mower attached to a tractor, to simplify olive collection and to prevent fire. The organic matter is left to decompose on the soil. At times, they plough the soil among the trees.
Olive trees and stone oaks in the foreground. Núgoro‘s wastewater treatment plant in middle distance and Núgoro‘s mountain, the Monte Orthobene in the back.
The treatment plant replaced the old groves that covered the flanks of the hill.
Author: Aristeu
© Aristeu
All four members of the family collect olives by hand, between October and December. These are brought to a mill in the village of Orosei, and oil is extracted within 48 hrs from collection.
The unfiltered, extra virgin oil is brought to their depot in Núgoro and stored in stainless-steel containers, separated by month of harvest. After allowing it to settle for about a month, it is sold to the customers, who often bring their own vessels to be filled.
An extent of the olive grove and in the background the valley of Badde Manna and the village of Ulíana surmounted by its mountain.
Author: Aristeu
© Aristeu
The area of su Tuvu is known and renowned in town for its olive grooves and the quality of its oil.
Unfortunately, in 2004 the municipality decided to build on a hillside of century-old trees the new wastewater treatment plant, originally planned at the bottom of the valley of Badde Manna.
The project was approved, the owners expropriated of their land, hundreds of trees erased and the hill’s profile reshaped to host tanks, reactors, driveways…
From the beginning, the project included a way to reuse the treated wastewater for irrigation. This part however, never saw completion. In 2023, the project was revived and this is still undergoing evaluation. It would see the construction of large tanks to hold the treated wastewater uphill of the treatment plant. This would therefore have to be pumped to the tanks and then could flow by gravity to irrigate the plots in badde manna, there where people first refused to have the wastewater treatment plant.
The conducts that should bring treated water from the plant to the hill, should pass through Giovanna’s and Pierpaolo’s property, threatening many of their trees.
They, together with other growers in the area, have joined a local protest movement to resist the project.
Products
Nessun farmer trovato.