Giovanna Mercante
Pierpaolo Dettori

Products Olive oil
Location: Nugoro – Su Tuvu
Extension: 4 ha and xxx olive trees
Employs: Themselves

They grow organically (but without certifications) various vegetables and fruits, which they sell directly to loyal customers. They also produce olive oil, and this is Giovanna’s true passion. The retail channel is the same – direct sales.

Giovanna’s father has extended the olive grove over the years, grafting wild plants that already grew in the area. The plants are therefore scattered following the natural topography of the land or the casual distribution of the grafted specimens.

The trees do not receive any irrigation (which is customary for olive trees). The soil below the trees is ploughed in some years, else they cut the grass to simplify olive collection and as a measure of fire protection.

They 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. They store the oil in stainless-steel containers (separated by month of harvest) in their depot in Nugoro, and sell to the customers who often bring their own vessels.

The area that hosts their grove, su Tuvu, is an area known in the town for its many olive trees. Unfortunately, in 20xx the municipality decided to build on a hillside of century-old trees the new wastewater treatment plant, originally planned at the bottom of a large valley nearby. They expropriated the land from the owners, erased hundreds of trees and reshaped the hill to host the tanks, the reactors, the driveways… Now they would like to build a new water tank, on another hillside, uphill from the treatment plant. this should hold the treated water to irrigate the valley below. The piping to pump the water uphill now threatens the property of Giovanna and Pierpaolo, who are trying to fight this project together with other growers in the area.