Planting Systems for Modern Olive Growing: Strengths and Weaknesses

The objective of fully mechanizing olive harvesting has been pursued since the 1970s to cope with labor shortages and increasing production costs. Only in last twenty years, after adopting super-intensive planting systems developing appropriate straddle machines, a solution seems have found. spread plantings, however, raises serious environmental social concerns, mainly because small number cultivars that are currently used (basically 2), compared over 100 today cultivated on large scale across world. Olive growing, indeed, insists 11 million hectares. Despite its being located mostly Mediterranean countries, numerous growing districts characterized by deep differences climate soil frequency nature stress. To date, coped biotic abiotic stress thanks great cultivar diversity. Pending new technologies supporting plant breeding will provide wider suitable for systems, short term, models must be developed. New orchards need exploit present various olive-growing areas favor productions environmentally, socially, economically sustainable. As fruit we should focus “pedestrian orchards”, based trees canopies whose top can easily reached people from ground machines (from side top) carry out, targeted way, pesticide treatments, pruning harvesting.