It was a cold shower for the 470 members of the Consortium for the Protection of Garda DOP extra virgin olive oil, reading the Ministerial Decree inherent criteria and methods of use of the Fund for the development and support of the olive-oil supply chain.
An economic support long invoked by the sector, which arrives in a particularly complicated year for Lake Garda olive growing (after that of 2019, the 2021 collection was also zero) assigning 30 million euros to the olive oil production chain for investments and modernization of plants.
But the long-awaited Decree, published in the Official Gazette No. 5 of 8 January 2022, it excludes – in fact – most of the producers of Garda DOP oil from the contributions.
Of the resources of the «Fund for the development and support of agricultural, fisheries and aquaculture supply chains», in fact, they will only benefit "olive producers associated with recognized producer organizations" and with one "minimum affected area equal to 2 ha".
But the decision to give the contribution exclusively to companies linked to recognized Producer Organizations, in fact excludes companies associated only with the Protection Consortium: “Una choice - underlines the president of the Consortium, Laura Turri - that it appears to us producers in contrast with the objectives of the DM and with the role of the Protection Consortium itself that, how recognized by the same Ministry for Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, is that of protect and promote the Garda DOP product but also assist members in pursuing the quality of the oil and the sustainability of the supply chain we are part of".
Another key issue is theadmissibility to the contribution only for companies whose olive grove area is equal to or greater than 2 hectareslimit which, for Garda PDO, mean do not grant aid to more than 80% of olive growers.
The territorial conformation, between the mountains and the lake, while on the one hand guaranteeing the very high quality of the product (today Garda DOP oil is among the top ten olive-growing DOPs in Italy), also draws narrow boundaries of the olive groves, with the consequent fragmentation of productions: just think that the total area registered in the denomination is 793 ha, distributed among 549 olive growers. «Paradoxically, it is precisely this particular geographical structure that excludes us from the economic support destined for the supply chain to which we belong» she says president.
“We live in a situation of total uncertainty – continues Turri - that the members of our consortium will not be able to sustain for long without economic aid, causing the definitive abandonment of the olive groves”.
