For Piedmont extra virgin olive oil harvest and quality on the rise

Piedmont's extra virgin olive oil is growing and there is every indication of a very high quality for the new season. This is confirmed by the data released by the 'Consorzio di tutela dell'olio extra vergine di oliva del Piemonte' (Consortium for the Protection of Piedmont Extra Virgin Olive Oil), which record an increase of +20% in olive production and +15% in oil production in 2024, despite lower yields due to the rains. Recent estimates indicate about 350 hectares of olive groves in Piedmont, with an annual production of about 250-300 hectolitres of extra virgin olive oil. These data place Piedmont, together with the other regions of northern Italy, in countertendency with respect to regions historically vocated to production: the number of producing companies is increasing compared to a significant drop in the last decade of the territories, and production is up 75% in the north despite lower yields. And even on the quality front, the signs are positive: "The mild winter that has just ended has allowed the plants a regular development preparatory to obtaining a production of excellent quality in 2025, confirming the typical characteristics of oil from our region: the light/medium fruitiness, the excellent bitter/spicy balance and fresh scents. All characteristics that are meeting with great appreciation on the market,' underlines the President of the Consortium for the Protection of Extra Virgin Olive Oil of Piedmont, Marco Giachino.

Against a backdrop of growing consumer interest in Evo, the Consortium and the Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Food Sciences (Disafa) of the University of Turin, in collaboration with the Turin Chamber of Commerce Chemical Laboratory, launched the first edition of the School of Olive Growing and Extra Virgin Olive Oil in Piedmont in 2024. The School offers courses in physiological suitability, olive growing and labelling. Also thanks to the Consortium, the Ministry of Agriculture has granted Disafa recognition as a professional tasting committee for the evaluation of the organoleptic characteristics of virgin olive oils, which can thus support Piedmontese producers in determining the quality and genuineness of the oil produced. This assessment (panel test) has legal value for the evaluation and control of the organoleptic characteristics of virgin and extra virgin olive oils, PGI and PDO. "It is a further and decisive step in supporting Piedmontese companies and also an example of how university research, through cooperation with stakeholders, can contribute to sustainable development and local economic growth," points out the president of the Consortium. "It is a strong signal towards the recognition of a sector that is growing both qualitatively and quantitatively and that is imposing itself on consumers' tastes.

Giachino explains that since the end of the 1990s the olive tree has found a new home in Piedmont, first for private use, through the recovery of uncultivated land, for embellishment or for small family productions, but then there have been companies that have decided on a total or partial reconversion of crops that were no longer as productive as they once were. "A choice also made by those who already had vineyards, for agricultural income and also to play the hospitality card," adds the president of the Consortium. The producers' willingness to invest, to which changes linked to climate change have recently been added,' he concludes, 'have allowed us to intercept a qualitative-quantitative trend that greatly helps the territory, and the olive tree has proved to be an excellent driving force for the tourist and economic development of the areas concerned.