Olive growing represents a very important sector of Ligurian agriculture, particularly the Taggiasca cultivar, which accounts for more than 50 percent of regional olive growing, spread mainly in the provinces of Imperia and Savona. This cultivar retains the characteristic of dual-purpose (i.e., oil and table) on which it is necessary to develop integrated pest management strategies for different pests and product uses.

The two-year project aims to identify an integrated defense protocol for combating the main pests of olive trees, with particular reference to the fly, in light of the Ministry of Health ‘s note of July 24, 2019 on the withdrawal of plant protection products containing the active substance ”dimethoate.” In addition, given the increasing production of Taggiasca olives for processing into table olives, decreasing the threshold of acceptable damage compared to the production of oil olives, more information and evidence related to the issue of insecticide residues should be available. Another goal is to test other traps as decision support for the control of olive fly, olive moth, margaronia, Asian longhorn bug and other lepidopterans. The realization of the project will make it possible to implement in the Ligurian olive-growing context the optimal combination of defense strategies allowed by the current specifications in the two production areas (oil and brine), with a view to maximizing their effectiveness in containing infestations by the main olive pests and minimizing the presence of residues in the oil and brine. At the end of the project, integrated pest management protocols, their location within the Merano farm, capture data, and ongoing monitoring will be indicated.

Information Note June 2020 – Information note September 2020 – Information note September 2021