OLEAF4VALUE is a three-year project that will develop a complete valorization system for the olive leaf. 4,5 million tons of olive leaves are produced annually by the global olive oil industry, a key industry in southern Europe and along the Mediterranean coast (in Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Slovenia, and others).
This residual biomass presents a problem to both farmers and the whole olive oil industry as it must be removed from fields and olive oil mills. Currently, the solution is either to burn this biomass in the fields, feed it to cattle or, in some cases, use it in energy production via combustion.
OLEAF4VALUE has put together a competitive consortium of highly experienced partners devoted to the complete valorization of this new underexploited biomass. The consortium will address all the stages of the value chain: raw material, biorefining, post-extraction technologies, market validation, and sustainability assessment. OLEAF4VALUE will link the primary olive sector from southern Europe with large multinationals from the high valued competitive markets in a circular bioeconomy project.
NOVATERRA is an EU-funded H2020 project focused on ensuring food security and healthy food access for the increasing population. Through a series of case studies in Mediterranean olive groves and vineyards, the project aims to understand whether it is possible to maintain current yields and quality in Europe and in other regions while eliminating or significantly reducing the use of contentious plant protection products (also known as pesticides).
Euphresco is a network of organisations that fund research projects and coordinate national research in the phytosanitary area. The overall goal of Euphresco is to support coordination and collaboration in the area of phytosanitary research, and to maintain itself as a strong, long-term network of research stakeholders.
The rate of introduction and establishment of new plant pests has increased steadily over the last century as a result of expanding globalisation of trade, exacerbated by climate change. At the same time, European phytosanitary science capacity (taxonomy, classical plant pathology, etc.) has been eroding in the recent decades, because they are no longer on the forefront of science priorities. In Europe, many of the phytosanitary policies, regulations and underpinning technical recommendations are determined at regional level, while the research that supports them is mostly funded and carried out at the national level. Coordination of such national activities is then vital to reduce the impact of plant pests on the economy, the environment and the health of citizens at the level of each country but more generally at European and international level.
Information about Euphresco projects that focus specifically on Xylella can be found using the following links:
> Harmonized protocol for monitoring and detection of Xylella fastidiosa in its host plants and its vectors (PROMODE)
> Xylella fastidiosa and its insect vectors
> The insect vectors of Xylella fastidiosa
