Hey! The region where I live is on HN homepage.
I wonder if this plague is somehow related to the fact that Puglia ecosystem has been subverted in the last 50 years by heavy pesticide usage and intensive agriculture.
Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads
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Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads
#32I was pretty shocked to learn that most (~80%) of the Italian extra virgin olive oil that comes into the US is neither Italian or olive oil. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-overtime-how-to-buy-...
That article certainly doesn't say that 80% isn't olive oil. Instead it argues that up to 80% doesn't meet the very stringent requirement to be classified as extra-virgin olive oil, often because it's partially mixing with lesser grades (or even simply differently sourced) of olive oil. That's a far cry from wholly substituting.
In other cases, a bottle labeled "extra-virgin olive oil" may not be olive oil at all, just a seed oil like sunflower made to look and smell like olive oil with a few drops of chlorophyll and beta-carotene.
This does not sound like a far cry that sounds like fraud.
Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads
#33Italy has a messy history listening to and even jailing its scientists, as they go about the normal process of empiricism. https://www.nature.com/news/italian-seismologists-cleared-of...
We (for small values of we) started early: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_affair
Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, but this is unprecedented for a developed country. Yes, they were eventually cleared. Great. Some doubts remain but it cannot be proved beyond all reasonable doubt that they were witches. Not guilty!
I'm pretty sure the US is considered a developed country and it routinely ignores scientists' warnings about the climate and the environment in general.
I'm not sure how you didn't pick up on the fact that this was not about scientists being ignored.
Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads
#35I wonder if such bacteria can be designed in a lab. And then used to attack developing countries massive agricultural production. Let's say, china and india are growing export regions. And if American or Russian companies design a specific bacteria to target their major agricultural exports then the prices will go up due to falling supply. So is this possible? Could this be happening somewhere in the world?
It'd probably be a bad idea since the disease would probably spread to the other growing areas eventually.
Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads
#36I was pretty shocked to learn that most (~80%) of the Italian extra virgin olive oil that comes into the US is neither Italian or olive oil. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-overtime-how-to-buy-...
That article certainly doesn't say that 80% isn't olive oil. Instead it argues that up to 80% doesn't meet the very stringent requirement to be classified as extra-virgin olive oil, often because it's partially mixing with lesser grades (or even simply differently sourced) of olive oil. That's a far cry from wholly substituting.
You are still selling an inferior product, claiming that is something it is not.
In Italy or Spain, you can find "non extra-virgin" olive oil sold as well, although at a lower price.
Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
That article certainly doesn't say that 80% isn't olive oil. Instead it argues that up to 80% doesn't meet the very stringent requirement to be classified as extra-virgin olive oil, often because it's partially mixing with lesser grades (or even simply differently sourced) of olive oil. That's a far cry from wholly substituting.
You are still selling an inferior product, claiming that is something it is not. In Italy or Spain, you can find "non extra-virgin" olive oil sold as well, although at a lower price.
I'm not disputing that. I'm disputing the completely unsubstantiated and simply ridiculous claim that 80% of olive oil isn't actually olive oil. That's a misreading akin to claiming that "80% of Halloween candy is pure sugar, and might even have a razor blade in it" means that 80% of Halloween candy has a razor blade in it.
Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads
#38Olive groves from Puglia are about a couple centuries old, and were originally meant to produce low grade oil for lamps.
Furthermore, at that time picking was a painstaking manual process but labor was cheap. So these trees were let to grow naturally, making it impossible to use mechanized picking today.
Overall it would be better to setup a replantation program to allow for modern and cost-effective management. I have little hope it will ever happen.
Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, but this is unprecedented for a developed country. Yes, they were eventually cleared. Great. Some doubts remain but it cannot be proved beyond all reasonable doubt that they were witches. Not guilty!
I'm pretty sure the US is considered a developed country and it routinely ignores scientists' warnings about the climate and the environment in general.
Ignoring warnings != jailing scientists for failing to warn
I'm embarrassed by the anti-science positions taken in the US but those are hardly the same magnitude
Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads
#40Olive Wood is really beautiful and expensive, I wonder if this will drive a decrease in the price of it. In the US there is a special variety of pine killed by Mountain Pine Beetles that is relatively cheap but liked by woodworkers because the fungus that kills it leaves interesting blue streaks : https://www.sustainablelumberco.com/2015/03/beetle-kill-pine...
Reminds me of the burl:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burl
It's basically a kind of cancer inside the tree, but it's highly prized because it looks pretty.