The ceremony for the “Giorgio Bargioni” award, conferred by Consorzio Olio Garda DOP to the best olive tree pruners, took place this year at the Warda Garda festival. The award was in line with the values and principles that Bargioni strived to promote and divulge, hence the three top-ranking competitors received farming equipment as a prize.
We would like to take this opportunity to explain why pruning is so important. First of all, it is one of the key elements determining the future productivity of a plant: pruning trees correctly ensures a significantly greater and better harvest of olives. It is necessary to remove old, dry or damaged branches, ensure that the entire canopy receives enough air and sunlight, and promote vegetative growth without letting the tree become too large. Skilful pruning is an added value to the olive oil production cycle, and whoever masters this art deserves to be duly acknowledged.
The award is dedicated to the memory of Prof. Giorgio Bargioni, lecturer of agronomy, to whom the Garda olive oil sector is deeply indebted for having assisted the producers in a time when the future of Garda oil was extremely uncertain. As well as his studies on the plant’s floral biology, and the characterization of the local varieties, he carried out extensive work on olive tree cultivation and pruning techniques.
The “Giorgio Bargioni” pruning contest is open to olive tree farmers in Lombardy, Veneto and Trentino. The technical jury that selected the three winners took various factors into account, including the harmonious shape of the plant, the balance between vegetative growth and productivity and the overall shape of the tree, verifying whether it matched the ideal model that the pruner had in mind.
