After few years of substantial standstill, in 2017 works began on the refurbishment of the olive grove bringing it back into production, even if for a limited quantity of plants. Mid-November 2018 we had he first harvest and production of new era with Podere Panolfo high quality extra virgin olive oil.
The previous management, by my father Silvano Rossi who planted it in 1970, followed from the beginning principles of natural production. Use of organic and natural products both for fertilization and for treatments to prevent/limit diseases and parasitic attacks. An enlightened forerunner of that practice which then exploded in organic cultivation. Over the years, Panolfo oil has been the reference point for quality among the small artisan producers of the area. At the time when the sons myself Daniela and my brother Gianluca decided to reactivate production, the first and most important goal was set in further enhancing the production to focus on high quality final product. The first necessary intervention was a reformation pruning such as to reshape the plants to bring them to such dimensions to be possible to harvest them manually. In the years of careless they had grown excessively in height. Few hundreds of plants, about 500, for which a standard pruning was enough, are currently in production and deliver about 75 quintals of olives from which 900 liters of oil were obtained. And it was branded with ancient name “Podere Panolfo”. For all the phases of production, cultivation, harvesting and milling, the farm relies on the collaboration of local structures including "La Cooperativa Oleificio Guardea" which ensures the knowledge of the territory and specific skills in the olive sector.
Since 2019, Azienda Agricola Panolfo has decided to introduce the precision farming method, using the service offered by a young and innovative start-up company, Elaisian Srl. The solution detects, through the use of meteorological stations and telematic systems, climatic data in real time (humidity, temperature and atmospheric pressure). These, together with satellite images and a history of climate data, are processed by software based on algorithms, developed by Elaisian, and cross-referenced with data from agronomic studies, allowing to generate alerts and signals, useful to the olive grower to intervene on irrigation, organic fertilization, pruning and pest control. All this in advance of the occurrence of the phenomenon, making the intervention more effective with less economic and environmental impact.