`Croatian Farmers Maintain Groves for Ailing Peers - Olive Oil Times
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Croatian Farmers Maintain Groves for Ailing Peers

By Nedjeljko Jusup
May. 16, 2023 14:34 UTC

Croatian olive grow­ers’ empa­thy was dis­played at the recent Olive Days event in Zadar, Dalmatia, along with their high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oils.

Money raised from food and bev­er­age sales at the event was donated to Zadar General Hospital’s can­cer cen­ter to help fund the pur­chase of new equip­ment.

The remain­der of the extra vir­gin olive oil sam­ples sub­mit­ted to the qual­ity con­test was given to a local char­ity after the judges com­pleted their eval­u­a­tions. 

See Also:Latest Awards Confirm the Rising Quality of Croatian Extra Virgin Olive Oils

“It’s good to do good,” said Benito Pucar, pres­i­dent of the Olive Days orga­niz­ing com­mit­tee.

The Association of Olive Growers of Zadar County has also been involved in char­i­ta­ble efforts in the com­mu­nity. Its mem­bers recently gath­ered to prune the olive trees of two local grow­ers who could not do so due to ill­ness.

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“The olive tree gives us the valu­able gift of its oil, which brings peo­ple together,” asso­ci­a­tion pres­i­dent Ivica Vlatković said. 

Goran Sinovčić from Novigrad suf­fered from kid­ney fail­ure, while Marko Nakić from Vukšić had a com­plex heart oper­a­tion that saved his life.

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Nakić was urgently sent to Zagreb, Croatia’s cap­i­tal, for surgery. When the asso­ci­a­tion mem­bers found out, they quickly orga­nized them­selves and com­pleted prun­ing his 300 20-year-old trees fol­low­ing best prac­tices. 

“I don’t know how to thank my olive grower friends,” said Nakić, who is recov­er­ing. ​“Many thanks to every­one who came to help.” 

Shortly after prun­ing Nakić’s groves, asso­ci­a­tion grow­ers went to Sinovčić’s groves in Novigrad, about 30 kilo­me­ters north, to com­plete the poly­conic prun­ing of his trees.

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Described as the lat­est fad among Dalmatian olive grow­ers, the method – com­monly used in Istria and Italy – reduces the woody mass-to-leaf ratio, which exposes the entire crown of the tree to the sun, reduces unnec­es­sary energy expen­di­ture and acti­vates latent buds.

“There was a lot of work on both olive groves, and we suc­cess­fully com­pleted them,” Vlatković said.

He said the sense of com­mu­nity among Dalamtia’s olive grow­ers is part of the sec­tor’s cul­ture, con­clud­ing that team­work in the olive groves keeps the com­mu­nity grounded in tra­di­tional val­ues in the face of a rapidly mod­ern­iz­ing world.

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