Francesco Serafini president TGoP; Manuel Pimentel former Minister of Labour and Social Affairs and Manuel Lucena mayor of Cogollos de la Vega 

On 18 and 19 March, the city of Cogollos Vega hosted the first session of the Conference for the Conservation and Promotion of Centenary Olive Trees. The initiative is organised by the ‘Asociación Olivares Monumentales de Andalucía’, which also includes the municipalities of Algarinejo, Íllora and Órgiva. The Association is made up of the four aforementioned municipalities, four oil mills from each of the respective municipalities (Cooperativa San Antonio de Cogollos de la Vega, Cooperativa Aceite de Algarinejo, Cooperativa Flor de La Alpujarra en Orgiva and the oil mill Casería de la Virgen de Alomartedì in Illora), and the Regulatory Council for the ‘Ponente de Granada’ Designation of Origin.

The current president of the association is Manuel Lucena Sánchez, mayor of Cogollos de la Vega, the current headquarters of the association. The conference dealt with the first of four topics related to the cultivation of traditional and monumental olive groves: the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the cultivation of organic olive groves. Afterwards, between May and June, the other meetings will take place, in Íllora they will deal with innovation and technology in the management of traditional olive groves; in Algarinejo the meeting will be dedicated to olive-growing heritage, culture and gastronomy, and finally in Órgiva it will end with a day dedicated to the marketing of olive products. During these four weekends, speakers and technical experts in the cultivation of monumental and traditional olive trees will come together with companies in the sector, offering exhibitions and other informative activities. During the event, Francesco Serafini, president of ‘The Garden of Peace’, presented his project and was appointed honorary president of the association. The event in Cogollos Vega was attended by the former Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Manuel Pimentel, who discussed the future of the traditional olive grove in Andalusia, and Juan Antonio Espejo, a member of the association, who gave an overview of the ‘Olivares Monumentales de Andalucía’ quality label project. Engineer Julián García, from the University of Caracas, concluded by discussing ‘Geomatics applied to the monitoring of traditional olive groves’.