Olives are a mainstay of Italy’s economy and traditions. Entire groves of olive trees in the Puglia region are hundreds of years old. And they are slated for destruction.
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In 2013 scientists found that isolated trees were infected with the deadly bacterium, Xylella fastidiosa. It spread quickly, infecting as many as one million of Puglia’s 60 million olive trees.
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To prevent the bacterium from spreading north into the rest of Europe, the European Union wants to cut down and burn infected trees and their neighbors.
Some angry olive growers, like Pasquale Spina, protest the mass burning of these ancient olive groves because they say the trees are still healthy.
[Spina (in rough translation from Italian):] "This [tree] is not sick. It is extremely healthy. Does this tree look sick to you? They are the sick ones. They are sick in the head. They are the ones with Xylella in their heads. Xylella only exists in the head. Xylella doesn’t exist. If it existed it would be endemic. Here, when we see a dry branch, something that we have had for years, we cut it off and it ends there. But we have never cut the top off a growing tree…. It’s killing, to cut like this."
Scientists trying to figure out how the bacterium spreads from tree to tree are not sure that these containment measures will work. It could take years to figure out if they saved the forest by killing the trees.
Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Eliene Augenbraun.
Credits: Producer and Narrator: Eliene Augenbraun Videographer: Barbie Latza Nadeau Photographer: Pier Paolo Cito