The Sabina olive harvest has begun and the farmers are almost crying

We are now in the midst of this year's olive harvest and the organic farmers in the Sabine Hills are almost crying. They are picking earlier than usual, this year to salvage what olives they can. Some have been destroyed by the pest the olive farmers most fear: La mosca dell'olivo, the olive fly and other olives are not yet ready or already drying out on the tree.

Harvesting Olives using nets to capture the olives racked from the trees.

An olive farmer in Canetto, yesterday, told me "They need to harvest all olive varieties now, and get them to the olive press as soon as possible" He showed me some of the olives he had already harvested, gathered in the nets. Opening the olive you could see the damage the fly had already done.

Sabina Olives from an olive oil farm near Castelnuovo di Farfa

Not all olive trees in the Sabine Hills have been effected. The olive harvest in now in full swing.

Last year, the 2015 olive harvest was abundant, and the yield was high. However,  due to a mild winter plus hot and wet conditions in late Summer, the olive fly has once again, destroyed a lot of the olives organically grown in the Sabine Hills. near Rome. 

Gathering the olives in nets is hard work. Olive harvest happens just once a year.

Last year, the 2015 olive harvest was abundant, and the yield was high. However,  due to the last winter not being cold enough plus hot and wet conditions in late Summer, the olive fly has once again, destroyed a lot of the olives grown organically in the Sabine Hills.  They will produce what they can this year and hope for a better yield in 2017.