Is Italy’s Olive Oil sector under threat? | ITV News

Olive trees don't just dot the landscape in Puglia in southern Italy, they define it. Some 40% of Italy’s olive oil comes from this region.

But now these ancient trees are under threat.

The deadly Xylella Fastidiosa bacteria which is carried from tree to tree by insects, causing the demise of thousands of trees across the region.

Oil from an infected tree is still safe to consume, but the tree soon dries up, and is no longer able to produce olives. More than a million have perished here since 2013.

James Mates meets the scientists and farmers trying to stop the disease, in a race to save the country’s lucrative olive oil sector.

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