Bird-friendly olive oil from the Mirretta-Barone family
Bird-friendly olive oil, also known as ‘bird-safe’, is olive oil produced without harming or killing any resting, nesting or breeding birds. This can certainly happen during large-scale industrial harvesting. We explain what this is all about and how animal welfare and nature conservation are taken into account in the production of our olive oils.
Bird-friendly olive oil is produced during the harvest
Bird-friendly olive oil starts with the harvest. Bird-friendly olive oil refers to olive oil produced in a way that ensures no birds are harmed during harvesting or production. This means that no heavy machinery is used in areas where birds are nesting or breeding, and that the harvest is carried out in such a way that no birds are trapped or injured in the olive trees. Manual olive harvesting is very labour-intensive and takes many times longer than harvesting with fully automated machinery. Manual harvesting is therefore now mostly only carried out by small producers. But what difference does harvesting by hand make compared to mechanical harvesting?
Fully automated olive harvesting
As a result of the industrialisation of agriculture, state-of-the-art machinery is being used with increasing frequency. Time and again, we hear of so-called “suction devices” that injure, and even kill, birds during the olive harvest. These machines are used to cut costs on expensive harvest workers, thereby increasing the profit margin on sales. Stern.de reports on another problem. This is because, in addition to harvesting with fully automated equipment, these machines are usually operated at night. This is because „(…) at night, birds rest in the bushes, seeking shelter from predators beneath the foliage. They are sucked up by the harvesters in their millions, according to the journal „Nature“.
Hand-picked olives
Not only do hand-picked olives suffer less damage – hand-picked olives are, in any case, bird-friendly.
However, it is very difficult for consumers to find bird-friendly olive oil in shops. Most of the olive oil in supermarkets comes from industrialised agriculture. Buying olive oil is therefore a matter of trust.
We take care to avoid disturbing birds and harvest only during the day
Thanks to our transparency and the promise we make to you, you can trust us. For our harvest, we have numerous helpers every year, made up of family and friends. We spend several weeks harvesting the many olive trees by hand. We harvest exclusively during daylight hours. This allows us to protect birds and nests in our trees and offer a bird-friendly olive oil with a clear conscience. To help us, we use rakes and sticks, as well as hand-held mechanical tools. The latter are pneumatic combs or the so-called ‘Vibroli’, poles with vibrating rods at the ends. We operate these personally and control them by hand. To reach every olive, we sometimes even climb the olive trees. All olive oils from the Mirretta-Barone family are therefore made from hand-harvested olives.
This is how we can protect birds and their nests in our trees and offer bird-friendly olive oil with a clear conscience. Offering you a bird-friendly olive oil is just as natural to us as delivering the highest quality genuine Italian olive oil from the Abruzzo is a matter of course.
Nature conservation and animal welfare in olive oil production
We feel a deep connection to the landscape, nature and the animals in and around our family-owned olive groves. It therefore goes without saying that we treat them with care. For us, this means not only that we avoid the use of any chemicals, but also that we take special care to protect the animals that live in and around the trees.
Try our bird-friendly olive oil, produced using three different methods.
