Harvesting (Raccatatura): an olive harvesting system that consists in collecting (picking) olives fallen on the ground or on sheets laid out around the tree. With this system one gets a harvest of naturally fallen olives that have undergone an excessive ripening and probably will be taken to the mill immediately. All of this will affect the quality of extra virgin olive oil, especially the acidity which will be very high.

Herbicides: these are substances used to control weeds. They are synthetic, chemical compounds, which are often “xenobiotics”. This means that they are chemically foreign to the compounds which are naturally present in living beings. Problems related to their use arise because of this. We must remember “atrazine”, which is a herbicide used on corn and sorghum, as well as on sugar cane in tropical agriculture. It has been banned for its marked tendency to be transported by water, thus becoming a pollutant for groundwater that can persist for years. In Italy, however, some compounds such as “Terbutilazina” are not yet banned.

Hermaphrodite: this is the phenomenon in which an individual of a given species can produce, simultaneously or subsequently, both the male and female gametes. In some animal species, particularly invertebrates, the phenomenon is common or even essential for reproduction. In most hermaphrodite plants, male and female elements mature at different times in order to ensure cross-pollination between different individuals.