The “future” of olive oil. Super intensive olive harvest open-day at the University of Bari experimental field in Valenzano. Marked by almost complete mechanization and the use of fast-growth varieties (such as Arbequina), super-intensive olive farming is widespread in Spain, the world’s main olive oil producer and Italy’s main competitor. With its promise of low costs and productivity within a few years from planting, this technology is being aggressively marketed in Puglia, both by private entities and the University of Bari, as a solution to the sector’s backwardness and an answer to the mysterious disease that threatens Puglia’s olive trees.