Under the olive tree

In the small, medieval village of Chiani in Tuscany, olive groves have been a source of livelihood for its inhabitants for centuries. Every autumn, agricultural biologist Hakan Wallender and his friends travel there to harvest olives and tend to the beautiful trees.

Amidst the stunning Tuscan landscape, they experience a variety of farming techniques in the olive grove. Local experts teach them traditional pruning and fertilizing methods, but as a soil scientist, Hakan Wallender also shares modern knowledge on how to enhance biodiversity and make farms more climate-friendly.

The book “Under the Olive Tree” offers a deeper understanding of how to care for the land we live on to ensure we can sustainably meet our needs for the long term. If we want the Earth to be a better place to live, we all need to start thinking like gardeners.

“The book is imbued with an environmental mindset, and the scientific explanations are interspersed with enjoyable and thought-provoking personal observations, experiences, and relationships with other researchers and distinguished Italian figures in this field, and even overlap with them.”