During the visit of ARTOLIO partner Ehud Soriano to Cyprus and the Cypriot partners, a seminar titled “Best practices in the olive mill” was held with the purpose of educating miller participating in the project on how to improve their working methods. The seminar was held on June 29, 2022, at the Environmental Information Center in the community of Skarinou in the province of Larnaca.

In addition to the producers and mill owners participating in the ARTOLIO project, other people were also invited to attend the seminar. In particular, all the active owners of olive mills in Cyprus, agronomists of the Department of Agriculture and the Institute of Agricultural Research, as well as personnel of other government agencies related to the control and operation of olive mills.

The seminar was deemed necessary by the Cypriot partners because, during the visits of the expert partners to the olive mills, both those participating in the ARTOLIO project and the others, it was found that the procedures they apply for the extraction of olive oil needed significant improvement and at the same time the owners of olive mills themselves have been asking for a long time to hold such an educational event, lead by experts from abroad.

The attendance at the seminar was very satisfactory, as it was attended by approximately 40 people, as estimated by the Cypriot partners, the majority of whom were oil mill owners. At the beginning of the seminar there was a short presentation by Mr. Georgios Aristeidou, coordinator of the ARTOLIO project of the Cypriot group in the project, who analyzed the reasons why it was decided to hold the seminar and referred to the ARTOLIO project, its importance and its actions, as well as for the important role that the project plays in the efforts of the Department of Agriculture of Cyprus (DOA) to support traditional olive growers, both at a technical level for the production of high quality olive oil, as well as at a trading and marketing level.

The main speaker, Ehud Soriano, presented the subject of the seminar and developed in an exemplary manner all the phases of the olive mill operation and how they affect, both the quality and the final result in the olive oil in terms of its organoleptic characteristics. The attendees were very pleased with Soriano's presentation, and by the end of the seminar there was a constructive discussion about the contents of the presentation.

In conclusion, the seminar was a great success. The ARTOLIO project takes pride in providing its participants with ways to achieve a better understanding of the sector and how to improve within it.