The ARTOLIO team met in Israel from February 17 to 24 for intensive days with the end goal of defining the future of the project and the start of its second phase, which will be dedicated to marketing and communication. The meeting held a special significance for the team, since this was the last one before the final meeting in Barcelona. There are a few months left to operate on the objectives left from the original proposal, which has suffered greatly because of the year of Covid-19, but the team felt positive about achieving the end goals. 

From March onwards, the marketing team will focus entirely on publicizing the platform, the main objective of which is to give visibility to the project's farmers, as well as to attract new faces for the end of the project.

In principle, the platform is not for commercial purposes, but it will provide insight into the farmers and their individual stories, as well as their products and their motivations. ARTOLIO is committed to an online community that will be aware of the history of local producers in the Mediterranean, to a platform that will support extra virgin olive oil production that is respectful towards the environment and full of history and culture.

The platform, its functions, the promotion plan and the agronomic details regarding the performance of the farmers and the organoleptic results were presented in the different meetings carried throughout the week. Most of them happened at the Volcani Institute, near Tel Aviv, from the 20th to the 22nd of February. It was an opportunity to show the agronomic progress made in each region, both because of the organoleptic results, which shows the quality of the olive oils, and from a marketing viewpoint, since the farmers and their olive oils will be promoted in the upcoming months. Their individual stories will be prioritized when the promotion starts, in hopes to appeal to the final customers to create a sense of familiarity and a higher consciousness towards the extra virgin olive oil production. Moreover, the Volcani Institute hosted a variety of activities that were very useful to the partners, from the introduction of their breeding program to the citrus variety program. 

The breeding program is a project dedicated exclusively to the production of new varieties of olives and their official registration later on, should these varieties bear fruit. Two different varieties are mixed and a new one is obtained, which is planted for a period of time until it grows into a tree. ARTOLIO colleagues had the opportunity to taste the fruits of this program, as well as the olive oil derived from all the Volcani varieties. It is a project as ambitious as it is fruitful. For the moment, it continues to succeed. Moreover, the partners were able to enjoy a tasting of the different varieties of the fields, surrounded by the olives of the Volcani center. 

The citrus program focused on the different orange varieties that exist nowadays and the new ones in the making. The team has the opportunity to taste the most emblematic ones and listen to a detailed explanation of each variety held at the Institute by one of their professionals in the field. 

The next days, from the 23rd to the 24th were dedicated to visiting the farmers and millers in Israel that are beneficiaries of ARTOLIO, to better understand their products and their stories. Many of them are situated in the region of Galilee, a few hours away from Nazareth, where the partners were staying for the remaining days of the meeting. 

Last meeting was held the 24th in the School, another partner institution of Israel like the Volcani Institute. The partners held the roundtables as well as the presentation for the promotion campaign, and shared their last meal before traveling back to their respective areas. 

Between meetings and visits to the beneficiaries, the companions had the opportunity to get to know the most emblematic cities and areas of Galilee: Yaffo, Jerusalem, Nazareth and the Dead Sea. These were enriching experiences that provided context for Israel's cultural situation and way of life. In addition, the team had the opportunity to interact and strengthen ties throughout the week, which is truly valuable.