# A Full Technological Traceability System for Extra Virgin Olive Oil
## 3 Results and Discussion
### Economic Analysis  
The economic results obtained for the olive harvesting are comparable with those conducted with the same operating conditions but by applied during the production process, namely the RFID traceability technology. The aim was to highlight the greater charges necessary to apply the innovative technological system in-field, highlighting the level of acceptability, sustainability, usefulness and any advantages deriving from the introduction of this technology within the olive oil production chain. The results must be compared with the consumer perception of a greater transparency of the product, through a safe certification of its origin and provenance, as well as a guarantee of higher food safety and quality standards of the marketed product generated by the TTS. The sample of 60 olive trees observed during the harvesting operation recorded a total olive production of 1855.5 kg, corresponding to 30.92 \(\pm\) 15.85 (mean \(\pm\) SD) kg tree\({}^{-1}\). The overall time taken by the yard for the harvesting operation was 1047.18 min, corresponding to 17.45 \(\pm\) 3.26 (mean \(\pm\) SD) min tree\({}^{-1}\). The percentage breakdown of working times in the different phases is shown in Figure 7.  
The olive harvesting was the most time-consuming phase, requiring 27.2% of the total time, followed by the olive unloading phase (22.1%). The movement of the nets, represented by net application, concentration and shifting, required 17.5%, 12.3% and 15.9%, respectively, of the time, or an overall total of about 46% of the time. The delays were very limited and took up just 5% of the total time. Figure 8 represents the relation between the harvesting gross time for tree and olive production. The determination coefficient (\(R^{2}\)) of the equation was equal to 0.636, which indicates agood correlation between working time and tree production, with high statistical significance based on a \(t\)-test (\(p<0.001\)). Figure 9 shows the percentage breakdown of the gross time consumed for the TTS application. The time consumed for loading data and for application of the tags on the stand trees and on the olive crates represented about 67% the total. The total time consumed for TTS application was 265.5 min, corresponding to an average of 4.42 (\(\pm\)1.40) min tree\({}^{-1}\). Figure 8: Olive harvesting gross time per tree expressed as a function of olive production. Figure 7: Percentage breakdown of working times in the different phases of olive harvesting. Figure 9: Percentage breakdown of the technological traceability system (TTS) application times in the different phases. Figure 10 reports the linear regression of the dependent variable (gross time) with respect to the independent variable (olive production) showing high correlation (\(R^{2}\) = 0.746) along with the statistical analysis indicating a highly significant value for the \(t\)-test (\(p<0.001\)). In addition to the specific time dedicated to the TTS application, also considered was the increased time spent for unloading the olives in the tagged crates for each tree, which were very often not filled up. This time amounted to 126.96 min, which was 2.12 (\(\pm 0.80\)) min tree\({}^{-1}\). Considering the time spent on the TTS application, the result was a reduction in the productivity of the olive harvesting yard, as reported in Figure 11, which shows the variation in productivity as a function of the olive production per tree in the two mentioned cases (with and without TTS). As a rule, the TTS application involved a reduction in the productivity in function of the olive production per tree, with an average reduction per tree of approximately 28.2%. The economic results of the analysis carried out are summarized in Figures 12-14. Figure 12 reports the cost of the harvesting yard per tree, with and without TTS application, in the process of olive production.