A farmer from Torrebesses launches an oil grown with music

Oriol Bosch/Torrebesses - Josep Anton Ortíz, a farmer from Torrebesses (Segrià), presented this Friday the oil he has produced from the olive trees he grows with music. He did this by installing speakers on the farm, programmed with a musical theme and claims that the process has had a “very beneficial” result for the trees and that it is noticeable in the quality of the oil that has come out of it. This is a pioneering initiative in the lands of Ponent that had a first pressing carried out on October 14th, which resulted in 700 half-liter bottles of organic extra virgin oil that are on sale at a price of 15 euros. It so happens that the farm in question was owned by the classical guitarist Emili Pujol.

The presentation of Ort Bell took place at Torrebesses Castle and was attended by Josefina Aran Flix, an oil taster on the Official Tasting of Virgin Olive Oils of Catalonia panel of the Department of Agriculture, and Ortíz himself, who remarked that plants “hear music even though they don’t have ears” since sound is a physical wave that travels through the air and trees and leaves can detect it. The event also featured the singer-songwriter from Tortosa, Montse Castellà, who performed a couple of songs that are usually played in the olive grove.

Josep Anton Ortiz is the ideologist of this system and every morning he checks that the music can be heard among his olive trees in Torrebesses. If he can, he influences the sounds proposed by the artist Montse Castellà. Ortiz has been playing his music in the olive grove for months and assures that the results “are very visible”. Castellà has several works on the market, one of the latest has themes linked to the body and emotions and is called ‘Organic’. It is linked to the olive trees of Torrebesses and hopes that the oil can transmit “the same emotion” that she does when she composes the songs. The estate was owned by the musician Emili Pujol and he left it as an inheritance to the Aspros Foundation, which serves people with disabilities.

The entity has leased it to Ortiz, who by playing music to the olive trees wants to offer a different oil. In this sense, he points out that he wants to offer a product that is “solidaristic, ecological and has a soul”. He adds that sometimes people wonder what music goes well with each type of plant and in this case, an adaptation of decibels to the landscape has been made to make it an option that accompanies and combines with nature.