article_snippet.sent: The xylella fastidiosa bacteria has ravaged olive trees in Puglia region and contributed to a 35 percent drop in Puglia region's olive oil production last year.
article_snippet.sent: Puglian growers have opposed the government's destruction plan, saying the government's destruction plan won't stop the deadly xylella fastidiosa bacteria.
article_snippet.sent: However, Puglian growers have opposed the government's slash-and-burn plan, saying the government's slash-and-burn plan won't contain the deadly xylella fastidiosa bacteria.
article_snippet.sent: Many of Italy's oldest olive groves, some dating back 500 years, have been infected by the bacterium, which causes plants to shrivel, leaving the bacterium, which causes plants to shrivel incapable of bearing fruit.
article_snippet.sent: The initial area to be culled is feared that unless drastic action is taken to fell the groves, the bacterium will spread to other olive-producing regions of Italy such as Tuscany and Umbria, and even to other Mediterranean countries.
article_snippet.sent: The bacteria (right) causes plants to dry out, leaving shrivelled stumps that are incapable of bearing fruit.
article_snippet.sent: The microbe, first identified in the Americas, has now infected 800,000 trees in Salento, the southern half of Puglia, the heel of Italy .
highlights_snippet.sent: The xylella fastidiosa bacteria has ravaged olive trees in Puglia region .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: The xylella fastidiosa bacteria spread has so alarmed the EU that France has boycotted the fruit .
  