Looking for the good oil
Collaboration key for regional olive growers
NEW brands of Geelong regional olive oil will be produced under a collaborative project trying to create a market for dozens of boutique olive growers.
Geelong Region Olives is in the final days of its initial harvest which will see the fruit from six of the region’s 45 olive growers developed into products to be marketed locally by the end of the year.
The brainchild of Stephen Parker of Mt Moriac Olives, the project is addressing key issues hindering growers from commercialising olive groves that were mostly planted under failed agricultural investment schemes of the late ’90s and early 2000s
Among the problems are the lack of scale, with the region’s boutique growers sitting on groves averaging 1500 to 2000 trees, whereas Mr Parker says at least 10,000 trees are needed to sustain a basic income.
The trees have also taken about 15 years to yield adequate volumes of fruit, about twice as long as what was initially promoted.
“Everyone has sunk a lot of capital into their properties … some have bought equipment as well,” Mr Parker said.
The industry is dominated by a few major players but there are many hundreds of small producers across the country who have struggled to develop a commercial market for their products, though they now might have the potential to produce commercial quantities if aggregated.
Mr Parker incorporated Geelong Region Olives in September last year, getting a State Government “Food Source Victoria” grant to help import a purpose-built harvester that shakes the trees and catches the fruit.
The plan is to lease trees from growers, harvest them, and produce and market the resulting blended olive oils according to their region of origin: Surf Coast, Otways, Bellarine and Golden Plains.
“We can sell back to them, at a bulk wholesale rate, a small quantity of their oil prior to blending, that they can then brand, package and sell themselves the way they do now, but they haven’t borne the whole cost of their grove management, harvesting, logistics and processing,” Mr Parker said.
This year is a test for the concept and for market acceptance.
“We now have informal leasing arrangements on six groves,” Mr Parker said.
“That’s about 15,000 trees. We haven’t pushed to get more because it’s a start-up year.”
The first harvest will go through the process of blending with the assistance of Lara’s Modern Olives before the oils are bottled, packaged and possibly distributed through independent supermarkets in the region in September.
“The initial focus is to be selling oil around this region and build our regional identity and brand loyalty,” Mr Parker said.
The first year of production is predicted to be only 10,000 litres but the aim next year is to double the number trees under management, and produce three times the amount of oil due to an expected better season.
Mr Parker said that in the next few years between 30,000 and 40,000 litres of oil a year needed to be produced from about 200 tonne of fruit to establish a base for long-term sustainability.
He is also harbouring a grander ambition that involves Geelong Region Olives supporting a substantial local processing plant, a move that would require at least 500 tonne of fruit seasonally.