Grazing groves
Angus-cross cattle find their home among the olives on mixed-farm
THE Meron family have been a sponge for olive information after inheriting a grove with a property they bought for cattle.
Yigal Meron his wife Johanne and his two sons Yoni and Boaz Meron had their first harvest in 2016 and have been growing their business, Macintyre Brook Grove, ever since.
“My father bought this place as a cattle block and... there just happened to be a olive grove with mature trees on it,” Boaz Meron said.
“We started off just putting a few cattle here and then we saw the opportunity in the olives because they were developing fruit at that time.
“So we drove down to Victoria to pick up an olive harvester and we started shaking the trees.”
Mr Meron said their family had little prior knowledge of olives.
“My father is from Israel so he grew up in this Mediterranean climate,” he said.
“They used to grow everything over there from grain crops, to broccoli to cotton but never olives.
“We have an irrigation business, Meron Irrigation, we run out of Goondiwindi and Inglewood.
“So we have done irrigation installations for nut farms, broadacre and cotton farms.
“So we brought over our knowledge of drip irrigation and that’s where we’ve had a lot of savings in overhead costs and water.”
Olive trees normally provide fruit every second year, but Mr Meron said the trees could be manipulated to provide an annual crop.
“Through watering a pruning techniques you can get olives coming on ever year,” he said.
“It’s just about maintaining the grove.
“So every year we pick through April, May and June.”
The Meron’s irrigate 120ha of olives on their property.
They grow four major varieties – the picual, arbequina, coratina and manzanillo – as well as a few table varieties.
“We have converted other parts of the old grove into cattle paddocks and horticulture,” Mr Meron said.
“We grow pumpkins for seeds for confectionery and pumpkin oil over 10ha.
“We run angus cross cattle.”
Mr Meron said they run their cattle amongst the olive trees to cut down on slashing and help out with the pruning, which is one of largest expenses of the grove.
“The olives are just one piece of the puzzle on the farm as well as the cattle and pumpkins,” he said. “They all work together.” The Meron’s do all the olive harvesting themselves.
“It’s myself, my brother and my father that work here full-time,” Mr Meron said.
“We get in backpackers and seasonal workers to do odd jobs during the year.
“Harvest and processing takes approximately two months. It’s depending on the season and the weather.
❝drove So we down to Victoria to pick up an olive harvester and we started shaking the trees... — Boaz Meron
“We’ve just bought a processing machine, so for next season we’ll be doing all our processing on farm.”
Mr Meron said from a olive you get 18-20 per cent oil.
A tonne of olives will produce between 180 and 200 litres of oil.
“Harvesting on time will produce extra virgin olive oil full body, taste and smell, while later in the season you will produce more oil per tonne but it won’t be the same high quality as the earlier oil produced.” he said.
“One of the criteria for extra virgin olive oil, the olives have to be picked on time and processed as soon as possible and have less than 0.8 per cent free Fatty Acid (FFA).”
A mechanical harvester is used to pick their olive crop.
“It takes a person in the harvester and the receival unit on each side of the tree with a shaking arm that shakes the olives from the trees,” Mr Meron said.
“We shake every tree for approximately 15 seconds.
“We run the farm in a minimal input operation using natural manures to improve soil condition.”