Olive growers unite

TWO heads are always better than one.

Or in the case of Southern Gippsland Olives: six olive growers are better than one.

Stones Throw Olives, Olive Twist, Grassy Spur Olives, Golden Creek Olives, Fish Creek Mount of Olives and Devon Siding Olives all work under the guise of Southern Gippsland Olives.

Since 2010, they have been promoting the region’s olive industry as a team.

The groves of different sizes range from 3000 trees down to 500 and the oldest has been in operation 13 years.

“It’s a lot about cooperation, sharing of knowledge, sharing of capabilities,” convener of the group Doug Merrett said.

“Ultimately we will all have more oil than we can sell so the idea is to eventually develop a common brand.

“We have registered the name but none of us have had enough oil consistently to pour it all in one big stainless tank and bottle it under one Gippsland name.”

The difference between Southern Gippsland Olives produce and olives grown in other parts of the country or world is quality.

“The focus is the impeccable quality,” Mr Merrett said.

“It’s a great climate and great part of the world and I think the quality of what we produce is outstanding.

“A number of our growers have won significant awards in national shows. That is a great indicator of the quality we have here.”

The six growers use natural processes.

“None of us are organic certified but we all follow organic practices and are chemical and pesticide free which we think the market is generally demanding these days,” Mr Merrett said.

Olive growing in South Gippsland can vary, according to Mr Merrett, “the same as all primary production.”

“It’s not the classic olive growing climate,” he said.

“It’s a little bit cooler and wetter than the ideal but olives will grow in many of Australia’s agricultural regions because they are warm enough.

“A lot of it just comes down to what’s under the ground.

“The olive bush is a pretty hardy plant so with the right approach to soil management they will be very productive pretty much anywhere around our part of the world.”

This picking season – May through to July – has meant a bumper crop for the local producers.
“Picking and processing has been completed and it’s been an outstanding year regarding the yield so there will be a lot of product around,” Mr Merrett said.

Even though the six operations are relatively small the produce is available readily in the local community.

“Selling is a mixture of local markets, from Inverloch to Foster, Loch and even up to markets in Mulgrave; a whole range of local and regional markets plus many local outlets,” Mr Merrett said.

“Aherns’ (Fruit Market) have been pretty supportive along with Cafes like Moo’s in Meeniyan and the Koonwarra Store and the Paddlewheel Store are also stocking us.

“Everyone seems to have a friend or outlet in Melbourne somewhere as well.”

Local stockists are helping boost the food culture in South Gippsland, Mr Merrett said.

“It’s a very supportive good food and wine community,” he said.

“I think our part of Gippsland is developing a reputation.

“It’s progressing as a bit of a foodie hub and the support from the people like Aherns’ and Moo’s and the Koonwarra Store is critical for the small producers because we don’t have the scale, but we absolutely have the quality.”

Look out for a great range of olive oils from the growers that are part of Southern Gippsland Olives at various stockists in the area.

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Posted by brad on Aug 14 2013. Filed under Rural News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry