28 Apr

Australia: Timbercorp olive harvest goes ahead

Harvesting is going ahead at one of the largest olive groves in the world, owned by Timbercorp. The grove, at Boort in central Central Victoria, is one of the properties the company had trouble selling, before placing itself into voluntary administration. Will Pattison, who works as a contract harvester at the grove, says it makes [...]

12 Mar

Croatia: Olive harvest enough for 51,000 hectolitres of olive oil

According to estimates of Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development they are expecting a harvest of 38,000 tons of olives or 51,000 hectolitres of olive oil in Croatia. The best harvest is expected in Dubrovnik-Neretva county and the worst in Sibenik-Knin and Zadar counties, especially on the islands where the expected harvest is up [...]

12 Mar

Indigenous olive oil project reaches an ‘interesting stage’

Olive pressing increases 30 times in 10 years! By Joanna Ripard, Retired jeweller Sam Cremona’s brainchild, the Project for the Revival of the Indigenous Maltese Olive (Primo), is at an “interesting stage” and is just three years away from its interim target of 10,000 trees producing the Bidnija olive. “We need to have 30,000 trees [...]

12 Nov

Pakistan on long road to olive farming

By Bronwyn Curran, In the dry hills of Pakistan’s violence-racked frontier with Afghanistan, an olive branch is being extended from Italy to tribesmen under fire from both US drones and Taliban fighters. Rome is in the early throes of an ambitious project to convert Pakistan’s barren wild olive groves into fruit-bearers, establish new olive plantations [...]

15 Oct

Olives Growth Potential in Oregon

By Greg Stiles, Photo Bob Pennell, Will olives be the successor to pears and grapes? One Rogue Valley farm has decided to test the market. What appears to be a massive new vineyard between Bellinger Lane and old Jacksonville Highway isn’t really a vineyard at all. The 140-acre apron, once part of the Clancy Orchard [...]

22 Sep

Bumper crop for New Zealand olive oil producers

A 20% increase in olive oil production is likely to present a marketing challenge for the country’s olive growers. Grower organisation Olives New Zealand says groves in Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa, Kapiti, Nelson and Marlborough performed better than those in Canterbury and the Far North, mainly because of variable weather conditions. Executive officer Alastair Bridge says [...]

08 Aug

Australia: Here’s the good oil on olives

By Mark Logan, The Mediterranean diet, which includes copious amounts of olive oil, is well known for its health benefits but that is not why retired physician John Milla, and his wife Lorraine, took to planting olive trees at Abilene Grove 13 years ago. An avid tree planter, Mr Milla was initially interested in the [...]

01 Jun

Australian Olives bear fruit in Victoria

Consumers may pay less for Australian olive oil after a bumper Victorian olive harvest. There was no harvest in many Victorian olive groves last year because of the drought. Olive grower Richard Baum says a third of his trees will provide enough product to supply his markets. “Probably the good news for consumers is that, [...]

27 May

Bug takes heavy toll on Australian olive growers

A number of olive groves in the Lower Hunter have nothing to harvest this year because of widespread damage from the olive lace bug. Mike Wilson from the Hunter Olive Growers Association says the weather this year has been a major factor in the spread of the bug, which he estimates has destroyed at least [...]

14 May

Olive heist mystifies Lovedale

It is like something out of a science fiction movie. Four Lovedale olive groves have been completely cleared of this year’s crop, apparently overnight, with not a trace of vehicle movement, sound of machinery heard, and barely an olive to be found. Between Wilderness Grove, Warraroong Estate, Sandalyn Estate and Zephyr Ridge, about 750 olive [...]

16 Mar

Far from Spain, olives may have a home in Oregon soil

By Liz Crain, The Mediterranean region cultivates the majority of the world’s olives, but when it comes to domestic olives, California is the largest producer, cultivating roughly 10 percent of the world’s table olives. Oregon has been typically considered either too cold or too rainy for olive cultivation, but farmers are beginning to realize that [...]

08 Mar

UK: Olive groves could be new crop

Climate change could lead to more crops of olives and sunflowers being grown in Dorset, delegates at an environmental forum heard. Around 60 people, including farmers, politicians and environmentalists, attended a meeting on climate and landscape change at Kingston Maurward College organised by Dorset’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) branch. Environmental workshops followed keynote [...]

24 Feb

Pakistan and Greece to sign MoU for olive oil production

EDITED TO AVOID ANY CONFUSION BETWEEN OLIVES101 AND THE AUTHOR Pakistan and Greece are likely to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in olive cultivation and olive oil production. According to the information reaching Trade Development Authority (TDAP) here on Saturday, MINFAL has already accepted the draft of the MoU which has now [...]

07 Feb

Australia, Victoria expects bumper olive crop

Western Victorian olive groves will yield 1000 per cent more than last year. Drought in 2007 meant fruit couldn’t set on the trees. Grove owner Deirdre Baum, from Laharum, says this season the trees are healthy and bearing fruit because of timely rain. “This year, the trees have had bit of rain at the critical [...]

15 Dec

Argentina’s olive exports set new record

Argentina’s olive and olive oil exports set a new record of 148 million U.S. dollars in the first ten months of this year, local media reported Sunday. From January to October, Argentina exported 76,300 tons of olives, with a net profit of 98.5 million dollars, Argentine authorities said. Olive exports and the net profit rose [...]