07 Oct

Gold in Australian olive trees

  A CURIOSITY over old olive trees growing on historic farms has turned into gold for a northeast couple. Over the past 20 years Eberhard Kunze and Maureen Titcumb have propagated tens of thousands of olive saplings to save old genetic stock.   This year, oil from their priola trees, a variety they discovered and named, [...]

05 Oct

Californian Olive growers decry foreign subsidies

Life as a California olive farmer isn’t exactly easy these days, farmers say U.S. government is hurting, not helping. The number of olives harvested across the state this season is expected to shrivel by about 86 percent from last year. The price schedule for growers is the same as last season despite the dried-up supply. Some [...]

05 Oct

Bell Carter Foods in Corning, CA is bustling

  The olive plant is the largest ripe olive producer in the world. The company processes 52,000 tons of olives a year on average, keeping it's 400 employees hard at work. But this years olive crops are falling a bit short thanks to mother nature. " Weather we're having now can offset next years harvest, [...]

03 Oct

Pakistani Government to promote olive cultivation

  SIALKOT: A plan has been prepared for promoting olive cultivation in Punjab and Azad Kashmir to boost olive oil production and help curb edible oil import bill, official sources told APP on Saturday.   The agriculture department of the Small and Medium Enterprises Authority (SMEDA) Punjab, was conducting awareness and training programmes to facilitate [...]

02 Oct

All about olives at Silverdale farm

  Ambrosia Olive Farm owners Dawn and Steve Skarmoutsos brought their passion for olive growing from Greece. What does Ambrosia Olive Farm produce? The organic farm is family-run by my husband Steve and I, and we produce table olives, preserved and marinated olives, olive oil and olive-based skincare products named Eleon Cosmetics that include creams, [...]

02 Oct

Hernando County couple hoping olive business takes root

As they wound through the Italian countryside in January, Cambren Davis and Deirdre Rizzo were struck by the picture postcard images all around them. A seed of an idea was growing as they took in the landscape. Everywhere, they saw lush olive trees. Whenever they stopped to eat, there were olives on the table. They [...]

14 Jul

Farmer looks to start olive oil industry in South Oregon

By Ron Brown, With Southern Oregon establishing it’s reputation for growing grapes, another warm climate crop is starting to take root. More than 130 acres between Jacksonville and Medford are the beginning of what some hope will be an olive oil industry in the Rogue Valley. Olive tree Grower Jeff Hoyal has planted more than [...]

25 May

For the love of olives in Texas

By Beverly Burmeier, Poor soil, high temperatures, and low water levels are all plentiful in central Texas. Not the usual growing conditions for a food crop, this combination just happens to be perfect for olive trees. So Jack Dougherty, former president of a computer company, bought a ranch near Wimberley and became the first person [...]

18 Mar

Farmers strike Olive oil in Texas

By John Griffin, Farming was always something that interested Jim Henry, when he was younger, he thought Texas would be the perfect place to grow grapes, but the experts told him it was impossible, given the terrain. More recently, he decided the Lone Star State would be perfect for olives. Again, people called it folly. [...]

12 Mar

Slippery problem for New Zealand olive grower

Olive oil producers are concerned that one of the gold medal winning oils in last year’s Olives New Zealand Awards is produced by one of the judges. Marlborough olive grower Mark Heard says there is a lot to be gained by winning an award as it makes a product more attractive to stockists. He has [...]

02 Mar

South Australian olive growers to pay new levy

A new levy paid by South Australian olive growers will help promote and further develop the industry. From this harvest, growers will pay a $4 levy on each tonne of fruit they produce. Olives South Australia president Lisa Rowntree says it will increase by a dollar a year for the next three years to eventually [...]

18 Feb

Olives May Be Rescued By Helpful Wasp

By Marcia Wood, Olives basking in sunny California groves might find that their new best friend is a small brown wasp. Known to scientists as Psyttalia cf. concolor, the little wasp can help foil the olive fruit fly, a powerful natural enemy of olives. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) entomologist Victoria Y. Yokoyama and colleagues have [...]

12 Sep

North East Victorian growers are exploring regional opportunities for branding olive oil.

By Kim Woods, Tree plantings have stabilised in the region, which produces up to 400,000 litres of oil a year, following a decade of rapid expansion. Those original trees are now reaching maturity and growers are searching for markets to soak up increased production. Corowa grower Paul Trevethan said the domestic market was saturated and [...]

07 Aug

Australian Olive growers move to lift quality

By Phil Thomson, (from release) The Australian Olive Association (AOA) has signed off on an industry code of practice to promote quality, authenticity and confidence in the Australian olive industry. The code aims to provide security and confidence to consumers and investors in Australia and overseas by providing certification that Australian olive products meet high [...]

11 Jun

Tradition lives on in olives

It’s been 11 years since Skarmoutsos decided to embrace his family heritage and become an olive farmer. Mr Skarmoutsos owns Ambrosia Olive Farm, Eltons Road, Silverdale. He bought it in 1997 as a bare 40 acre property. Within two years he had covered it with 4000 olive trees. Mr Skarmoutsos said his family had been [...]