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By Blair Ensor, The New Zealand olive oil industry’s governing body has imploded in the wake of a controversial choice for the nation’s best-in-show olive oil award. Four executive members of Olives New Zealand, including the president, have resigned in the fallout from a meeting held to thrash out concerns surrounding the awards. The body [...]

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 [...]

Kapiti olive oil scooped gold for the 4th in a row at the New Zealand Olive Gold Awards held in Wellington. One of the three Raumati and Te Horo growers, Helen Walshaw, said hot days and cool nights on Kapiti Coast helped enhance the robust fruity flavour of the oil. Kapiti Olives sends the fruit [...]

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 [...]

By Jacqueline Smith, Jim Syme, president of Olives New Zealand, expects local olive growers will produce around 220,000 litres of olive oil this year, up from 185,000 litres in 2007. A bumper year for New Zealand olive oil has some in the industry predicting it will follow wine as one of our most promising exports. [...]

By Debra Smith, Charles and Gayle Pancerzewski didn’t know much about olive oil when they bought a 25-acre olive grove in New Zealand. They learned fast, after the man tending their land went bankrupt and they discovered he had planted a variety of olives that won’t produce at their balmy northern New Zealand grove. That’s [...]

By Rachel Young, Harvest has started, but not as many in Marlborough know it this time it is the olives that are being gathered. The Marlborough olive press started up on Monday and already is expected to press more than 200 tonnes of olives over the next month, with 71 different people already having booked [...]

By Shane Starling, Australian olive leaf extract pioneer, Olive Products Australia (OPA), has gained a European-first distribution deal in the UK for its high-antioxidant liquid supplement. While olive leaf extracts already exist on the European market – predominantly in cosmeceutical formulations as well as teas and pill-form food supplements – OPA’s offering is one of [...]

When Prue and Grahame Taylor were searching for a retirement hobby 12 years ago, they found their answer in olives. By Melanie Allan, The pair sold their successful textiles importing business in 1997 and threw themselves into their next venture. The idea of planting olive trees on their four hectare plot on Waiheke Island stemmed [...]

New Zealand medicinal honey company Comvita has today completed its acquisition of Olive Products Australia (OPA). OPA is a complementary medicine grower, manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer in Queensland. It has developed a system to grow and extract the active compounds from olive tree leaves for use in human and therapeutic products. Neil Craig, chairman of [...]

Four Sisters is thrilled to announce that their first time entry took out the top Olives New Zealand award, “Best in show” for 2007. These awards were presented at the annual Olives New Zealand dinner held in Wellington on Saturday 22 September. 4 Sisters winning olive oil came from the Single Varietal Class and was [...]