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 [...]

21 May

Australian Olive industry says MIS collapses won’t hold it back

The Australian Olive Association says the demise of orchard managers Timbercorp and Great Southern does not spell the end of the olive industry.
Managed investment schemes account for the majority of Australian olive production, and sparked the industry’s rapid growth over the past decade.
The Olive Association’s Paul Miller says the industry is now big enough to [...]

16 May

Back to Business for Timbercorp Olives

By Sandra Godwin,
The Boundary Bend olive harvest was under way this week after a halt caused by Timbercorp’s financial woes.
After a three-day shutdown, workers at Timbercorp olive groves at Boort and Boundary Bend got back to the business of harvesting olives last week.
The harvest ground to a halt earlier in the week as Timbercorp administrator [...]

09 Apr

Pakistan: Italians keen to invest in olive oil production

Italian investors are keen to invest in olive oil production in Pakistan, said Italian Ambassador Vincenzo Prati while addressing the National Conference on “Olive oil Production in Pakistan: result and way forward” at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) on Wednesday.

He said there was a dire need to establish interaction between chambers [...]

02 Apr

Olive Leaf Australia extracting healthy growth

By Alex Tilbury,
There’s an olive grove in Coominya, near Wivenhoe Dam, with 550,000 trees in it producing an Olive Leaf Extract that’s a global hot seller, in Australia alone, $1 million in product is sold every month.
A powerful antioxidant, 400 % more potent than vitamin C, the extract has many benefits for health and wellbeing, [...]

18 Mar

USDA approval for 1st U.S. Release of Authentic Olive Trees From Israel

With a hard-earned U.S. Department of Agriculture signoff now in hand, TreeswithMeaning.com becomes one of the first companies in the U.S. approved to bring living olive trees from Israel to the North American market.
For owners–and brothers–Bruno and Jerome Schneider, building the company was an intricate business challenge requiring four years of negotiations, planning and [...]

13 Mar

Croatia: Punat Days of Olives festival has begun

The 12th “Days of Olives” festival started this weekend in Punat on the Island of Krk in the northern Adriatic and will continue until 19 October.
Visitors will have a chance to participate in the olive harvest as well as in olive processing and to attend gastronomical, cultural and and other programmes.
Days of Olives will also [...]

15 Dec

Australian olive industry boosted by government-funded R&D

The Australian Olive Association is predicting a 30% to 40% increase in olive oil production in 2009.

This growth of the industry has been underpinned by research and development done with the support of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.
Paul Miller, president of the Australian Olive Association, said research and development funded by RIRDC and [...]

15 Dec

Tunisia is the world’s second largest olive oil producer after the EU

More than a mere agricultural produce, the olive tree and the oil it produces, are deeply entrenched in Tunisia’s Mediterranean culture. With a production estimated this year at 165,000 tons, Tunisia is the world’s second largest olive oil producer after the European Union.
In spite of the fact that this year’s yield is inferior to [...]

11 Dec

BGU, Beduin make modern olive press

By Judy Siegel-Itzkovich,
Ben-Gurion University researchers have launched a unique collaboration with Beduin entrepreneurs to develop a modern olive press in the Negev- just in time for the olive harvest.
For the past two years, the Beersheba researchers have had professional ties with Negev Beduin in the production of olive oil. The multi-disciplinary BGU team focused [...]

10 Dec

Olive harvest unaffected by snow in Spain

Snow falling across Spain has not harmed the olive crop in the world’s largest producer or significantly slowed the ongoing harvest, a farm union said.
Spanish television has broadcast pictures in recent days of snowbound olive pickers in southern region Andalucia, which accounts for most of Spain’s olive oil output and by itself far surpasses any [...]

08 Dec

Croatia’s olive oil producers fight quantity with quality

Croatian olive farmer Sandi Chiavalon has high hopes of taking on the might and quantity of Greece, Italy and Spain with the quality of oil from his groves.
The three European giants may account for more than three-quarters of global olive oil production, but Chiavalon is one of many young Croatian entrepreneurs readying their produce for [...]

04 Dec

Table olives losing favor on California farms

Small harvest being reported
Groves cut, making way for more profitable crops

Central Valley olive growers are reporting one of the smallest harvests in years – 51,000 tons, well under the USDA’s initial estimate of 65,000 tons.
One reason: Fewer olive trees.
Growers, disappointed with the money to be made growing table olives, have been ripping out many of [...]

01 Dec

Australia: Watch for major olive pest

The Department of Agriculture and Food is reminding growers that now is the time to be checking olive trees for signs of Olive lace bug.
Department olive industry development officer Dick Taylor said olive lace bug was an established pest on all mainland States in Australia except the Northern Territory.
Mr Taylor said in severe infestations the [...]

28 Nov

It’s olive time again in Sonoma Valley

By Robbi Pengelly,

With the grape harvest wrapped up, the focus has turned to Sonoma Valley’s other crop  - olives. Here workers at B.R. Cohn Winery flail at olive trees with long poles like acolytes in some ancient Druid ritual. Next month will mark the launch of the Valley’s annual Olive Festival, complete with the blessing [...]