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, [...]

03 Oct

Olive harvest season in Spain

  In September Spain traditionally begins harvesting of table olives. Harvest will last until November and will end by the olive festival. Olives is the pearl of the Mediterranean. In Russia the olives from the sunny Spain are very popular and are appreciated for its good taste. Due to the wide diversity of varieties and [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

27 Apr

Origin of Olives in South Africa

In 1902, after completing his studies at Saint Illario Agricultural College in Genoa, Ferdinando Costa arrived in Cape Town to assist his brother Raphael, who had set up a successful nursery in Wynberg. After a few years, Ferdinando was able to obtain his own small piece of land opposite the new Fernwood Estate in Newlands [...]