Western Australia’s olive oil producers have been spending big on harvesting, processing and branding to prepare for WA’s first big olive harvest. Mark Beyer and Julie-anne Sprague report.
WESTERN Australia’s olive harvest is expected to skyrocket this year to 5,000 tonnes, leading to the production of nearly one million litres of extra virgin olive oil.
This year marks the State’s first major commercial olive harvest, following the establishment of a dozen big projects three to four years ago.
When the biggest growers, such as Larenta, Olea Australis and Frankland River reach full production by 2008, the State’s harvest will be between 30,000t and 40,000t.
The increasing harvest is underpinning multi-million dollar investments in harvesting and processing equipment.
Growers are also stepping up the branding and marketing of their prized extra virgin olive oil (see article next page).
Larenta Olives, based near Gingin, north of Perth, is installing a $2.5 million olive press capable of processing 5t/hour, making it the equal biggest in the State.
Larenta, with 160,000 trees, was one of the first big projects to plant its groves and will account for about half the State’s harvest this year.
“We’ve got the biggest harvest in WA and one of the biggest in Australia,” chief executive Trevor Coward said.
Larenta is one of several big growers aiming to process olives from both its own groves and from other growers in the region.
It follows the lead of Olea Australis, also based north of Perth in the Moore River region.
Olea has planted 215,000 trees and commissioned a 5t/hour olive press of its own last season.
Two more high-volume olive presses are likely to be installed in the Moore River region, including at Fini Olives, which expects to have its first big harvest next year.
The many small growers in the Moore River region are also looking to establish their own press.
“The possibility of a small central press is real,” Moore River Olive Association president Derek Fisher said.
He said the large presses were designed for high volumes and were therefore not suitable for growers with small batches of olives.
In the south of the State, Frankland River Olive Company is close to completing a 3t/hour processing plant. Like the other big processing plants, Frankland River has adopted a modular design so that the capacity can easily be increased.
Closer to Perth, at Baldivis, Kailis Organic Olive Groves has just commissioned Australia’s largest dedicated organic processing plant.
KOOG managing director Mark Kailis believes the focus on organic olives will be an important point of difference for his company.
The Kailis family has a long history in the industry, having grown olives for 22 years.
Its Baldivis groves have 14 varieties and Mr Kailis said the six best varieties had been selected for KOOG’s recently established groves at Preston Valley in the State’s South West.
KOOG currently has 30,000 trees in the ground and Mr Kailis is aiming to plant a massive three million trees Australia-wide over the next 10 years.
As well as state-of-the-art processing plants, WA’s big olive growers are investing in new automated harvesting equipment.
This includes home-grown harvesting technology developed in Perth by Australian Olive Harvesters.
The Balcatta-based company this week completed the first production model of its automated ‘shaker’ harvester, following testing of a prototype at Larenta.
Chief executive Graham Dawson said the current model would be able to harvest 60t/hour, helping the local industry compete with subsidised European growers.
“We saw a need to improve the way olives are harvested,” Mr Dawson said.
“I don’t know of any other automated tree shaker like ours.”
The machine automatically locates the tree trunk, puts catching mats around the base and shakes the tree to remove the fruit.
The machine then retracts the equipment and moves to the next tree, while the fruit is sent by conveyor to a trailer.
Mr Dawson said the company had obtained an AusIndustry grant to build a larger model, which would have two shaker heads and be able to harvest 240 trees an hour with just one operator.
Other growers such as Olea Australis, have been using ‘over the row’ harvesters, which sit over each tree. The aim with all harvesters is to efficiently remove the fruit without causing any damage to the fruit, the trees or their root system. Frankland River experimented with three harvester models last season and this year is using an ‘over the row’ harvester for its smaller trees and a ‘shaker’ harvester on its larger trees.
