Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor by Sandra Noke

Digital agriculture takes off

2018 June

Harvest Report Part 2 Table olives Olive R&D 2018 Competitions

Contents

Super Separators the tailored solutions to every processing capacity

Incorporating Australian Olive Industry Journal Published by the Australian Olive Association Ltd Publisher Australian Olive Association Ltd Executive Editor Greg Seymour ceo@australianolives.com.au Managing Editor Gerri Nelligan editor@olivegrower.com.au Advertising Gerri Nelligan editor@olivegrower.com.au Production Sandra Noke production@olivegrower.com.au Subscriptions A one-year subscription (four issues) is: Aust $44 (AOA member discount rate $40), NZ $56 and OS $60 and includes a copy of the annual Australian and New Zealand Olive Industry Directory. Visit www.olivebiz.com.au to subscribe.

Mercurio

Saturno

Nettuno

Marte

Plutone

Circulation & Advertising Enquiries editor@olivegrower.com.au

Compact, Self-cleaning, Environmentfriendly

The Pieralisi Super Separators family is enriched with new models to satisfy any production capacity. All the models integrate separation, washing and PLC control functions in a single compact, solid and ergonomic structure. The Patented Mister Cip system allows the automatic cleaning of the bowl while the machine is running, eliminating the costly downtimes and optimizing the processing times and costs. The constant and automatic elimination of sediments from the bowl allows a real saving together with the advantage of a better processed product. Another important advantage is the ecological nature of this super technology: separation takes place without addition of water, meaning no polluting wastewater production and its costly and demanding disposal in the environment in compliance with the strict laws in force.

OFFICIAL AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND AGENTS NSW-QLD-ACT-VIC Town & Country Tractors & Machinery Pty.Ltd. 18 Airds Rd - Minto, NSW 2566 Phone 02 98248444 - Fax 02 98246670 paul@tctractors.com.au - tornado@pacific.net.au Contact: Paul Blasutto, 0419 273668

SA-VIC W.E. Ware & Co. Pty.Ltd. 19 Papagni Avenue - Newton, SA 5074 Phone 08 83653200 - Fax 08 83653187 warrick@weware.com.au Contact: Marjorie Ware and Warrick Philpott

Via Don Battistoni, 1 60035 Jesi (AN) Italy Phone +39 0731.2311 Fax +39 0731.231239 info@pieralisi.com www.pieralisi.com

WA Directus Equipment Services Contact: Scott Unthank , 0438 023120 scott@directus.com.au Contact: Peter Gates , 0411 734048 peter@directus.com.au

June 2018 Issue 108

News

Contributions Articles and other contributions are welcome and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Photographs are best received as high resolution jpg files via email, and as separate attachments not embedded. Printing Lane Print & Post Adelaide Australian Olive Association ABN 57 072 977 489 PO Box 6661, Baulkham Hills NSW 2153 Australia Ph: (+61) 0478 606 145 E: secretariat@australianolives.com.au ISSN 1448-5486 Conditions The opinions expressed in Olivegrower & Processor are not necessarily the opinions of or endorsed by the editor or publisher unless otherwise stated. All articles submitted for publication become the property of the publisher. All material in Olivegrower & Processor is copyright © Australian Olive Association Ltd. All rights reserved.No part may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic, or mechanical including information and retrieval systems) without written permission of the publisher. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information, the published will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions, or for any consequences arising from reliance on information published.

The Olive Wellness Institute – EVOO health resources at your fingertips 4 New York, Japan, London … the medals keep coming our way 6 Research proves EVOO is safest and most stable oil for cooking 8 Are you promoting EVOO … Everyday? 8 2018 National Conference: collective learning and practical take-homes 9

News - Awards Australian International Olive Awards, promoting and celebrating quality Hunter Olive Show aims to beat 2017 record Changes to 2018 AIOA Table Olive Awards Judging and describing EVOO

10 11 12 14

Harvest report Vic and SA

Labelling & packaging “Best consumed” is labelling best practice

R&D Insights – Hort Innovation Olive levy R&D updates

Grove Management Digital agriculture: what’s all the fuss about?

Olivegrower profile - Table olives Slow road to fast success

New Zealand New ONZ President: welcome to the olive family ONZ Focus Grove Project - March 2018 update 2018 NZ EVOO Awards

38 39 41

Tastebook R&D Tastebook sensory training

Olive industry R&D Could Designation of Origin work for Australian olive products?

Pests and diseases Vigilance required for Olive Knot Disease

Products and services Closures Online

What’s On Calendar of events Advertiser’s index

50 50

Drones are one part of the digital agriculture revolution already being used in Australian and New Zealand groves to monitor tree health, crop levels, and even for bird control. Image: Roger Harrison, Rash Valley Olives. Issue 108 • June 2018 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • 3

News

Gerri Nelligan Managing Editor

There’s a lot going on in the world of olives and EVOO at present, and much of it’s happening right here in Australia and New Zealand. It’s harvest time for starters and that’s a mixed bag this year, with reports of great crops in some areas and “not worth picking” in others. It’s partly due to biennial bearing but substantially due to the long dry experienced across much of Australia this year.

The new harvest means we’re also gearing up for the competition season, with state and national awards providing opportunities for peer review and learning – and for winners, a marketing bonanza. As an industry we’re incredibly busy too, with R&D and case studies across both countries providing valuable information and insights to improve quality and viability. And have you heard about the wealth of health-related resources available from the Olive Wellness Institute? We cover all this and more in this edition, including industry profiles, business information, and the lowdown on 2018’s national industry events. Hope you enjoy the read – while I’m out finishing the groundwork for spring planting of my own mini olive grove!

... OWI will offer healthcare professionals, scientists, academics and members of the general public, invaluable access to evidence-based information about EVOO and other olive products. microbiota, adding to the growing weight of scientific data supporting the health benefits of olive tree products. Also recently published on the OWI is a new pilot study Including Extra Virgin Olive Oil May More Improve Glycaemic Control despite Similar Weight Loss Compared to the Diet Recommended by the Prostate Cancer Foundation, published in the Journal of Cancer Therapy. Conducted by renowned US medical professor and research dietitian Dr Mary Flynn, the study found that a plantbased diet including EVOO was extremely effective at improving biomarkers for cancer and cardiovascular disease in men with prostate cancer.

Stay warm – Editor Gerri Nelligan and the Olivegrower Team.

The Olive Wellness Institute – EVOO health resources at your fingertips New online information source the Olive Wellness Institute TM (OWI) is an invaluable resource for olive growers and industry producers, providing easy access and reference to credible, up to date information on the health benefits of EVOO and olive products. Launched in April, the OWI aims to increase awareness of EVOO and other olive products by gathering, sharing and promoting expert, evidence-based information on their nutrition, health and wellness benefits. It is targeted at health professionals and the public interested in non-branded credible information, and in time will include resources specifically for growers. OWI General Manager Sarah Gray said the site has received enthusiastic visitation and feedback. “We’ve had loads of people accessing the information, and then sharing and liking it,” she said. “We’ve had great feedback from dieticians in particular, and been getting regular emails from growers and consumers. They’re using the resources and then asking questions – from consumers, things like how much oil they should use, and how to identify good brands.

“So we’re now working on adding more consumer-based resources to the site as well.”

Scientific review and rigour

All information on the OWI website is developed by leading scientists, researchers and health professionals with extensive expertise in olive products and their use. Committed to publishing only scientificallyrigorous, evidence-based information, the OWI ensures that all content is subject to extensive peer review. The OWI is guided by a global advisory panel comprising internationally-renowned professors, doctors, dietitians, nutritionists and researchers specialising in olive science, products and the health benefits of the Mediterranean Diet. The panel provides the OWI with insights and guidance, ensuring the highest levels of scientific rigour. Professor Catherine Itsiopoulos, Head of the School of Allied Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, chairs the OWI advisory panel.

4 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

“Given the abundant misinformation on the health benefits of foods, ingredients and supplements, a collaborative organisation like the OWI will offer healthcare professionals, scientists, academics and members of the general public, invaluable access to evidence-based information about EVOO and other olive products,” she said. “I have been researching the impact of the Mediterranean diet for more than 20 years, and EVOO forms the basis of the dietary advice I provide to patients with heart disease, diabetes and other chronic diseases.” Prof Itsiopoulos is currently conducting a trial on the positive effects of the Mediterranean diet on coronary heart disease, and will be a keynote speaker at the 2018 AOA National Conference in Wagga Wagga, NSW.

What you’ll find

One of the most recent resources included in the OWI repository is a new research review confirming the ‘health and prolongevity effects’ of the traditional EVOO-containing Mediterranean diet. Conducted by US and Italian geriatric and nutritional research scientists, the Health

Subscribe, learn and share

Professor Catherine Itsiopoulos chairs the OWI advisory panel and will be a keynote speaker at the 2018 AOA National Conference in Wagga Wagga.

Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet: Metabolic and Molecular Mechanisms research review, published in the latest edition of the Journals of Gerontology, highlights the antiinflammatory and antioxidant properties of phytochemicals found in abundance in EVOO. The review reinforces the role played by EVOO and the Mediterranean diet in reducing the risk of stroke, Type 2 diabetes, peripheral artery disease and breast cancer, and its potential to improve the gut

The OWI site provides industry members with a credible reference point to help share accurate science and debunk myths, along with an olive science database referenced to olive health and wellness. Subscription to the olive wellness community is free via the OWI website www. olivewellnessinstitute.org and subscribers can access: • regularly updated news and articles relating to olive nutrition, health and wellness; • an easily searchable and comprehensive olive science database featuring prominent recent research findings; • an expert library listing designed to facilitate queries and research collaboration; • a list of relevant olive events worldwide. New subscribers can also download a free olive health and wellness e-book, containing comprehensive information about the history and science behind olive products.

Join the community

The OWI provides a great opportunity to get the real facts about our wonderful, healthful products out there, so let’s all get behind the initiative: • subscribe at www.olivewellnessinstitute.org • share the pages with friends and family members to build the site’s online presence – Follow on Twitter; Like on Facebook and/or Connect on LinkedIn.

Issue 108 • June 2018 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • 5

News

New York, Japan, London … the medals keep coming our way “Australia didn’t just enter the olive oil trade, they reinvented it and sent shockwaves through the industry. Determined to produce olive oil that is as fresh and nutritious as possible, Australian producers craft some of the most winning brands in the world, while calling out low-quality rivals.” Those words, from the New York International Olive Oil Competition website, describe in a nutshell the impact our local EVOOs are having on the world stage. In recent months Australian and New Zealand producers have been up there with the best in the results of three major international competitions. Let’s take a look at the winners.

Some of the 18 award-winning local EVOOs at this year’s NYIOOC. Photo: Rob Harris.

Local entries accounted for 30 of the total 727 judged by a panel of international judges, making the medal haul total of 21 (70% success rate) even more impressive.

NYIOOC

Australian and New Zealand producers once again made their mark at the 2018 New York International Olive Oil Competition (NYIOOC), taking home a total of two Best of Class, 12 Gold and four Silver awards. Australia accounted for 16 of the total, with Best in Class awards going to Cape Schank Olive Estate’s Coratina and Cobram Estate’s Australia Select Picual. Cape Schanck Olive Estate also took home two Gold medals for its Frantoio and Picual varietals, while Cobram Estate stacked up four Golds for its Superior Premiere Blend, Reserve Hojiblanca, Light Flavour Intensity Blend and Robust Flavour Intensity Blend. Rylstone Olive Press also earned two Golds, one each for its Murray Darling Blend and Murrumbidgee Blend, joined in the Gold medal stakes by Gooramadda Olives’ Hardy’s Mammoth and Nannup Tiger’s Frantoio varietals. Australian Silver medals were awarded to Alto Olives for its Robust Blend and Rylstone Olive Press for its Crooked River Blend, along with two to Cobram Estate for its Reserve Picual and Classic Flavour Intensity Blend. New Zealand producers added an additional two Gold medals to the tally, awarded to the Blue Earth Tuscan Blend Frantoio and Juno Picual varietals, both from the Wairarapa region.

Climbing up the rankings

Percentage wise, it was an impressive result for both countries. Australia’s total of 16 awards from 28 entries translates to a 57% success rate, while New Zealand achieved a 40% success rate from the five oils entered. In the overall listings, for countries with more than three entries Australia’s 57% percentage success rate was equal fourth with the United States (behind Croatia 89%, Spain 62% and

2018 London IOOC: Quality Olive Oil Competition Italy 60%), well above traditional “old world” winners Greece (35%) and France (42%).

Olive Japan 2018

Australian and New Zealand producers also did themselves proud at this year’s Olive Japan International EVOO Competition, taking home a total of eight Gold and 13 Silver medals. Seven of the Golds went to Australian producers - three to Boundary Bend and one each to Alto Olives, Camilo Olives, Sommariva Olives and Chapman River Olives, which was also awarded the Best of Australia title. Another Gold went to New Zealand’s Telegraph Hill, along with three of the Silver haul. Australian producers nabbed the rest of the Silvers – two to Alto Olives and Yanchep Sun City P/L, and one each to Boundary Bend, Camilo Olives, Goornong Estate, Crea Farm, Prema Bros and Sommariva Olives.

Topping off the recent round of international achievements were two local medal wins at the London International Olive Oil Competitions’ Quality Olive Oil Competition. Australian producers from very different parts of the country took home medals, with a Silver awarded to ACT producer Homeleigh Grove and a Bronze to Romley Estate on South Australia’s Fleurieu Pensinsula.

Congratulations

What a fantastic result all round, which will no doubt build on the ever-increasing reputation of our high-quality Australian and New Zealand EVOOs across the globe. Congratulations to all the winners! Access the full competition results at: NYIOOC – www.bestoliveoils.com; Olive Japan – www.olivejapan.com/en London – www.londonoliveoil.com.

The OliveCare® factor … There are some great statistics in these results and AOA OliveCare® Code of Practice Administrator Peter McFarlane provided some more which are well worth contemplating: • NYIOOC - 15 (94%) of the 16 Australian award winners are AOA OliveCare® signatories • Olive Japan - 13 (81%) of the 16 Australian winning oils are certified under OliveCare® • London IOOC - the two Australian winning oils, one (50%) is certified under OliveCare® There’s gotta be something in that! Find out more at www.australianolives.com.au.

6 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

PHONE: 03 5272 9500 lab@modernolives.com.au modernolives.com.au

News

Research proves EVOO is safest and most stable oil for cooking The Olive Wellness Institute (see page 4 ) team has wasted no time in sharing some great myth busting research about the common misconception that you can’t cook with EVOO. Here’s a user-friendly overview of the science involved. Recent research conducted by the Modern Olives Laboratory confirms that Australian EVOO is the safest and most stable oil to cook with. Canola oil, grapeseed oil and rice bran oil were found to be the least stable and produced the highest level of polar compounds when heated.

Key findings include:

• smoke point does not predict an oil’s performance when heated • oxidative stability and UV coefficients are better predictors when combined with total level of polyunsaturated fats • of all the oils tested, EVOO produced the lowest level of polar compounds • production of polar compounds was more pronounced for refined oils • EVOO was the most stable oil when heated, followed closely by other virgin oils.

Oils and cooking

When cooking oils are exposed to heat, oil degradation occurs, and by-products are produced (free fatty acids, secondary products of oxidation, polar compounds). Some by-products of oil degradation have adverse effects on health. The smoke point of an oil is believed to be correlated with the safety and stability under heat, although technical evidence to support this is limited.

The research

The aim of the Modern Olives study was to assess the correlation between an oil’s smoke point and other chemical characteristics associated with stability/safety when heating. Analysis was undertaken in an ISO17025 accredited laboratory. Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and other common cooking oils were heated up to 240oC and exposed to

180oC for 6 hours, with samples assessed at various times, testing smoke point, oxidative stability, free fatty acids, polar compounds, fatty acid profiles and UV coefficients.

Results

EVOO yielded low levels of polar compounds and oxidative by-products, in contrast to the high levels of by-products generated for oils such as canola oil. EVOO’s fatty acid profile and natural antioxidant content allowed the oil to remain stable when heated. In contrast, oils with high levels of poly-unsaturated fats (PUFAs) degraded more readily. The study revealed that, under the conditions used, smoke point does not predict oil performance when heated. Oxidative stability and UV coefficients are better predictors when combined with total level of PUFAs. Of all the oils tested, EVOO produced the lowest level of polar compounds after being heated.

EVOO and polar compounds

When oil breaks down (e.g. when exposed to heat) there are a variety of degradation by-products produced, such as polar compounds. Evidence shows that polar compounds may be detrimental to health and have been linked to the development of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease. In industrial kitchens, the percentage of polar compounds remaining in cooking oils (after repeated use) is tested to determine when an oil is no longer safe to for human consumption. International legislation in countries including France, Italy, Poland and Spain enforces a limit to the polar compounds in frying oils as no more than 25%.

EVOO is highly stable and resistant to breaking down and forming harmful products like polar compounds because it is: • rich in mono-unsaturated fat (e.g. oleic acid). Many refined oils are higher in polyunsaturated fat, which is more prone to oxidation and therefore degrades more readily; • moderately high in saturated fats, which remain very stable when the oil is heated; • high in natural antioxidants, which protect the oil from breakdown when heated. Refined oils are devoid of natural antioxidants and therefore experience higher levels of degradation when heated; • naturally produced via mechanical means only. Refined oils are subject to processing treatments such as high heat, bleaching and deodorizing. This leaves refined oils with high initial levels of oxidative by-products, and pre-primes them to more readily break down when heated during cooking. This is just one example of the published literature demonstrating the safety and suitability of EVOO for cooking which is available for reference on the Olive Wellness Institute website. To access more, go to ‘Cooking with Olive Oil’ under the Extra Virgin Olive Oil drop-down at www. olivewellnessinstitute.org. Ref: de Alzaa F, Guillaume C, Ravetti L. Evaluation of Chemical and Physical Changes in Different Commercial Oils during Heating. Acta Scientific Nutritional Health. 2018;2(6): 02-11.

Are you promoting EVOO … Everyday? The AOA consumer awareness and education (CAE) campaign, Everyday, has been a great success, taking the message out to our target audience – consumers – about how great our quality Australian EVOO is for cooking, health and … everything, Everyday! Everyday is a purely social media based campaign, where clicks mean everything, so let’s all help keep the momentum going by doing our bit for the industrywide team effort. Here’s what you can do to keep sounding those messages loud and clear: • visit the Everyday site regularly 8 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

• • • •

keep sharing the content with friends share to your own pages too keep liking the pages use the email graphics, signatures and social media information provided in the Members Kit/User Guide.

Go to www.australianextravirgin.com.au … Everyday!

2018 National Conference: collective learning and practical take-homes Collective learning is the focus of this year’s AOA National Olive Industry Conference & Exhibition, being held in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales on 18-20 October. AOA CEO Greg Seymour said the aim was to provide delegates with new information and skills on a broad range of relevant topics. “There are many and diverse elements to running an olive industry business, some “practical” and others more “administrative”. We wanted to cover a range of those elements, and include information relevant to people at different stages and with varying business operations,” he said. “Most importantly, we wanted a focus on shared learning across all levels of experience and knowledge, with really valuable practical takehomes for all participants.”

Wagga rules

Seymour said the location is also a good fit for the majority of industry members. “Wagga Wagga is a great place to hold our conference,” he said. “It’s less than a four hour drive from a large number of producers and has multiple daily flights from the national air hubs for delegates from further afield. “It’s a regional town with great support facilities and a go-go attitude: we’ve had enthusiastic assistance with all of our planning and they’re really keen to make our delegates welcome. The Conference venue, the Wagga Rules Club, has great facilities – including an adjacent four-star 80-room hotel – and it’s very reasonably priced, which means we can keep registration fees affordable. “Having the NSW DPI and Charles Sturt University there is another bonus, and it’s great that we’ll be spending our money in a region with so much input into our industry.”

Conference program

The program commences on Thursday, October 18 with a full day of plenary sessions. Keynote speakers include Linda Costa from South Africa, presenting on table olive production, and recentlyretired President of Olives NZ Andrew Taylor, sharing the outstanding results of the ONZ Focus Grove Project. A grower, grove consultant and harvesting contractor, Taylor will also cover the “hot topic” of mechanical harvesting of table olives. Also on the practical side are presentations on the CSIRO project using megasonics to increase extraction levels, preparing olives for competition, and Olive Levy R&D including the current IPDM, Foodservice and Industry Benchmarking projects. More “administrative” topics will cover marketing, food production safety issues and succession/“what if” planning. Friday morning will see concurrent sessions on table olives and EVOO respectively, before lunch and an afternoon “in the field”. A grove walk at the NSW DPI experimental grove will be followed by a tour of the testing and tasting panel facilities, and an inspection of the research services at Charles Sturt University. As always, an integral part of the event will be the Exhibition, show casing the latest industry-specific products and services. “The exhibitor area is a “hot spot” of the event, and an incredibly valuable resource for delegates,” Seymour said. “Not only can they see the latest products and technologies first-hand but they can speak one-on-one with the people who provide them, and get personalised advice about what best suits their situation.”

Wollundry Grove. Photo: Matt Beaver.

Optional Saturday sessions include the Tastebook Live table olive and EVOO sensory workshop; a half-day table olive workshop at Wollundry Grove; and a tour to Junee Liquorice and Coolamon Cheeses. The ‘Super Saturday” will finish with a grove walk and farewell pizza night at Wollundry Grove.

Informative and enjoyable

The latter is part of the committee’s planning remit to ensure the event is as enjoyable as it is informative. “Fun is another key element of the program,” Seymour said. “That’ll start the day before the Conference proper, with a networking function following the 2018 AOA AGM, and continue on Thursday night with the Conference Dinner at the Riverine Club. It’ll be a walk back into the world of the gentleman squatter, and a great night of entertainment and fun. “Then Friday night is the AIOA Presentation Dinner, a glitz and glam night around the announcement of this year’s medal and award winners. It’s an opportunity to dress up and celebrate, and we’re looking forward to seeing how people scrub up in a coat and tie or cocktail dress!”

Full details will be available on AOA Conference website in July – www.nationalconference.com.au.

2018 AOA National Olive Conference & Exhibition When: Thursday, 18 & Friday, 19 October 2018; Saturday, 20 October - Optional Field Days/Workshops Where: Wagga Rules Club, Wagga Wagga, NSW Incorporating: 2018 AOA AGM – 4pm 17 October, Australian International Olive Awards Presentation Dinner – Friday, 19 October Event accommodation: Quality Hotel Rules Club Wagga www.qualityhotelrulesclubwagga.com Registrations open in July – www.nationaloliveconference.com.au Issue 108 • June 2018 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • 9

News – Competitions

Hunter Olive Show aims to beat 2017 record

Australian International Olive Awards, promoting and celebrating quality

The competition

Entries into the AIOA are invited from both Northern and Southern hemisphere producers. Separate Best Northern Hemisphere and Best Southern Hemisphere awards honour the different harvest times, however all entries compete for the coveted Best EVOO of Show and Best Table Olives of Show awards. Other major accolades include the respective Champion of Class and Best EVOO of State awards. EVOO classes include Mild, Medium and Robust, Non-packaged, and various Varietal and Flavoured categories, with all oils assessed using official IOC-standard blue olive oil tasting glasses. Table Olive classes include Varietals, Wild, Tapenades and various Flavoured categories, with new regulations introduced for this year’s competition in regard to testing and colour variations (See AIOA Table Olive article on page 12 for more information). Entry costs have been kept at 2017 prices, and once again AOA members receive a considerable discount on all entries.

10 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

2018 Australian International Olive Awards - EVOO, Flavoured Olive Oil and Table Olive Competitions Entries open: 16 July 2018 Entries close: 21 September 2018 Judging: 4-6 October 2018 Presentation dinner: Friday, 19 October 2018 - Wagga Rules Club, Wagga Wagga NSW Results posted on AIOA website: Monday, 22 Oct 2018 Full details and entry forms: www.internationaloliveawardsaustralia.com.au Enquiries to Trudie Michels - tmichels@globaldial.com **AOA members receive substantial discounts on all entries

Promotion, promotion, promotion!

Knowing that success at competitions – particularly one as prestigious as the AIOA – has significant benefits in terms of sales and marketing, the AOA has a communications plan focussed on promoting all medal and award winners. Commencing on announcement of the results, promotion of winners will start with peer recognition at the AIOA Presentation Dinner and broad-ranging media dissemination to local, state, national and international outlets, online and print-based, with particular emphasis on food and lifestyle communicators. Key winners will be celebrated at a national food influencers and media event in Sydney in October, and winning entries will be showcased throughout the coming year at Australian and international tastings, consumer tastings and training events – and, of course, across the Olivegrower communications platform through Friday Olive Extracts and feature articles here in Olivegrower & Processor.

Ever wondered what goes on in an EVOO judging room? There’s an insightful description of the complex judging process from international judge Pablo Canamasas on page 14.

Key dates (all categories):

Entries due – Friday, 5 October 2018 Judging – Saturday, 27 October Presentations – 15 November: Adina Vineyard & Olive Grove, Lovedale More information and entry forms: www. hunterolives.asn.au, or contact Head Steward Alan Smith at treasurer@hunterolives.asn.au 0419 255 949.

Royal Adelaide Olive Awards Entries now open Entries close 17 August Awards Presentation Dinner: Wednesday, 5 September - Kooyonga Golf Club, Lockleys, SA Entry forms and information E: entries@adelaideshowground.com.au Ph: RAS office (08) 8210 5211 or Michael Johnston 0419 815 839 Online entries: www.theshow.com.au

– Wagga Wagga

Your first choice for analysis you can trust. Quality Criteria and Adulteration Testing ■

Big picture benefits

Michels said the commercial benefits of winning are well worth the entry fee but, as the industry’s national competition, taking part has even greater benefits in the long run. “The competition is working assertively towards becoming one of the top international olive competitions in the world by 2022, and the status which goes with winning an AIOA award will continue to grow steadily,” she said. “The emphasis on improvement also means that by supporting the competition you are supporting the Australian olive industry and helping to lift the quality of olive products available in the marketplace. “And as a winner, you’ll help spread awareness of Australia’s excellent olive products both on home soil and on the world stage.”

to encourage broad participation. “And if you’re a member of the Hunter Olive Association your membership automatically comes with one free entry – so there’s no excuse not to enter. “Every entry also receives quality feedback to use for future improvement and development, and where no medal is awarded that feedback is anonymous.”

OIL TESTING SERVICE ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

jn 13651 08-2015

High quality extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and table olives are the pride of our industry, and celebrating, promoting and nurturing those high quality products is what the Australian International Olive Awards (AIOA) are all about. Now in its second year with international status, the competition provides the opportunity for producers to benchmark their products against both Australian and international peers – and to showcase their winning EVOO and table olives to the world. Led by Head Judge Shane Cummins, the 2018 AIOA judging panel features both highly trained national judges and internationallyrenowned overseas judges, including Toshiya Tada (Japan), Pablo Canamasas (Argentina) and Charlotte Coventry (NZ). Chief Steward Trudie Michels said the organising committee’s aim was to find the best mix of industry knowledge and experience, in order to ensure a thoughtful, non-biased judging process based purely on merit. “Ours is a national industry organisation-owned competition: there’s no agenda except to promote and celebrate quality EVOO and table olive production - and to help people improve,” she said. “To that end, the different judges are chosen for their respective knowledge and expertise, which then combine to create diverse and objective panels. Every entry is treated fairly and with respect, with the judging panels given adequate time to assess each entry’s aroma and organoleptic characteristics. Medals are then awarded on those individual merits, rather than by comparison, and the judges’ assessments are used to provide comprehensive tasting note feedback for all entries which can be used for future improvement and promotion. “Last year’s competition saw an increase in quality from an average bronze to an average silver, and that’s all part of the plan.”

The Hunter Olive Show is on again, as usual led by Steve Mitchell backed by the Hunter Olive Association organising committee. They hope to continue the success of the 2017 show, which saw record entries across all categories: entry numbers were up for the olive oil classes – which for the first time included regional EVOO awards for Tasmania, Victoria and NSW – and also for table olive and tapenades classes. The increased field saw 60% of entries come from outside the Hunter Region, including Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia and all regions of NSW. Head Steward Alan Smith said the inclusive show covers oil, table olives and tapenades classes and is one of the last regional shows in Australia. “There’s a lot that goes into the running of a regional competition, so we need continuing support every year to remain viable,” he said. “To that end, we continue to ensure it is an affordable show: for four years we have kept entry fees the same, at far below most other shows. This is a deliberate policy on our part

Peroxide value Free fatty acid UV absorption Fatty acid profile Polyphenols Rancimat*

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Pyropheophytins Diacylglycerols Trans fatty acids Sterols Stigmastadienes Waxes

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Triacylglycerol (ECN42)* Moisture and volatiles* Insoluble impurities* Aliphatic alcohols* α-tocophenols

*Not accredited by NATA

IOC Accredited Sensory Laboratory AOCS Approved Chemist

AOA Code of Practice

Oil Testing Service Locked Bag 700 Wagga Wagga NSW 2650

For more information contact 1800 675 623 or 02 6938 1957 laboratory.services@dpi.nsw.gov.au

Free fatty acids, peroxide value, UV absorption and sensory analysis

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www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/labs For the IOC and AOCS Period of Recognition, please refer to the website

Issue 108 • June 2018 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • 11

News – Competitions

Changes to 2018 AIOA Table Olive Awards With table olives becoming an increasingly important part of Australian olive production, and based on table olive exhibitor feedback from the 2017 Australian International Olive Awards (AIOA), a number of changes have been made to the classifications and judging criteria for Table Olive classes. They include: • olives ‘changing colour’ are now included in the AIOA black olives class • clingstone and freestone are now recognised as varietal characteristics not faults • olives should have an appealing fruit flavour, which for green olives often is a typical fermentation taste but retaining ‘olive’ character, and for black olives is a stronger olive flavour • table olive exhibits with negative sensory attributes will be ineligible for judging. Amendments have also been made to the 2018 AIOA Table Olive Conditions of Entry, predominantly around new testing requirements but also covering packaging and age of entries: • all table olive exhibits will now undergo physico-chemical and microbiological testing and any not meeting the specifications of the Voluntary Standard for Table Olives in Australia will be ineligible for judging • a minimum of 1 kg of olives to be provided for each exhibit, packaged in three separate containers (commercial food grade - glass jars with sealed lids, plastic screw-cap containers or vacuum packed) • competition entries are NOT restricted to the current year of production. Well processed table olives will last several years and 2018 exhibits may include 201618 product.

Testing included in entry

The new requirements provide a significant benefit for table olive producers, as the testing is carried out as part of the AIOA entry process. The cost is included in the entry fee and the testing results will be provided with judging results and feedback. Table Olive Competition Head Judge Dr Michelle Wirthensohn is a researcher at the University of Adelaide’s School of Agriculture, Food & Wine, and is in charge of the testing process. Here’s a brief run-down of what’s done – and a bonus helpful tip on salt content! “In the lab here, I test for pH of the brine (must be less than 4.3) and for salt content (as %; must be >6%) with a refractometer

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specifically designed for salt measurements. The NATA-accredited ALS Laboratory carries out the microbiological testing for E. coli (<3 MPN/g; Most Probable Number/g) and Lactobacillus spp. (<10 cfu/g; colony forming units/g) for pasteurised samples. “Pretty much all samples that have been submitted over the years have passed the microbiological testing. I do see, however, the occasional sample which comes in under-salted. Table olive processors should be aware that even though they may be

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competition training sessions and the ongoing Tastebook program, and there’s an increasing expectation that they will provide comprehensive descriptive tasting notes for each entry,” McFarlane said. “We’re value-adding competition entry by providing really good tasting notes, which producers can then use for training and marketing. They can also use them to refine their processes and improve their products, providing future benefits for both the producers and overall industry quality.”

It pays for the processor to check their final brine concentration before packaging their entry putting olives into fresh brine of 6%, over time the olives will absorb some of that salt and therefore the brine I measure in the lab may fall below 6%. “It pays for the processor to check their final brine concentration before packaging their entry.”

Comprehensive tasting notes

Table Olive Chief Steward Peter McFarlane said this year will also see a change in the judging role, with an increased emphasis on provision of descriptors and other relevant information. “We’re asking more from our judges. They’re being educated through the

12 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

Judging table olives

For those wanting to know more about the table olive judging process, there’s great information on table olive negative sensory attributes, and judging and describing table olives, by Dr Stan Kailis in the Tastebook Round 3 document on the AOA website – www.australianolives.com.au,

Full Australian International Table Olives Awards details and entry forms will be available on the competition website – www. internationaloliveawardsaustralia.com.au – in July.

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News - Competitions

Judging and describing EVOO By Pablo Canamasas, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Ever wondered what goes on in an EVOO judging room? This overview from an expert international judge provides detailed insight into the complexity of the process and how it works in practice – along with a reassurance of the care which goes into assessing each precious EVOO entry. I guess I should start by noting that the job of olive oil taster may be different depending on the context. As part of a tasting panel that forms part of a laboratory process reporting results to clients, our job is to report primarily on: presence/ absence of defects, levels of fruitiness, bitterness and pungency. Many colleagues in Australia who have done this very same job at Modern Olives and DPI Wagga Wagga know that scoring intensities of these attributes/defects is part of a tight adjustment of your palate, that comes with lots of work and time together with the same people and same panel leaders. You may or may not describe the oils in depth as you taste, but you are certainly requested to be extremely precise on these four parameters. In other words, when you carry out this job you do it within a team-framework, and being consistent is perhaps the most crucial aspect of your goals. On the other hand, as a member of a competition panel your tasks are significantly more complex. You are expected to score all those same four attributes/defects, but also you need to provide descriptors on the nose and palate that do justice to the oils you are tasting. The way it works for me is more or less as follows.

So … what score then?

Usually the chairman of the competition suggests guidelines on how to award medals. I usually help myself using the points break down suggested by the tasting sheet to come up with a final score. However, I tend to go beyond mathematical equations to decide on awarding a Gold medal. If the oil shows unique flavours, a generous nose intensity and complexity, and the palate is well balanced then why not consider the awarding of Gold, no matter what scoring summation you came up with? Somehow, and with no technical reasoning behind it, you just know when you have a Gold medal oil in your hands. So when this is the case I review my scoring sheet to ensure that the oil gets its deserved award.

Aromas

Intensity: when I do the assessment on the nose, I try to determine the intensity of the fruity flavour, whatever that flavour/descriptor might be. I mean, how much aroma hits your nose, how generous the oil is on that front. Based on my personal experience, I believe it is difficult to award Gold to an oil that does not have, at least, a medium to high intensity of fruitiness on the nose. So to sum it up, my first assessment is purely quantitative. Freshness: this is also one of the first things I look for. The AOA always rightly pushed for the logo “Fresher Tastes Better”, which is a great message to consumers - and I believe also to tasters. An olive oil missing freshness is pretty much missing the most important thing an EVOO can offer, so there’s no chance for high scores without this attribute. Defects: the second thing I try to get out of the way is the possible presence of defects. You usually feel relieved when you realise the oil is clean, as that means you can continue with your evaluation. If I find a defect then giving it its proper name is very important, as this feedback will help the producer understand what could have gone wrong with the oil. In this case the first thing I try to solve is: is this an oxidative or a fermentative defect? It sometimes happens that I may be unsure that what I am perceiving is a defect or not, so in this case I make a side note about it and then confirm the point when I get to the palate evaluation. With defects, it is common that they appear on both nose and palate, so I would say that if there is any doubt about the presence of a defect on the nose then a clean palate may indicate that the oil is simply tired or borderline. In any case, reporting a faulty oil in this context is quite a delicate matter, so this is something I would surely want to discuss in depth with my table colleagues, and it is never a bad idea to invoke the presence of the chairman of the competition to make a final decision on it. Complexity: this comes immediately after for me. In other words, how many different flavours, aromas or descriptors I find in the oil. This takes most of my time, as I find it the most challenging part of the whole exercise.

14 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

Bitterness and pungency: it is now time to score bitterness and pungency, which combined will define the style of the oil. In other words: is this a delicate, medium or robust oil? I think this is a very important assessment that in some cases helps relocating an oil to the correct panel table in the competition. Oils in competitions are usually categorised in style classes based on their Total Polyphenols count. However, as we all know, not all phenols and phenol groups have the same impact on bitterness and pungency and as a consequence the Total Polyphenols parameter just becomes indicative of the style of the oil. So it is the taster’s duty to confirm that the oil in question belongs to the category previously assigned to it. Back to the bitterness and pungency: my evaluation is put into understanding their intensity levels and the balance between them and the aroma on the nose. After all, does the intensity of the palate go along with the nose? Is this a balanced oil? Aftertaste: once the palate has been assessed, there are still a few questions to answer to make a complete evaluation of an oil. What’s the aftertaste like? Does it leave a good, pleasant flavour on my palate? Also how long it lingers for in my palate: does it have lots of character that leaves a hot feel in my mouth, or does it have a short, clean finish, leaving no traces after tasting? There is also enjoyment in the way an oil fades away in your palate, and as a consequence there is an opportunity to score its quality based on this.

One last step … The way my brain triggers this evaluation process is by trying to answer the following: is this an early, medium or late harvest oil? Is this a fruity style oil or a grassy style oil, or a combination of both? And more importantly: are there unique flavours, notes of elegance and vibrancy that justify the high medal ranks? *A side note: late harvest oils can sometimes be difficult to assess, since oils coming from riper fruit tend to lose a bit of the potential complexity that the same fruit would have delivered if picked earlier. However, it is possible to obtain at the processing plant, and eventually to come across in competitions, late harvest oils displaying great tropical notes.

Palate

Mouthfeel: on the palate, my first impression of the mouthfeel is usually what I trust to understand if the oil is still “alive” or if it is on its way down. Sometimes you realise that an oil that is a bit tired was in fact a very good oil not long before (we all know that even the best oils will eventually go flat with time) but I believe that you must only carry out an assessment on the current quality. This is a point that highlights the importance of placing an oil into a competition at the peak of its vibrancy or freshness. It also underlines the importance of producing not just great oils but also long lasting great oils that can keep their attributes for months. So when putting the oil in my mouth I ask myself: is this oil clean? Is it a bit dirty? What flavours do I find in here?

You would think that this is it, the job’s done. And yet, we are expected to give one more step forward, often a challenging one: sharing our notes on the oil with everyone else at the tasting table. Giving your honest, uninfluenced view about the oil in question to your fellow tasters at the table is key to the team effort. Agreeing with everyone else on notes and awards is sometimes difficult, but can always be sorted out. If we are requested to be head of the table then we are responsible for ensuring that everyone’s views are considered for a final decision. It is important to understand that the head of a table is not someone with a heavier weight on decisions, but just someone that is required to politely moderate everyone’s views so as to find the best descriptors for an oil and its fair award. The head of the table may need to invoke the competition chairman when an external view is needed to make a final decision on an oil, and ultimately the head is the person responsible for accurately writing the agreed scores and evaluations for submission. In my view, having a polite, un-imposing and inclusive head in each table group is paramount to the competition’s success.

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About Pablo Canamasas: Argentinian-born Canamasas is an agricultural scientist and olive oil quality consultant. Regarded as one of the most influential olive processing experts in the world, he has undertaken research projects on oil quality and processing, and presented at industry events across the globe. His skills also involve the sensory evaluation of olive oils and he has judged at numerous national and international competitions, including the inaugural 2017 Australian International Olive Awards competition. Issue 108 • June 2018 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • 15

Harvest report

Harvest report 2018 - Vic and SA In our annual round-up of the harvest around Australia, in this edition we see what’s happening - or in some cases has happened - in Victoria and South Australia. We’ll wrap up with an overview of the Tasmanian and New Zealand harvests in the September edition.

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Victoria

Leaping Goat Olive Oil, Arthurs Seat A dry growing season and early harvest saw Leaping Goat’s David Lindholm and Lisa Westlake tuck away 1400 litres of beautiful EVOO by mid-May in 2016. A cool, wet winter and milder summer reversed the harvest timing in 2017, with late ripening fruit clinging stubbornly to trees in early June, and in both years heavy rain made for challenging harvests. This year external factors meant they started harvesting in mid-May, with riper fruit and a late dry spell bringing hopes for an easier harvest. “But alas the downpour over the last couple of weeks has made things pretty slippery again. I got a little sideways spraying the fruit loosener on Monday, but luckily it’s nowhere near as boggy as last year. Hopefully I won’t break the harvester and get it bogged again,” Lindholm said. “And I’m as ready as I can be: I’ve got the pneumatic rakes all in tip top condition for the steep parts and doubled my compressed air supply, as the rakes work so much better with more oomph.” The season started well, Lindholm said, however a surprisingly good crop has once again been reduced by a lack of rain and unkind autumn weather. “Flowering and fruit set were good, probably a bit better than last year,” he said. “I managed to get the calcium and boron spray on at the right time this year, and I was surprised how well the heavily pruned trees flowered and fruited. I had a bit of a controlled study going on, as I had to abandon machine pruning due to traction issues after early spring rain, and I expected lots of vegetative growth and no fruit. Luckily I was pleasantly surprised. “Throughout the growing season, though, it’s been dry, dry, dry … and more dry … then rain when I didn’t want it. We’ve lost a bit of fruit in last few weeks with wind and storms. “I irrigated as usual and had to ration my water, knowing the long range forecast and limited water supply. I avoided water stress but probably only applied about a third of what I should have and still ran the dams dry. I’m looking into a bore!” As is commonly the case, the predominantly dry conditions have at least meant there’s been little in the way of pests and disease to deal with this year. “It’s pretty good on that front, just a little

YARRAWONGA ARTHURS SEAT

FISH CREEK

I got the calcium and boron spray on at the right time this year, and was surprised how well the heavily pruned trees flowered and fruited – David Lindholm, Leaping Goat Olive Oil bit of scale in one corner of the grove and a little bit of peacock spot in the unpruned sections,” Lindholm said. “But I’ve also taken over a neighbours olive grove, which was a double planted, un-irrigated grove of 400 trees. We pulled out every second tree and are planning to keep them smallish, given the lack of access to water and this year’s reminder that we may all need to plan for less future rainfall with our changing climate. The remaining 200 trees will need some work to shape them appropriately for mechanical harvesting and will also need a bit of scale and peacock spot treatment.” As to just how big this year’s crop will be, it seems the fruit lost to storms may well have been made up for this year by the previously disappointing Nevadillo Blanco trees. “I still haven’t got around to replacing the 300 “never fruito blancos” but funnily enough, the ones I gave a pretty solid prune seem to have been frightened into fruit production,” he said. “The fruit is nice and clean but I think it is a bit smaller in size this year, probably due to the water deficit. Numerically, there seems to be a lot of it.” And a later harvest may mean the fruit will be a little less stubborn to remove this year,

16 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

making for a more efficient harvest overall. “While I probably should have harvested last week, it’s always a balance between the early and late ripening varieties, and the reality of a small grove is that I need to do it all at once from a logistical perspective.” More information: www.leapinggoatoliveoil. com.au. Rich Glen Estate, Yarrawonga A disappointing crop in 2016 was followed by a bumper one last year, following what Rich Glen Estate owners Ros and Daimien Vodusek described as “a perfect season”. The 2018 harvest isn’t anywhere near as good, unfortunately – although it was partly expected. “Flowering was as good as any, and fruit set was reasonable where it flowered, but it was a mixed season at the end of the day,” Daimien Vodusek said. “We’ve got Frantoio everywhere and some parts of the orchard are loaded, the best crop ever, but other parts are patchy. I’ve got no explanation for it: I’d normally expect a big wind or hail storm at flowering but it was good conditions. All up, though, I’ll be a good 30% down. “But last year was a bumper year, and

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Harvest report

I also ripped out another 2000 trees and replanted, so I’ve got to be down this year. And I know that in the next few years it’ll be improving.” The weather throughout the 2017-18 growing season was also partly responsible. “There wasn’t one bit of summer rain, and that’s two years in a row now,” Vodusek said. “It’s lucky I’ve got irrigation because I don’t think it would have been a very good season at all if I didn’t. We had two inches of rain on 3 December then the next lot was April, so I irrigated right through the season. We’ve only had about 28mm for the whole year so far – and that’s better than most across the state.” As is often the case, however, there’s a silver lining to the (rainless) cloud.

It’s actually better for it to be dry because it’s cheaper for us to irrigate than use chemicals – Daimien Vodusek, Rich Glen Estate “It’s been good in one way because we’ve had no diseases and so no fungicides to apply,” Vodusek said. “It’s actually better for it to be dry because it’s cheaper for us to irrigate than use chemicals. You’ve got to have a win somewhere!” And while Rich Glen’s crop is substantially down on last year’s bounty, Vodusek says in the circumstances he’s pretty happy with the result – despite its variability.

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Harvest report

“The trees that weren’t heavy in crop have good sized fruit but fruit size is a little down on the trees that were very heavily loaded – and those that were very, very heavy we had to pour a lot of water on,” he said. “But it was my off-year, there’s the 2000 I replanted and I did heavy pruning last year as well, so really it was better than expected for me. It would be comparable to the year before last but then I’ve got several thousand less trees, so in reality I’m up. I’m lucky, because I’ve heard that a lot of the small orchards around here are not harvesting. It’s not worth them picking as they wouldn’t even cover their costs.” “Extraction has been good too, 16-22%. That’s probably because it’s a dry year and there’s not much moisture content in the olives. And the oil quality seems fantastic.” So it’s all going pretty well at Rich Glen this year – and pretty quickly, it seems. “Ripening is a good three weeks earlier this year. I’m nearly finished the Frantoio now and normally I’d be doing it in late June or even early July. It’s coming off nicely and I’ll be finished next week (early June),” Vodusek said. “It’s just the season; everything was early this year. It’s called nature.” More information: www.richglenoliveoil.com. Fish Creek Mount of Olives, Fish Creek Fish Creek Mount of Olives owners Mario and Eila Codarin did a lot of research before they planted their grove, situated two hours from Melbourne in South Gippsland. Looking into climate and varietal suitability, they planned accordingly and prepared well, ensuring they gave their trees the best start. It was “a lot of work”, Eila said, but it’s meant that their 40-acre grove of 4000 Frantoio and Corregiola olive trees, now 18 years old, generally does pretty well. This year has once again proven that all the planning was worthwhile. “Flowering was very good, and I think they must have stayed on for fruit set because there’s plenty of fruit this year,” Eila said. “Then we had a very hot and dry summer. We don’t irrigate, so we were wondering ‘are they going to survive?’. But they did and now we’ve had a lot of rain, almost every day for the last 10 days, and they’re promising more. We get the best rainfall in Victoria here, and we always get it.

We don’t have irrigation set up … as we want the trees to be really deeply rooted in – Eila Codarin, Fish Creek Mount of Olives

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18 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

“So it’s back to normal and the trees are looking good now. They’re full of olives, that’s the main thing.” Irrigation is not a contemplation for the Codarins, as they believe their trees are better off without it, and they have the same philosophy about spraying. “We don’t have irrigation set up and I don’t think we would do, as we want the trees to be really deeply rooted in,” Eila said. “We have hills up and down, and one part of the grove is a bit of a wind tunnel. We lost a number of trees when they were first in but now we don’t ever lose any, as they’re big and solid in the ground. “And we don’t spray our trees but we don’t really have any pest and disease issues. We’ve got lots of ladybirds which help and lots of insects which come in, and also birds. They eat some of the bad insects, and some of the fruit, but that’s okay - they don’t take that much in the end.” So now the Codarins are just watching their fruit ripen, and are

pretty pleased with what they’re seeing. “There’s much more than last year, although this is our good season, but we’re happy that each year we’re getting more as they mature,” Eila said. “There’s lots of fruit but they’re perhaps a little smaller because the summer was so dry. We won’t know whether the oil yield is affected until we get that done.” Harvest timing, Eila said, doesn’t vary much at Fish Creek and this year is true to form. Weather-wise she’s also hoping to have a repeat of last year’s very pleasant conditions. “We have done just 100-odd trees of Leccino, which ripens earlier, but most of it is Frantoio and that’s still green,” she said. “Usually we start at the beginning of June; it’s a cool climate here so it’s always about that time. Then we go through July and sometimes into August, hand-picking with electric rakes. “We don’t want too much rain until then, so we’re hoping for sunny days – luckily this month is always raining and June is always better. Last year it was warm and we had T-shirts on. I’m hoping it’s like that again this year.” More information: www.fishcreekolives.com.au.

RIVERTON

Last year everybody had all their trees cropping and it was huge, and this year they’re all resting

WILLUNGA COONALPYN

– Michael Johnston, Michael’s Olives South Australia

Michael’s Olives, Willunga Olives SA president and Fleurieu Peninsula grower Michael Johnston described the 2017 harvest as “baffling”. Good flowering and fruit set led to high expectations but a long, dry summer followed by heavy April rains saw oil yield as low as 10%. The end result was “exceptional oils but without the volume”, despite an increase in tonnage of 500-600% across the state. This year has been even more challenging. “We’ve been picking for five days and will stop after tomorrow. Some trees are just not worthwhile and some are too hard to catch,” Johnston said.

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Issue 108 • June 2018 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • 19

Harvest report

“I’ve ended up with about three tonnes when I’d normally get four, and last year I got more than five and a half. “And I’m not alone: my neighbour at Willunga processed 2,500 litres last year and this year got 1000 litres. The local processor, Diana Olives, said they’re just getting bits and pieces in, as not a lot of growers are picking.” As is most often the case, the weather is to blame. “The floral display was quite good but fruit set was extremely poor and I can only put it down to the weather,” Johnston said. “We were exposed to the hot north-westerlies at the wrong time for the flowers, and there was no moisture this year, so we didn’t get the fruit set. “And it’s been crazy right throughout the growing season. We had a very wet winter, which is terrific, but then it dried off and there was no substantial rain from November to April. My rain gauge had a nervous breakdown because it wasn’t getting fed! “So we’ve had to irrigate, although we use dam water so it’s minimal, and luckily we’ve had nearly 65mm since the beginning of May.” There’s also good news on the pest and disease front. “It’s basically been a pest and disease-free year. We’re never really bothered badly in the Fleurieu but in the past we have had some anthracnose. We treated that last year - obviously spraying and a dry season helps,” he said. And overall, Johnston says, he’s got a better crop than expected – and hopefully great oil. “It’s just the way it is: last year everybody had all their trees and every variety cropping and it was huge, and this year they’re all resting. It’s thin through all the varieties but there’s also the odd tree that’s really gone bonkers, so it’s actually slightly better than I thought it would be. “And quality-wise, I’ve had two batches processed so far and Dominic (processor, Diana Olive Oil) said it’s good oil. He’s straight with me so if it was pretty ordinary he’d just tell me it was okay. I pick up the drums tomorrow and I’m looking for a good bit of ‘grassy’ and a nice robust oil – last year they were all really mild.” He’ll have the overall outcome pretty soon, as this year’s harvest is set to be “short and sweet”, he said. “It’s a bit later this year too. We normally start mid-April but we didn’t start until early May. We’re higher here, though, so always a bit later, and a number of the growers down on the flat at Willunga had finished before we even started.” More information: www.olivessouthaustralia.org.au.

One plot we picked last year, the entire crop this year was half a bowl of olives – Kent Hallett, Goodworth Estate Goodworth Estate, Riverton Mid-north grower and owner of Olive Oil Packaging Services (OOPS) Kent Hallett echoed Johnston’s experiences. “There’s not a lot of fruit around. On one plot we picked last year, the entire crop was half a bowl of olives,” he said. “The grove down the road has a bit on it but maybe 20% of last year and I don’t know if they’re going to pick. That seems to be the

story generally and we certainly haven’t got enough to put a machine over it. We might do a bit of hand-picking but there’s really not a lot there and it’s scattered - the odd one here and there is happy but they’re few and far between. “I reckon it was just a bit hot at flowering time and there hasn’t been any rain since, and that’s knocked it back all round.”

More information: oops@aussiebroadband.com.au.

The oil yield is already around 23% so we are expecting a good extraction – Lisa Rowntree, Longridge Olives Longridge Olives, Coonalpyn The southern Limestone Coast area is home to many of the state’s large-scale producers, who last year had an “interesting and challenging” harvest. A huge crop saw processors running 24/7 and late ripening fruit saw low oil percentages and frost damage in some groves. This year’s harvest at Longridge Olives is once again “interesting”, owner Lisa Rowntree said, but hopefully won’t be anywhere near as challenging. “We’ve been flat-out installing our new olive mill and we’re not up and running yet (mid-May) but fortunately the olives are not ripening that fast so we’ve still got time,” she said. “And so far, it’s all going pretty well. Flowering was average to good, as was fruit set, especially considering last year’s huge crop. The Arbequina is down about 30% and FS-17 about 10% but the rest is on par with other years. Overall we think we’ll be 20-30% down but it’s hard to tell, as some trees are chockers and some are not.” Unlike most of our other grower “reporters”, Rowntree has no complaints about the weather this year, with only their usual management practices needed to maintain a healthy grove and crop. “I don’t think summer was as hot as previous years, and winter took it’s time coming, but we’ve had good rain and no frosts. I really can’t complain about the weather so far,” she said. “We’ve irrigated, but we always do through summer and leading up to harvest, to ensure the nutrients reach the trees and also to help manage frost. “And we haven’t really had any pest and disease issues this year. We did notice a bit of ‘soft nose’ so we sprayed copper and this seems to have stopped it. Other than that, the grove is looking pretty healthy.” That healthy grove and its good crop mean expectations are high for some great Longridge EVOO this year. Hopefully extracted without last year’s timing issues. “Quality will be determined in part by when we start harvesting and how the new olive mill works. But the fruit is in good condition, so if we get the other parts right we should have very good quality oil,” Rowntree said. “Last year we started, stopped, started, stopped for a month because the oil yield was so low, but this year when we start we expect to continue flat out until the grove is harvested. The oil yield is already around 23% so we are expecting a good extraction (or I’ll sack the processor {husband Jim Rowntree}). “And while in other years we’ve been well and truly underway by now, back in the “olden days” we only started harvesting on the June long weekend, so I think we are still well within our optimal harvesting window.” More information: www.longridgeolives.com.au.

Just another reason to love Friday ...

Showcase your EVOO and table olives to the world!

Don’t miss this opportunity for international benchmarking • • • • • • •

Expert judging panel of high-calibre national and international judges Entries invited from both northern and southern hemisphere producers – separate classes All entries compete for Best EVOO of Show Every entry assessed and awarded on its merits Oils assessed using official IOC-standard blue olive oil tasting glasses Comprehensive tasting note feedback for all entries New regulations for Table Olive classes

Promotion, promotion, promotion! • • • •

Peer celebration at AIOA Presentation Dinner Media promotion – local, state, national and international – online and print National food and media event – Sydney, October 2018 Ongoing – winning entries showcased at Australian and international tastings, consumer tastings and training events

The

AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL Olive Awards

To subscribe and for more information visit: www.olivebiz.com.au

www.internationaloliveawardsaustralia .com .au 20 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

Labelling & packaging

“Best consumed” is labelling best practice

THE LATEST UPDATES ON R&D WITHIN THE OLIVE INDUSTRY | JUNE 2018

Peter McFarlane, AOA OliveCare® Code of Practice Administrator The AOA Labelling Guide advice on storage instructions has now been updated to include a “best consumed by” recommendation: Storage instructions: The label shall include specific storage conditions (e.g. store in cool dark place away from heat and light sources) necessary to ensure the validity of the best-before date declared on the label. The statement of those conditions shall be of equal or greater prominence as the bestbefore date. Other useful storage recommendations include: • Do not refrigerate • Best consumed within three (3) months of opening. Unfortunately very few Australian brands currently include a “best consumed by” recommendation on their labels. This is, however, important information for consumers.

Scientific backing

The three month “best consumed by” recommendation is substantiated by research undertaken at DPI Wagga Wagga, The Effect of Storage Conditions on Extra Virgin Olive Oil Quality, by Jamie Ayton, Rod Mailer and Kerrie Graham. The study examines a range of EVOO products from low to high oxidative stability: • LOW (a) LP,HL: Low polyphenols, High linoleic acid, • MEDIUM (b) MP,ML: Mid polyphenols, Mid linoleic acid, • HIGH (c) HP,LL: High polyphenols, Low linoleic acid Taking the lowest oxidative stability scenario of LP,HL: Low polyphenols, High linoleic acid, open bottles of EVOO tested over time exceeded AS5264-2011 parameters as follows: • Peroxide Value: after six (6) months • K232: after three (3) months • K268: after 18 months • FFA: after 24 months • Organoleptic: rancidity detected after three months

The researchers concluded that:

Exposure to oxygen had a significant effect on the sensory quality of the oils. Oils exposed to oxygen all showed signs of rancidity earlier than those in closed bottles, with the less stable oils rancid by six months of storage exposed to oxygen. The same oils kept in closed bottles did not show rancidity

until after 12 months of storage. Some of the more stable oils did not show any rancidity for the 36 months of storage when not exposed to oxygen, however the same oils were rancid between 18 and 24 months of storage when exposed to oxygen. Exposure to oxygen had a significant effect on the UV absorbance K232 of the oils in this study. This was expected, as K232 is a measure of the primary oxidation products in olive oil, therefore the results closely resemble the accumulation of peroxides in the oils when exposed to oxygen. None of the oils which were closed to oxygen showed any change in the K232 content – e.g. the K232 of oil LP,HL, the oil least able to resist oxygen, changed from 2.05 to 2.07 over 36 months of storage when not exposed to oxygen, however when exposed to oxygen the K232 increased to 5.66 after 36 months of storage. All of the oils exposed to oxygen exceeded the Australian and IOC limit after (≤2.50) three to six months for the less stable oils and 12 to 18 months for the more stable oils. The level of K232 increased almost immediately upon exposure to oxygen, and increased at a slightly faster rate from about 18 months to 36 months of storage. These results indicate that when exposed to oxygen, the oils oxidised very quickly.

R&D Insights contains the latest levy-funded R&D project updates, research findings and related industry resources, which all happen under the Hort Innovation Olive Fund. Hort Innovation partners with leading service providers to complete a range of R&D projects to ensure the long-term sustainability and profitability of the olive industry. Serving size: 15 ml

Nutritional Information

Best Before: 30th Nov 2019

Avg. Qty per 15 ml

Avg Qty per 100 ml

Energy

517 KJ

3448 KJ

Protein

Fat, total

13.7 g

91.5 g

Saturated

1.7

11.6 g

Polyunsaturated

1.0

6.5

Monounsaturated

11.0

73.4

Cholesterol

0 mg

Carbohydrate

Sugars

Trans

“We’re half-way through the course now, and the content has been refreshingly relevant to my business – it’s good to be able to reaffirm we are on the right track,” Ms Bikins said. “The topic we’re currently working on is supply chains and value adding for consumers, so it’s very applicable to our product lines and farm gate café. “We also had a really good assignment on people and culture – exploring award rates, human resources process and improving workplace culture.”

Ingredients: 100% extra virgin olive oil. Best stored in a coll dark place and consumed within 3 months of opening.

David Margetson and Rita Bikins take a stroll with their dog, Frank, in their 18ha grove in Pomonal, Victoria.

Which sized bottle is right for me? Here’s some handy advice on purchasing olive oil to share with your farmers market or farm shop customers: • At the recommendation healthy dose of olive oil of 30ml (two tablespoons) per day, a 250ml bottle would last only eight days in a single person household; • A one litre container would therefore last about five weeks in a one person household (half that for a two person household); • A three litre can of olive oil based on the above consumption would last about 100 days, or a bit over 3 months, in a single person household.

22 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

Do your oil justice

It is clear, therefore, that not only is the “best consumed by” recommendation important information for consumers, it is also in the best of interests of producers, helping to ensure that the flavour and freshness of quality AEVOO is present every time their oil is used. So next time you update or do a print run of your labels, add it to your design: you’ll being doing justice to the quality of your EVOO, the hard work you put it into it, and the reputation of your brand. For more information about the AOA OliveCare® Code of Practice program, contact Peter McFarlane via peter@mc.com.au or mob +61 418 839 836.

Ref: The Effect of Storage Conditions on Extra Virgin Olive Oil Quality, By Jamie Ayton, Rodney J. Mailer and Kerrie Graham. April 2012, RIRDC Publication No. 12/024. Ref: Section 4.2 Effect of exposure to Oxygen.

Hort Masterclass is proving refreshingly relevant The latest cohort of students are hitting the books for the 2018 Masterclass in Horticultural Business program, developed to equip growers and business owners with leadership and business management skills specific to the horticultural industry.

Situated in Pomonal, near the Grampians National Park in Victoria, Ms Bikins and partner David Margetson have 5000 olive trees in their 18 hectare grove and also run Merino sheep.

Victorian grower Rita Bikins is representing the olive industry, and is building her financial management skills to improve her understanding of what it means to run a profitable boutique olive business.

Their business, Red Rock Olives, produces Extra Virgin Olive Oil, table olives and olive salt which they use and sell at their farm gate cafe, local wineries and a few cafés in Melbourne.

The 10-month program covers a range of topics, from financial management and law to marketing and communications, through flexible online study offered through University of Tasmania (UTAS) and face-to-face intensives. The Hort Masterclass is part of the Hort Frontiers Leadership Fund, a Hort Innovation strategic partnership initiative that uses a combination of government and partner funding to address major issues facing the future of Australian horticulture for the benefit of the entire industry.

PROGRAM INFORMATION The program will be held for the next three years, accepting around 30 recipients annually. For more information on the program or to register your interest for the 2019 program, visit the UTAS website. http://www.utas.edu.au/sciencesengineering/masterclass-inhorticultural-business

develop an industry risk matrix, that analysed the likelihood of the risk or crisis and the potential impact it would have on business, finances and moral responsibilities in the case of workplace safety,” he explained. “That gave us recognition of the broad groups of risk and a cross section of how the industry perceives these, which can be used as a framework to develop a Critical Incidence Response Plan that will dovetail into the wider Hort Innovation crisis response plans.”

Risk and crisis management plan completed for industry The olive industry now has a comprehensive risk and crisis management plan to deal with potential hazards, following the completion of the research project Risk and crisis management planning for the olive industry (OL16011). The project, a strategic investment under the Hort Innovation Olive Fund, provides a formal framework, process and understanding for who is to do what, when and how in the event of a crisis such as environmental contamination, food safety concerns or supply chain issues.

Dr Hall, who has extensive experience in corporate risk and crisis management in the food and primary industries sector, says growers and processors may well perceive risk differently according to factors such as location, size of their enterprise, previous experience with unforeseen events and the extent of biological risk, and there’s no single answer for how to rate the likelihood and severity of the risk.

Project leader, Dr Duncan Hall from Biologic Pty Ltd, says growers have had input to the plan through the Australian Olive Association (AOA) in face-to-face meetings, online surveys and industry workshops.

“These risks could include exotic pests and disease, chemical use, severe climate events like bushfire, social risks such as workplace safety and events on farms or in processing operations, as well as quality issues that may result in a recall of some brands of Australian Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) from retail shelves,” Dr Hall said.

Feedback was also sought from key stakeholders such as Hort Innovation, Plant Health Australia and Food Standards Australia and New Zealand.

“Throughout the project we’ve worked with the industry to seek out the perceptions and experiences of olive growers and processors and use them to develop a risk register.

“The risk register ranks issues in terms of the likelihood and potential impact of risks and was informed through our surveys, personal visits to olive groves and production facilities and phone calls, concluding with a national workshop where industry leaders experienced some interactive and scenario-based crisis response training, including media training,” he said. The project used the PESTEL analysis to group the risks under specific criteria – political, economic, social, technology, environment and legal – but Dr Hall said some issues fell across a number of the categories. They included the risk of losing access to agricultural chemicals, or the consumer perception risks posed by marketing strategies of alternate oils, to erode both the health positioning and consumer demand for EVOO. “The PESTEL analysis formed the basis of the risk assessment and provided a framework for growers to

Another facet of the project was to identify key industry leaders within and outside AOA who could be part of a crisis ‘team’ that assessed the risk and had ownership of the issue. “For example, if you have a highly technical issue you want someone who is well versed in these aspects to be involved, but that’s not necessarily the same person who responds to media and public inquiries,” Dr Hall said. “You have the option to structure a team to suit a particular risk, then document an ‘all hazards’ approach. You may not be able to foresee every critical incident, due to issues like complex supply or distribution chains, but you can formulate a plan that can be adapted to whatever you’re facing.” The next challenge facing the olive industry, he said, is to turn risk and crisis management into a ‘top of mind’ issue, so that there is an immediate response in the field. “There are 900 olive growers and any one of them could have an issue that they have to confront that may be of importance to a wider industry group, such as a packaging defect or a new pest, and we want them to be able to identify

the risk and know what steps to take,” said Dr Hall. “There are now templates to help assess industry issues and risks and we have tools to help guide how we respond – whether we act now or wait and monitor. Many of these issues such as recall management are well documented but part of this project is ensuring everyone is aware of the steps to take.” The project culminated in a real life scenario being presented to an industry working group, with participants required to respond to media and have their performance peer reviewed. “The industry participants took it very seriously but I think a number of them found it quite challenging to be in a position where you’re required to come out with key messages and up to date information in a rapidly changing situation,” Dr Hall said. “In a crisis you’re not always across the facts but you must take ownership of the issue and try to lead, rather than letting someone else fill the void. There’s also the challenge of responding on behalf of diverse stakeholder groups too, such as regulators, growers, suppliers, distributors and staff. “This risk and crisis management plan will stand the industry in good stead for the future and can and should be developed and communicated further by AOA.” This project has been funded by Hort Innovation, using the olive research and development

Research Recap PROJECT NAME: Risk and crisis management planning for the olive industry (OL16011) PROJECT AIM: To develop and maintain the Australian olive industry’s risk management and crisis preparedness and response plan PROJECT PARTNER: Biologic Pty Ltd FUNDING: Hort Innovation Olive Fund PROJECT DURATION: One year

levy and contributions from the Australian

KEY LEARNINGS SO FAR:

Government. Hort Innovation is the grower

The project has developed a detailed risk and crisis management plan that will stand the industry in good stead for the future

The next challenge facing the olive industry is to turn risk and crisis management into a ‘top of mind’ issue.

owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture. Further information: Duncan Hall Biologic Pty Ltd 0402 696 805 admin@biol.net.au

extraction efficiency and doing laboratory testing to check the peroxide and FFA in the oil.”

Peter and Marlies Eicher produce approximately 10,500 litres of EVOO per year using Pieralisi processing equipment.

Equipment cleanliness is taken very seriously by the Eichers, with one and a half hours set aside to clean the machine properly between processing jobs. “We process more than 40 tonnes of olives for local growers each year so it’s vital that the equipment is cleaned property to avoid having old product in there that will downgrade the quality of the oil,” Peter said. “Before processing our own olives and after we processed other growers’ olives, we do a 150kg purge cycle to flush out any remaining olive residue. This oil will be stored separately and is not considered organic certified.

Peter Eicher believes it is important to be a reliable supplier and produce consistently high-quality product.

“I’d encourage growers to ask their processors how their equipment is cleaned as it affects EVOO quality.” The Tornado shaker ensures there is no handling or contamination of the fruit and it can be processed the next day.

Saluté Oliva is keeping it fresh Understanding the key factors that accelerate the breakdown of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) is vital for delivering a consistently high quality product. Nestled in Boort, Central Victoria, Peter and Marlies Eicher produce certified organic EVOO and table olives through their boutique business, Saluté Oliva. The Eichers have perfected their management practices over more than 10 years to ensure that their harvesting, processing and storage methods minimise the breakdown of EVOO. Originally both engineers, Peter credits their management practices to the development of a methodical business plan before the grove was planted and strategic investment in harvesting and processing machinery. “Our business plan helped us keep quality product top-of-mind right from the start – beginning with variety selection and tree spacing,” Peter said.

“The grove was established in 2000, and contains 2150 trees spanning eight hectares with 250 trees per ha. We have 1250 Frantoio trees for oil, 350 Manzanillo trees for table olives and oil, plus 500 Kalamata trees that are mainly used for table olives.” For small businesses to be viable, Peter believes it is important to be a reliable supplier and produce consistently high-quality product, which is related to efficient harvesting, processing and storage methods. “When it comes to harvesting, it is important to have a healthy grove and an effective harvesting method, as the timing between harvest and processing is critical for reducing fermentation,” Peter said. “Factors that affect oil quality include the delayed processing of harvested fruit, and the processing of damaged, diseased or frost affected olives, resulting in an oil of high free fatty acid (FFA) and peroxide.

“To address these factors, we use a Tornado shaker so the fruit is collected in an inverted umbrella and goes straight into a bin for us to process the next day. There is no handling or contamination of the fruit and it is processed before fermentation has occurred.”

Oil storage is also an essential factor of EVOO quality, and Peter believes it’s important to keep the product you have worked hard for as fresh as possible. “We use a vertical separator at the end of the decanter to remove water droplets and larger sediment before it goes into decanting tanks,” Peter said. “These tanks have variable lids, flush valves at the bottom and are kept at roughly 20 degrees for better settling of the oil.

The Eichers process their olives, and other growers’ olives, on their property using Pieralisi processing equipment with an Alfa Laval decanter. The three-phase extraction method allows them to process 1 tonne per hour.

“For the growers I press for, I encourage them to bring a 70-litre stainless steel drum with them and store it in their rumpus room, then one month after processing, start decanting it into a freshly cleaned drum until the sediments come.”

“For our first year we used a two-phase process, though the efficiency was not great and we had issues with dirty oil. For our second year we moved to three-phase and everything got much easier,” Peter said.

Saluté Oliva produces approximately 70 tonnes of olives per year. In 2017, they made 10,500 litres of EVOO and 4,500 kilograms of table olives. This year will be a similar sized harvest but an increased oil production due to the Frantoio yielding heavy.

“By our third year we were using different grids in the hammer mill (5 mm for Frantoio, 6 mm for Manzanillo), using enzymes as a processing aid for improved

Saluté Oliva supplies a variety of Bendigo and Melbourne restaurants, gourmet businesses and sells directly through their website and farm shop.

As an OliveCare® signatory, Saluté Oliva undergoes an independent audit and evaluation on an annual basis, to confirm the business encompasses the industry’s best management practices. “It’s important that the product you’re producing is scrutinised in a laboratory. It is just not enough to think that your product is of a high quality, it must be verified in a laboratory environment to be sure you’re meeting the standards,” Peter said. Market survey findings released in 2017 through the project Australian Olive Industry Code of Practice (OL13007), a strategic investment under the Hort Innovation Olive Fund, indicated that 70 per cent of Australian EVOO is meeting the freshness test parameters when assessed against three standards, including the Australian Standard for Olive Oil and OlivePomace Oil AS5265-2011. With the aim of achieving 100 per cent, growers are encouraged to review their copy of the Australian Olive Industry Code Of Practice HACCP-style Food Safety/Food Quality Plan for the production of EVOO to identify areas they are doing well in and areas that could be improved. A variety of resources and information is available for growers – contact the Code of Practice facilitator Peter McFarlane on peter@mc.com.au This project has been funded by Hort Innovation, using the olive research and development levy and contributions from the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower owned, not-forprofit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture.

Keep an eye out for a video case study with Peter Eicher from Saluté Oliva, to be circulated through the Grove Innovation e-newsletter.

Integrated pest & disease management – a boutique perspective

The early days Chasing a tree change, David and Lisa Lindholm relocated from Melbourne to Arthurs Seat on the Mornington Peninsula, and started Leaping Goat Olive Oil one year later, using the established 2.5 ha grove on the property. Like many boutique growers, the Lindholm family juggle the grove around full-time work. For the first six years grove management was done by hand, though once the trees reached 12 to 15 years of age, David found that their grove became increasingly harder to handle and there was an urgent need to update resources.

Investments and learnings In 2010 the decision was made to invest in a larger spray unit, a Hardie industries 2000l airblast and

Healthy trees are an important component of IPDM

Know your pests and diseases, Understand the range of

management options, including non-chemical options

If you’re using chemicals then

good timing, effective coverage and minimal disruption of beneficial species is essential.

Buying an established grove comes with its own set of challenges and opportunities, as first-time growers David and Lisa Lindholm discovered when they purchased their Mornington Peninsula grove in 2004.

Today, the Lindholm family produce and supply Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) to a variety of local businesses and online through their business, Leaping Goat Olive Oil.

Monitor the grove regularly

as well as beneficial species

Business: Leaping Goat Olive Oil Location: Arthurs Seat, Victoria Size: 900 trees (2.5 ha) on 10 ha property Grove established: 1999 Production: 8-12 t

Overcoming peacock spot in the previously-organic grove was the start of their integrated pest and disease management (IPDM) journey, which has led to some sizeable investments and an improved understanding of what it takes to effectively manage a productive grove around other work commitments.

IPDM key messages:

Upcoming workshops A three-year project, An integrated pest and disease management (IPDM) extension program for the olive industry (OL17001), is underway to provide growers and the supply chain with appropriate IPDM extension services focused particularly on black scale, olive lace bug and anthracnose. David and Lisa Lindholm operate their business, Leaping Goat Olive Oil, from their Mornington Peninsula property.

tractor New Holland 4050F with Supersteer, marking the first step towards a better antifungal and scale management program. “The sprayer was a significant but necessary investment, given the age and size of our trees there was a need to mechanise the pruning and spraying to ensure the trees are kept at a manageable size so the chemical application was effective,” David said. “We have one of the older groves in the area, and while black scale was not a problem initially when we bought the property, it’s now one of the main pests we find in the grove, along with peacock spot.” Alongside the machinery expansion, David has also adopted a more targeted approach to chemical usage, ensuring that the quantity and timing of application are effective and economical. “If there are small areas within the grove that have black scale or peacock spot, I try and be a bit more focused in my application,” David said.

“A big part of chemical effectiveness comes down to implementing a regular monitoring program, to ensure you’re not treating pests and diseases too late. “Although we juggle full-time work and our olive business, we are fortunate in that we live on the property with our grove so we can monitor the grove frequently.” David encourages other growers to listen to the science and utilise the resources that are available. “A lot of IPDM comes down to having the right weather, time and equipment to do the job correctly, though having a sound knowledge of aspects like pest and disease life cycles and symptoms is important in the decision-making process,” David said. “It’s important that as an industry we apply the science that is available, and use the resources that have been developed, to ensure we are doing the job properly.”

The project, a strategic investment under the Hort Innovation Olive Fund, will host nine IPDM workshops across olive-growing regions of Australia in the second half of 2018, to address the difficulties many small

to medium growers face in managing their pest and disease problems. Here are the dates of the first three workshops:

Saturday 21 July at Rylstone Press Grove, Rylstone NSW

Friday 10 August at Daisy Bank Grove, Big Hill NSW

Sunday 12 August at Adina Vineyard and Olive Grove, Lovedale NSW.

The all-day workshops will involve technical presentations from the project lead, Associate Professor Robert Spooner-Hart from Western Sydney University and other industry experts, followed by practical sessions in the grove. Keep an eye out for more details through the Australian Olive Association’s (AOA) communication channels, or contact the AOA directly for more information. This project has been funded by Hort Innovation, using the olive research and development levy and contributions from the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture.

Research Recap PROJECT NAME: An integrated pest and disease management extension program for the olive industry (OL17001) PROJECT AIM: Develop, coordinate and provide industry with appropriate IPDM extension services focused on sustainable management of black scale, olive lace bug and anthracnose PROJECT PARTNER: Western Sydney University FUNDING: Hort Innovation Olive Fund PROJECT DURATION: Three years KEY INFORMATION:

Nine IPDM workshops will be held across olive-growing regions of Australia in the second half of 2018

The project will also deliver a best practice IPDM manual and fact sheets, plus other hard copy and digital information, including a revised Pest and Disease Field Guide for the industry

The project is an industry collaboration to ensure IPDM extension and communication continues beyond the formal life of the project.

Get closer to previous olive research In addition to industry communications, official final reports from industry-funded research provide a platform for service providers, like universities and private industry consultants, to communicate outcomes and outputs of completed R&D projects. For the olive industry, historical and recent final report topics include:

Use of ultrasound technology for olive oil processing (OL08003)

Development of a biosecurity plan for the olive industry (OL14008)

Requesting a final report from Hort Innovation is easy, and reports are free for olive levy payers. 1. Visit the final report order form under the ‘resources’ tab on the Hort Innovation website www.horticulture.com.au 2. Note the name and code of the project/s you are interested in (for example those listed above), or if there’s something else you’re looking for, download and browse the current final reports list from the web page (you can also search for the project code or keyword using control F within the list) 3. Complete the online form on the website. Final reports will be sent from Hort Innovation via email.

Essential work to facilitate increased exports

to China, removing roadblocks and enhancing competitive advantage (OL14003)

More information: Contact Will Gordon, Relationship Manager for the olive industry at Hort Innovation, on 0427 920 924 or will.gordon@horticulture.com.au

Grove management

Head chef enjoys educating cooks about ‘classic’ ingredient like EVOO

The project Olive Oil Food Service Project (OL16004), a strategic investment under the Hort Innovation Olive Fund, aims to boost usage and consumption of EVOO through educating people in the food service industry, and is being implemented by Nutrition Australia. Featured head chef Nicky Reimer from Bellota Wine Bar in South Melbourne says having the chance to pass on her knowledge of locally produced EVOO has been a valuable experience.

She’s learned a lot through visiting the Victorian producer, and believes it is very important for staff to learn about the provenance of ingredients. “Every year and every new press of olives there’s a slight variation according to the seasonal conditions while the fruit has been growing and you can really taste the difference,” Nicky said.

PROJECT NAME: Olive Oil Food Service Project (OL16004) AIM: To boost usage and consumption of EVOO through educating people in the food service industry RESEARCH PARTNER: Nutrition Australia FUNDING: Hort Innovation Olive Fund PROJECT DURATION: Two years KEY INFORMATION:

The project is developing three videos for TAFE curriculum to educate trainee chefs about the benefits and uses of Australian EVOO The final phase of the project is developing a webinar for olive growers to provide insights into the use of EVOO in the food industry and options for aligning their production to food trends.

This R&D Insights insert has been funded by Hort Innovation using the olive research and development levy and contributions from the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower‑owned, not‑for‑profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture.

‘hype curve’ and there is fierce competition for market share among many new and established players in digital agriculture. The promises being made by the proponents of some technologies run the risk of sliding towards the trough of disillusionment. For instance, there’s much talk of the Internet of Things in agriculture. If the technology remains isolated from knowledge of agriculture and an understanding of the actual on-farm realities and business problems, then instead of contributing solutions it will remain on the shelf or be of interest only for niche hobbyists. And what happens when predictive analytics start to match local knowledge? We are conducting social research to

Digital agriculture is causing excited chatter, especially about its potential benefits for farmers, industry, agribusiness, researchers and government. But why the fuss? Farmers need to be aware that, consistent with what has happened in other industries, new types of business will be created, new jobs will be required, existing jobs will change and some jobs may even disappear. For example, the increasing efficiencies from digital agriculture – especially robots – will increase the number of hectares and animals that one farmer can manage. This is the continuation of a century-long trend that has major social consequences in rural Australia. We are at a vulnerable position on the

ackaging S P il

“The new chefs are a bit more food-savvy than we were, maybe due to social media or TV, but they don’t always understand why EVOO is a specific flavour.”

Research Recap

By Dr Michael Robertson, Dr Andrew Moore, Dr Dave Henry, Dr Simon Barry - CSIRO

After growing up in North Queensland when olive oil was imported from Italy and considered ‘a bit fancy’, Nicky trained as a chef and began to learn more about the benefits and uses of EVOO.

“With the apprentices you have to catch their attention with dishes that look fun and exciting. In the video I used EVOO on a classic beef carpaccio as well as roasted beetroot, where the pepperiness and robustness of the oil added to the earthiness,” she said.

This project has been funded by Hort Innovation, using the olive research and development levy and contributions from the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture

Digital agriculture: what’s all the fuss about?

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“When I was approached to take part in the video I said yes, sure, because I think it’s important to share knowledge and keep our new young generation of cooks interested in a classic ingredient like EVOO,” Nicky said.

In the kitchen at Bellota Wine Bar, Nicky uses EVOO for dipping with breads, as a dressing or to lightly drizzle over fresh cooked fish, and she teaches her apprentices to cook with it in a variety of ways.

Educational material including the videos, fact sheets and a new web page will be rolled out to the food industry over the next 12 months to May 2019, and included in the curriculum for trainee chefs and culinary school students in Melbourne and Sydney.

explore these trends and drivers. We need to be more mindful of how our research and development will influence the forces of disruption. A key challenge is to find simplicity on the far side of complexity. Too much information can confuse and not clarify. Technologists need to appreciate that farmers do not need high frequency and precise data for every decision.

What’s in it for producers?

At the heart of digital agriculture lies the opportunity for sensing systems and associated analytics to lower the cost of knowing what’s going on and more accurately predict the future. This can

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Filming of four prominent Melbourne chefs has been completed and videos on the value of using Australian Extra Virgin Olive Oil are in production, as part of a two-year education program to show young chefs the benefits of the product.

“Fast forward to today and every supermarket has shelves of Australian olive oil and the EVOO flavour profile is wide – there are gutsy and robust oils or almost gentle, floral-like flavours.”

“It was good fun to do the videos and talking about EVOO is a buzz. If it convinces someone to try the cooking techniques just once, I’m happy with that because that person may tell 10 of their friends,” she said.

Head chef Nicky Reimer from Bellota Wine Bar in South Melbourne.

“Then when I was working with Stephanie Alexander we were using Australian oil and seeing that the flavour was just as good if not better than overseas oils, and I developed a close affinity with a local producer in Victoria.

And she’s happy to take part in the campaign to educate fellow foodies.

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“When I started cooking professionally in my early 20s the olive oil was very expensive imported Italian product that nobody really knew what to do with,” she recalls.

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Mobile: Kent 0428 829 024 Mobile: Michelle 0448 965 349 PO Box 114 Riverton SA 5412 Email: oops@aussiebroadband.com.au Issue 108 • June 2018 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • 31

Grove management

management. Governments are interested in using the data at the level of the irrigation scheme to assess the performance of their infrastructure investments.

Knowledge discovery and management

The use of artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing will streamline the discovery, access, usability, and confidence farmers place in data. We should grasp the big opportunities in synthesising disparate information that resides in often fragmented and difficult locations, such as government agencies, research and development funding bodies, product manufacturers and distributers, and on-farm data. Doing this could unlock information for farmers and advisers. The research community has a long way to go in storing its data in safe, discoverable and interpretable forms so that it is not needlessly duplicated and can be reused for new purposes. The Australia National Data Service is making progress on this front and our Data Access Portal houses a growing number of valuable agricultural data sets.

Predictive analytics

come from improved knowledge about an individual enterprise, or via efficient sharing and learning from data from multiple enterprises. We believe these developments offer three big opportunities: • increasing management precision, with producers able to use better information to make more timely decisions with more predictable outcomes • automating tasks using sensing technologies and machine learning could cut costs and increase reliability • better categorising, differentiating and tailoring agricultural products and services, which will open up new markets. All these opportunities are around the point where development translates into practical use on the farm. As yet unexplored new value lies in grasping two or all three simultaneously. For example, crops could be selectively harvested from zones of the farm according to their quality characteristics and then put into different processing and marketing streams to maximise their value.

Crossing key technology frontiers

Just as exciting as creating new data and information, business models and technologies, is creating innovative ways of putting together existing ones.

Sensing systems

New remote sensing systems, such as the European Sentinel satellites, will overcome

many of the shortcomings of the established Landsat satellites. They will provide data at improved frequency, resolution and cost, with better access and timeliness. For example, satellite imagery can identify what is growing in each paddock and then forecast a yield or feed availability. This information can have a wide range of end uses: farm management, farm advice, input supplies, risk assessment, planning for logistics and handling and assessment for drought relief. However, digital agriculture in Australia has been constrained by limited access and useability of satellite imagery. We are working alongside Geoscience Australia to create an Earth Observation Data Hub that will provide ‘data cubes’ of satellite information for applications in digital agriculture. The prototype has given, for the first time, imagery of the whole of Australia’s land area at a resolution of 25 square metres. It shows how land use, vegetation, water movements and urban expansion have changed over the past 30 years. Remote sensing systems will be complemented by proximal systems, such as handheld devices or even cameras on smartphones. In precision irrigation, for example, there are exciting possibilities of linking satellite information, weather forecasts and crop models with groundbased, spot sensing of crop canopy temperature. This involves static infrared

32 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

At the moment our ability to collect vast amounts of data easily outstrips our ability to convert it into usable information. Predictive analytics can play a critical role for decision makers who need to interpolate and forecast

thermometers giving precise warnings of the need for irrigation over whole farms and the consequences of delay. While sensors abound on the market, there are still some notable gaps. For instance, we still don’t have a sensing system that can non-invasively measure soil fertility nor diagnose animal health. The fewer manual steps needed between data collection and decision-making, the more adoptable the digital technology will be. The experience with yield monitors in the grains industry, where only a minority collect, download and use yield maps, has taught us that simple, easy-to-use systems of data management will facilitate wider uptake by farmers. Distributed sensing systems can form the basis for knowledge platforms for social learning. For example, our Chameleon soil moisture sensing system, used by smallholder irrigators in Africa, has a learning platform based on colour coding of soil moisture patterns. The data is shared among farmer groups to facilitate them testing and improving their own heuristics for irrigation

from a current situation to an alternative state. For example, we have developed solarpowered eGrazor collars for cattle to monitor and collect real-time data on the behaviour of each animal in order to infer feed intake. This can aid livestock producers in fine-tuning feeding regimes and grazing management. It can also identify individual animals that efficiently convert feed into meat and milk. Coupled with a forecast of feed availability and the potential to control the movement of livestock with ethical ’virtual fencing’, it is easy to see how digital agriculture is well placed to transform traditional livestock farming.

Blockchain

Agriculture and food are ideal domains to exploit the potential of distributed ledgers or blockchain. This emerging technology is most commonly associated with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But it can be used equally well in agriculture for decentralised and transactional data-sharing across a large network of untested participants. It enables new forms of distributed systems and agreements and captures transactions permanently, without relying on a trusted central authority. Blockchain technology allows information to be carried along a supply chain; to match product to processing demands; to enable traceability, verify provenance and

monitor quality and safety. In future, a Tokyo restaurant could use blockchain technology to verify that a cut of wagyu beef originated from a particular farm in Tasmania. Through blockchain, producers will be able to escape the trap of commodity production, where products cannot attract premium prices. Blockchain will open up ways for farmers to put their products into differentiated markets by allowing verification of provenance and other attributes. It will meet the demand by consumers for better quality assurance of their food and fibre.

Novel communication systems

A range of new players and enterprising producers are developing solutions to the chronic lack of connectivity and poor mobile coverage across regional Australia. There are examples, such as long range wide-area network (LoRaWAN), successfully operating a low-powered Internet of Things on farms already. They show that not all digital agriculture activities require 4G mobile network coverage in the paddock. The benefits could extend beyond farm decisionmaking to rural or remote education, health and social wellbeing. While improved communication will enable farmers to access greater amounts of information faster, it is not a solution in itself. Embedding analytics at the edge will shift the burden of processing large volumes of

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Grove management

Value-adding to farm data

There is a huge opportunity in pooling data currently held in thousands of private hands to create products and services that farmers can use to improve their businesses. Working with farmer groups, we are actively exploring the viability of farm data-sharing arrangements. Once data is shared, individual farmers can benchmark their production against others. For example a farmer could develop more precise soil maps for his or her farm based on aggregated soil test results, or gain a more accurate picture of rainfall patterns in the locality. Governments and research bodies already pool lots of ‘small data’ and use it to monitor performance trends in the industry. The innovation challenge in agriculture is finding the right business model for farmers to participate in. Farmers tell us that if they are going to contribute their own data and trust others with it, they want an obvious and transparent explanation of how it will be used to benefit them and others.

New partnerships to even-up information asymmetry

There is currently an imbalance of information between farmers and agribusiness or government. By improving transparency and access to information of common interest, we have the opportunity to increase trust and reduce costs among different players in the industry. We are part of a new company, Digital Agriculture Services (DAS), which is creating digitised valuations, automated risk assessment, insight and productivity trends for rural land. Such intelligence is of interest to farmers and institutions alike including banks, governments, agribusiness and commodity handlers.

Inventing e-extension

How do we link farmers with the most relevant and knowledgeable agricultural advisor anytime, anywhere? This is particularly important in an era where oneon-one extension advisory services are in decline. Artificial intelligence systems can now be used to mine and interpret knowledge banks. For farmers it opens up fragmented and inaccessible extension and scientific material, and enables them to gain tailored answers to specific queries. Such tools could form an adjunct to advisory services, and support inexperienced staff working in unfamiliar situations.

Enabling digital agriculture to flourish

All of these developments show why there

is such excitement about digital agriculture. We are working broadly across this field and actively filling vital information gaps that will enable digital agriculture to flourish. We have identified a need for data assets, like the digital soil map of Australia, and ongoing improvements. As well as working on remote sensing imagery with Geoscience Australia and on monitoring products for ground cover, soil moisture and feed availability, we’re working with the Bureau of Meteorology on climate forecasts at new time and spatial scales. We are building techniques to allow users to integrate a diverse set of tools with data assets for apps, information services and analytic services. The information technology infrastructure will allow developers to link a climate forecast, a soil data layer, remote sensing imagery and other sensor streams with models and other analytical tools more seamlessly than in the past. We aim to test the infrastructure by developing a series of innovative digital agriculture products in domains as diverse as grains, aquaculture, sugarcane, irrigated crops, and carbon farming. Our high risk, fast results, frontier research is producing digital tools for farmers and agribusiness that should start being released in the next few months. We realise it is our role to catalyse commercial activity in digital agriculture and not ’crowd out’ private and other public sector players. The start-up community for digital agriculture in Australia is still young and needs vital core technologies that have underpinned the flourishing of agtech in parallel markets in the United States. Our role is to develop and deliver those technologies whether it is through licencing, research and development partnerships or free distribution. We also need to improve some older decision-making tools to accommodate newer, data-driven approaches. The simulation-based approaches used in support tools like Yield Prophet® and GrassGro® were created in an era where data was sparse, poor in quality and infrequent. With the advent of more data streams, informing end users of variables like soil moisture and feed availability, we are helping redesign and upgrade these decision-making tools.

Warning – disruption ahead

Digital transformation is everywhere and, as we have seen, agriculture is no exception. Among the consequences is the trend for the big agri-bioscience companies to transform themselves into knowledgebased businesses, consistent with their earlier transition from manufacturers of agrichemicals and inventors of crop traits. The relationship between the farmers and

34 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

Margie Carter’s olives are treeripened, hand-picked and pickled in a salt brine for 15 months, maturing slowly in barrels under the olive trees they grew on.

ID:UD3M04NJ4Z

data from the communications network back to the point of collection. This will enable some applications without the need for highend communications networks.

Olivegrower profile – Table olives

2 By allowing verification of provenance and other attributes, Blockchain technology will meet the demand by consumers for better quality assurance of their food.

Slow road to fast success

service providers will become more about information management, and greater access to information will alter the power balances between the different players in agriculture. Digital technologies reduce the advantage of being the local incumbent. Local knowledge and agility have been the traditional bulwarks of the family farm as an Australian institution. Given the intersecting food, water, energy and climate change challenges that the world and Australia face, embracing digital technologies for agriculture gives us a significant opportunity. Australia is also a major trading nation and the highly competitive nature of international commodity markets means that we ignore these technologies at our peril. We will continue to support innovation in Australian agriculture and assist governments and society to manage associated changes with trusted information and knowledge.

Parafield Olives’ Margie Carter has a string of medals and increasing demand for her naturally-produced Australian table olives – after just three years of commercial production. Here she shares the hows, whys (and a few why nots) of making and marketing award-winning table olives.

Dr Michael Robertson is the Deputy and Science Director of CSIRO Agriculture and Food. Dr Andrew Moore leads CSIRO’s Digiscape Future Science Platform. Dr Dave Henry leads CSIRO’s digital agriculture initiative. Dr Simon Barry is a research director in analytics research at CSIRO’s Data 61. This article was first published on the CSIROscope blogsite: www.blog.csiro.au and is reprinted with permission of the authors and CSIRO.

2017 was the year Margie Carter knew she’d really made it, taking Gold for her table olives at the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show. Her first Gold medal, it topped off Parafield Olives’ cache of three silver and four bronze in the competitive show – a medal for every category entered. Not that she’d gone unrewarded

previously: Parafield Olives’ medal count for the previous three years totalled six Silver and nine Bronze, awarded across the Australian National Table Olive Competition, Australian Golden Olive Awards and Sydney Royal Fine Food Show. That’s a pretty good haul, particularly since she only started producing commercially in 2015.

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The roots

The Parafield Olives story starts on a 500 acre property 20km west of Wagga Wagga, NSW, home to 130 sheep, 60 cattle and 6000 organically-grown olive trees across 100 acres. Planted in 2003, they had a slow start due to drought but then took off with the good rains of 2010 and finally yielded a

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Issue 108 • June 2018 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • 35

Olivegrower profile – Table olives

five-tonne harvest in 2015. From there they went gangbusters, with 40 tonnes of fruit picked in both 2016 and 2017. There’s also an additional smaller and considerably older grove, planted in 1935 by Edgar Perdriau as shade for his sheep, Carter said. “They still fruit every year but they’re small and low-oil yielding, so we pick a few of the fleshier ones for pickling but really just use them as pollinators. I always say that when they’re not good for much else - it’s nice to give them a use.”

so my trees are planted at 6 x 7 metres. It gets the air in better and there’s more room for the trees to grow,” Carter said. “I grow wide, not tall, and we prune them so they fruit out on the edge and can be hand-picked more easily. You can’t pick anything up the middle of a tree that’s going up to the sky. “We start picking our green olives on April 1st every year. It’s a good date to work to and they’re green ripe in this area at that time. We usually pick the green ones for a month and then the black ones until the frost comes and we have to stop. Last year that was June but in 2016 we went through until August because there was no frost. “But the good thing with table olives is that you don’t have to pick them all in one day. They’re not going to go rotten, so we pick them as they plump up and ripen. You can’t do that with other fruit – or with oil olives.”

The path into olives

A farm girl from Illabo, north-east of Wagga, Carter studied horticulture and worked in the industry. In 1995 olives were all the go so, after attending some olive grove workshops, she decided to start an olive nursery and run that while propagating trees for herself. She set it up in 1996, using the original trees as rootstock, and sold thousands of trees nation-wide over the next six years. Her interest was always in table olives, however Carter said the pickling part of her career started considerably earlier than planned. “I planted the mother grove for my nursery and three years later there were olives everywhere. I picked and pickled them, and they were delicious, so I did more than five tonnes over the years and sold them at markets along with the trees. “I also did a study tour of Spain and Italy in 1998 and saw first-hand how olives are pickled in Spain, in barrels above the ground. I knew I could do it that way and it gave me the confidence to give it a go.” In 2003 the olive boom was over, so Carter shut down the nursery and planted her planned pickling grove of 6000 trees. She spent a few years away from the property, raised her children and “did sheep for a while”, taking a break from olives until the new grove came on. “I wanted to start off having tonnage and in 2015 we got five tonnes, so it was ‘here we go, we’re off!’,” she said. “It was never going to be oil for me. I love olives and I wanted to pickle good tasting naturally-ripened salt-brined olives for Australians. I also thought I could make more money out of olives. Everyone was getting all romantic over oil and I thought ‘I’ll do table olives, no one else is doing that’. And when I did my sums they looked like a better business proposition - you don’t have to rely on how much oil is coming out of them and you’ve got the fruit right there, bird in the hand. “And I knew there weren’t any good table olives in Australia because I’d been looking for them. Mine were sensational so I kept going.”

Pick your pickers

Carter chooses and employs all her pickers, meaning she can control the harvest timing and doesn’t need to rely on contractors.

Introducing Wallis

Carter is Australia’s only commercial grower of the Wallis varietal, and it was her Wallis table olives which won Gold last year. Not surprisingly, she’s passionate about them. “I came across Wallis at a couple of farms near Griffith and thought it was the best olive I’d ever tasted. I’d never seen them before, and I had to have them,” she said. “So I grew the root stock and had just under 1000 Wallis cuttings grafted on. They’re fantastic, really heavy cropping and not biennial - I’ve picked eight tonnes already this year and I’m still going! “It’s one of several ‘different’ varieties I’ve got, which I want to use to introduce people to other types of table olives. “Everyone knows Kalamata, yet 90% of table olives are Manzanillo and no one’s ever heard of it. I want to show Australians that there’s more to olives than a commercial Kalamata, to introduce people to the different flavours of olives and to really flavoursome olives – like wines, they’re all different. “I guess I want to lift the profile of Australian table olives: show people the differences, so they can talk about them while they’re eating them, and afterwards to other people.” Slow and natural While variety plays a big part in the flavour of Carter’s award-winning olives, she said it’s

36 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

mainly down to the production process. “We use a completely natural process, which is good for the land, good for the product and good for the customer,” she said. “Our olives are ripened on the tree, handpicked and then pickled in a salt brine for 15 months. It’s slow processing, without the use of caustic, which retains all the health benefits and enhances the natural flavours. “The disadvantage is that it takes 15 months to get the product - which is difficult when you’re starting out because all your money is sitting in barrels under the trees. But all good things take time and it’s the only way I’d do it. “And because our olives are completely natural, they’re not “green” and “black” – you only get those if you use chemicals or colouring agents. Olives come in all sorts of colours, and they’ll all be affected by the brining process, so after it’s pickled an olive will always go back to somewhere along the magenta colour range.”

Primed for picking

Retaining fruit quality is especially important for table olives, so there’s a big emphasis on harvest management in the Parafield grove. “They say 8 x 5 spacing is the golden rule but I wanted more distance between them,

While there’s more flexibility in harvest timing with table olives, Carter said it’s crucial to have a highly organised picking crew. “Last year we had more pickers and went quicker, and picked 40 tonnes before the frost hit. But the year before we only had 30 tonnes,” she said. “So you’ve got to measure pickers to the amount of olives and how they ripen during the weeks: you want enough hands to pick the fruit as it’s ready but not so many that they’re trying to get it off before it’s ripe. “And you need to choose your pickers, and employ your own – the contract picker system is dodgy. “We use backpackers, itinerant pickers and a few locals. It means it’s all done here and I don’t have to rely on contractors, processors or anyone else to get through the harvest – just the weather.”

Carter produces table olives from a range of varietals, aiming to lift the profile of Australian-produced olives

Housekeeping

Following those procedures has meant Carter has had little in the way of production failures. “You’ve got to double-check and triple-check that all the housekeeping is done properly,” she said. “I’ve got 700 barrels over there, and I’ve got to make sure all the lid are on properly, all the brines are topped up, check the salinity and the pH … “And cleanliness is absolutely imperative. You can’t risk cross-contamination, so you can’t take a lid off and put it up the wrong way - you get any bugs in there and that barrel’s gone. It does happen occasionally and when it does, it reminds you that you need to make sure you do it properly every time. “In fact, my best advice for others thinking about going into table olives is ‘keep it clean’, then’ keep it clean’ – and then ‘make them natural and tasty’.”

The medal effect

Carter said her high profile medal wins have been a marketing bullet. “It’s the bee’s knees,” she said. “As soon as I say I’ve won a major competition award they want to taste them or they’ll have them on their shelf – it’s ‘give

me your olives’. It’s worth every entry dollar, as you’re straight in the door. “Other factors help too: wholistic management, farm to table, family owned – they all set our product apart and really help with the marketing. We now only sell to shops and restaurants, and really only started 18 months ago, but increasingly we’ve got people coming back to us. “I’ve also got a distributor in Victoria who’s just asked would I like to sell nationwide – I said ‘that’d be fine, thanks!’ - and I’m just about to start with another national distributor who chased me after the win. They knew me but now they know I’ve got the really good olives. “They also they know I’ve got the quantity. They need guaranteed supply, as hopefully that will turn into selling 15 tonnes a year. “So we’re nowhere near selling out yet but it’s building nicely, and I’m quietly optimistic.”

Workplace satisfaction

If she could do it all again, Carter said, she’d “invest the money and go on a trip to South America”, then admitted she’s actually pretty satisfied with what she’s achieved. “There’s the occasional day when I say ‘Why I am I doing this?’ but everyone has those days. Then there are days when I eat an olive – or watch other people enjoy them – and say ‘that’s why’. Especially when you see someone taste them for the first time, and how much they enjoy them and they do. “That’s the most exciting thing. You’re giving someone a new sensation, sharing what you know is wonderful, and seeing someone else get the ‘wow’ factor. “I’m also pretty proud of the Parafield Olives ‘guarantee of quality’ - my olives are all extra virgin because they haven’t been stuffed!” More info: www.parafieldolives.com.au.

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New Zealand – News

New Zealand – Focus Grove Project

New ONZ President: welcome to the olive family

This report outlines the progress made by the Focus Groves to date. It reflects the observations from the fourth round of Focus Grove visits and Field Days held in March 2018, by both the project consultants and Focus Grove owners, coupled with discussion at the Field Days.

Retirement from one role opened the door to a new one for Craig Leaf-Wright, recently appointed as the new President of Olives New Zealand. A grove owner since 1999, Leaf-Wright is a chartered accountant by trade and took up olive growing with a view to life in retirement. Nearly 20 years later, that’s now come to fruition. “When we planted the grove in 1999, the plan was that when we retired this is what we would do until we got too old to be able to. And that’s exactly what happened,” he said.

Focus Groves status

Leafyridge

“We bought bare paddock that had been a beef and sheep farm, on the banks of the Ruamahanga River, in an area ideally suited for grapes and olives. It’s free draining and nice and flat, with its own little microclimate – not too much rain and can get a little frosty – and we draw water from the river to irrigate the grove. “We’ve got 3700 on our land but I also manage the next-door neighbours’ grove, another 800 trees, so I say we’ve got 4500. They’re not interested in working it, so we look after it, get the fruit and give them some oil at the end of the day. It’s a win-win situation. “Up until now all the fruit has gone into oil, and three years ago we branched out into agrumato flavoured oils. We do very well with them, so this year we’re going to move into table olives as well.”

All in good time

And while he’s obviously busy in his “retirement” in the grove, LeafWright said leaving his “paying job” has provided the time to take on leadership of the national industry organisation. “I was nominated by David Walshaw and it seemed like a natural progression,” he said. “I’ve been on the executive for about eight years, been both treasurer and deputy, and the time was right: I retired from my paying job at the end of January, so now I can devote myself to the presidential duties. My philosophy is that if you’re going to do something, you do it well and you put everything into it, and now I can give the role the time it needs to do it properly. “Similarly, we started off as hobby farmers but it became much more than that because we wanted to do it properly.”

To-do list

Leaf-Wright said there’s a lot he’d like to achieve during his time as ONZ president, with greater industry collaboration sitting high on the list. “One of the things I want to do is to make people feel that they belong to this olive family that we’ve got,” he said. “We’re a relatively new industry and I want it to be one where people feel they can share ideas and support each other. For example, we’ve got this new food safety program coming in and complying with it is going to place a huge burden on a lot of small producers. I don’t want them to think it’s all just too hard and give up, so as ONZ we’re trying to remove a few anomalies and make it less onerous for people. “The reality of the dream 20 years ago – that we were going to plant trees and make a lot of money – is different now. A lot of people have been doing it for a long time and we’re at a crossroads – they’re either saying “I don’t have the time to do it” or “I don’t have the resources”. So I want people to get together and pool their resources and time, and make it work together. “Leafyridge is also one of the groves in the Olives NZ Focus Grove Project, and I want to see the results coming out of that being taken

38 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

ONZ Focus Grove Project - March 2018 update

Craig and Ruth Leaf-Wright established their 3700-tree Leafyridge grove in 1999, making the most of the Wairarapa region’s renowned soil and climate. up across the industry. Everything is different here, so you can’t just pick up a manual from Italy or Spain and follow it, and the project is trying to create a set of standards for olives being grown in NZ. It takes a lot of guts to do it but we’re getting some great results.”

Chicken or the egg

The Focus Grove Project (FGP) is part of the organisation’s continued focus on productivity and marketing, the latter predominantly through the provision of marketing merchandise. “These were the key issues identified from member feedback, and we decided it would be better to get the economic viability and productivity of the groves right before we put too much into marketing,” Leaf-Wright said. “If you create an expectation and demand for a product, then fail to deliver, you lose people. You don’t get a second chance: they say it’s all hype and the next time you do it they’re not interested. “With productivity being advanced well by the FGP, however, the new Executive is looking to now also advance marketing more actively. The first step will be a survey to gather data about consumer buying and usage patterns with oils, and their awareness of NZ EVOO. Then using that data we will look at a strategy for marketing NZ EVOO - who, what message, how and costings - with the ultimate aim of “increasing the market share for NZ EVOO”.

The future

The way forward for the industry, Leaf-Wright says, is to keep things in perspective. “The vision is really very simple: you can’t look too far. We’re just too new. It would be great to have a vision that we’re going to take over the New Zealand olive oil market completely but that’s just not realistic. “For me, the vision would be to increase the awareness of the benefits of NZ olive oil – the freshness, the flavour and the health benefits – to consumers. I try and avoid using the term “educate consumers”, it’s quite patronising. Let’s just extol the virtues of using NZ olive oil and then let people decide. “So in a nutshell, the vision would be to increase consumption of NZ olive oil and make production viable for NZ growers by doing all the things we’ve talked about.” Also welcomed to the Olives New Zealand executive at the March AGM were Tricia Noble-Beasley as Vice President and Charles Chinnaiyah as Treasurer. More information: www.olivesnz.org.nz.

Kakariki, Nelson - hosted by John and Helen Dunlop, and new owners Ray and Brenda Gregory. Kakariki has suffered from tall trees (9-10m) and the focus has been in reducing tree size to improve tree health and enable more effective spraying and harvesting. A very good fruit load across both the trial block and other blocks was noted, along with very good extension growth for coming years’ crops. The Focus Grove trees are now smaller in height than control trees but have the same crop volume and possibly higher yield. The spray program of three years is providing very positive results, despite the challenging high rainfall and heavy dews common in the Nelson region making spraying difficult. Other issues identified included the cost of the Manzate spray regime ($450pa/ha); access to appropriate spraying equipment, highlighting an opportunity for contract spraying or co-operative purchase of sprayers; lack of time for many growers to implement the recommended spraying program. Project consultant Stuart Tustin reiterated that pruning does not compensate for spraying; both are necessary to improve grove health and productivity. Tree size and suitability of tree structure for harvesting methods are also important pruning considerations, and mulching of pruning waste provides good compost around trees. Overall the project consultants were very pleased with Kakariki Olives’ progress and the obvious improvements to the grove in relation to tree health and structure. This should be reflected in good harvest tonnage, assuming no unexpected weather events. Bel-Hamed, Canterbury – hosted by Malcom and Sally McKenzie. This 20-year old grove is an early adopter of the recommended pruning and spraying program and the trees looked excellent. The tree canopy was healthy, and bunches of olives plump and a very good size. Branches were typically full of leaf (especially older than one year), with good extension growth for next year. The excellent fruit set was attributed to the very good tree health, which should see good oil accumulation over the next few months and a resulting good oil yield. The outlook for next year is an even larger crop: 25+kg per tree is possible, with the tree structure making for an efficient mechanical harvester catchment area. The grove demonstrated ideal tree structure, with open canopy in the middle providing excellent light and spray penetration. Lower operating costs have resulted from the optimal shape and health, and the positive effect of the spray program which had addressed the previous anthracnose issue. Secondary pruning is used to balance the crop and address potential over-cropping, which would adversely impact the following year. Wound sealing was recommended to prevent potential disease. In summary, an exemplary olive grove showing what can and could be achieved in groves across New Zealand. Terrace Edge, Canterbury – hosted by Bruce and Jill Chapman, and the Canterbury Branch. The crop load was noted as patchy - some trees great, others light. Generally a leaner canopy with evidence of disease, especially anthracnose and cercospora, however the canopy is improved on two years ago. It was noted that there was a lower leaf and higher bare wood ratio at Terrace Edge than Bel-Hamed, only 1km away.

Grafting and coppicing are among rejuvenation techniques being demonstrated by the Focus Grove Project.

Pruning for effective light penetration and ongoing spraying was recommended to set up tree structure for a more consistent crop. As anthracnose expresses at onset of ripening from latent infections at flowering time, it needs to be dealt with early before symptoms are apparent. Practical management may require early harvesting to reduce spread if fruit rot symptoms develop. Processing cost was discussed: this is directly linked to volume, so increasing crops and processing throughput could see a reduction in cost from economies of scale. The cost of mechanical harvesters is the same for 10kg or 20kg per tree, so improving tree yields could also greatly reduce harvesting costs. Leafyridge, Wairarapa – hosted by Craig and Ruth Leaf-Wright. After a dry start to the season it had been raining almost weekly, therefore the grove regime was spraying weekly. Secondary pruning had been done to thin crop load, including removing pendant branches that would not harvest successfully. Tustin found minimal signs of disease and noted healthy two-year-old leaf through the visibly green canopies, attributed to implementation of the anthracnose recommendation to apply Difference (Score) during flowering. Many of those present reported flowering had not translated into fruit set, attributed to the big demand on tree resources at that time. Reduced foliage from disease and poor canopy structure mean less resources are available to support a high fruit set – conditions almost the norm in inadequately-sprayed NZ groves, showing up as lower and variable crops despite very heavy flowering. Nutrients were discussed: leaf tests showed a lower than optimum nitrogen level, with nitrogen deficiency showing in some yellow leaves Issue 108 • June 2018 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • 39

New Zealand – Focus Grove Project

Leafyridge

Ngatarawa

Olives on the Hill

Viaduct All of the Focus Groves showed impressive results from the recommended spraying and pruning program, with substantial crops of good-sized fruit on healthy trees. 40 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

New Zealand – Focus Grove Project

on heavy-cropping Picual trees. Dry soil inhibits nutrient uptake so timing of application is critical for effectiveness. Waterlogged soil also impacts on the root system, which has to recover before the tree can focus on nurturing the crop and growth. Picual seems more sensitive to water issues. The crop was estimated at 5+kg/limb, compared to the 2017 average of less than 10kg/tree. The healthy grove also displayed less leaf loss and excellent new growth extension for next year’s crop. Lichen noted was not an issue but should ultimately be addressed by pruning affected limbs. Lichen is a sign of historical lack of sun; more importantly it shakes off with olives during harvesting. Tustin commented that redundant canopy negatively impacts on photosynthesis and tree health and that as we improve leaf health in groves, it is reasonable to speculate that may result in higher oil content. In summary, a great crop with excellent bunches of fruit and regrowth across the grove. Maintenance pruning is now all that is needed, as intervention pruning had achieved most of the desired restructuring. Further cuts with the next winter pruning will almost complete the tree structure redevelopment. Ngatarawa (Aquiferra), Hawke’s Bay – hosted by Bob Marshall and Shona Thompson. The 16-year-old grove has mainly oil varieties but also table olives. They have only been fertilised twice as it was deemed unnecessary. Typically they harvest 20+kg/tree but last year only 14kg, likely due to intensive secondary pruning the previous year exacerbated by irrigation constraints in summer. The secondary pruning in December removed pendant limbs and reduced the crop load by 10-15%, as very heavy fruiting would likely result in over-cropping. It was also to enable sufficient growth for next year, anticipating the coming water restrictions. The trees and crop recovered well with autumn rain and Tustin described the trees as very well balanced with good crop loads throughout, spread from top to bottom of limbs. There was good new extension and good sized fruit, considering the January-February drought. Early adopters of the program in 2012, they are now into maintenance mode with tree management, and leaf drop evident is due to old age of leaves, not disease. Tustin said this grove is ahead of other groves because of early adoption of spraying and serious pruning. Discussion was had around height of trees and their unmanaged shape in other regions – e.g. in Nelson trees were up to 8m high. The focus there has been on tree structure, including quite dramatic restructuring in some cases. There has been minor evidence of anthracnose at flowering across groves, and Tustin noted that disease would readily recur and become problematic if not continually managed with the recommended spraying regime. The spray program needs to continue over autumn to protect fruit and new growth: the Olives NZ recommended with-holding period for Manzate is 30 days and then restart asap after harvest. Other discussions were around optimum shape for machine harvesters and the impact on the trees, the use of Manzate and fertilising. Bob said the grove had been machine harvested for eight years with no adverse effects evident; Manzate spray cost is 52c/tree and one tank sprays the whole grove. Taylor said Manzate is well proven in New Zealand on many other crops, is cost-effective and registered for olives internationally. Factors impacting on spray effectiveness are the sprayer, calibration, rate/speed of application and incorrect nozzle size/droplet size, which can result in under-application and under-performance of the recommended spray regime. Recommended Manzate rate is 3kg/ha but at Aquiferra Grove, 2.5kg is used successfully as tree height and structure allow for very effective penetration and coverage. Tustin recommended leaf analysis to determine nutrients needs before any application. Any input should be justified by measurements and testing following the principles of good agricultural practice for environmentally-conscious farming methods: applying fertilisers and

compounds without any indicators of need is unwise and may also waste both time and money. Leaf testing is more effective than soil testing for immediate tree condition but soil tests are valuable for other mineral nutrients and soil pH. In summary Tustin described the Ngatarawa Grove as exemplary, evident in the health of the trees, their structure and the excellent crop load. Olives on the Hill, Northland – hosted by Chris and Linda Smith. First to the Leccino coppiced in October 2015, so in the third growing season since. It had a very good crop for the new “age” of trees and a very healthy canopy. Some anthracnose rot was noted in more mature fruit, evidence of a wet season and difficulty with this variety in the more humid Northland climate. The suggestion was to spray with Manzate as close to harvest as possible. Also to harvest by mid-April to remove diseased fruit, to reduce disease build up and risk to other cultivars. Next was the project Frantoio block, noted as the third “focus grove guidelines” prune this season. It is starting to see very good regrowth in the lower region of the canopy, with medium to heavy crop load across the block – in fact ideal: not too heavy to hinder tree regeneration but heavy enough to achieve a commercial harvest yield. Some trees only have two years of “renovation” pruning remaining before the trees are reduced to a fully-manageable size and will moved on to “maintenance” pruning. Increased light throughout the block compared to early focus grove visits and a large improvement in leaf health were noted. Olives on pendant branches were discussed: Taylor said studies show that olives grown on downward facing branches produce less oil with a lower polyphenol level. Overall a very positive visit, with leaf health at an all-time high due to the spray and pruning regime, despite a very wet summer. Anthracnose in the Leccino was unfortunate but not surprising after the rain. It is hoped that this season will be the first where Olives on the Hill harvest all their trees.

Summary

All of the Focus Groves and others visited as part of the Field Days, that have been following the recommended program for proactive disease management and canopy management, are showing dramatic

improvements. At least two groves have reached an ‘exemplary’ stage for the New Zealand industry. The others have had bigger challenges but are well on the way to achieving this outcome. Potentially all the groves visited are looking at crop loads of around 20kg/tree, exceeding the project target of an increase from less than 10kg/tree to 15kg/tree. The challenge will be maintaining a similar crop load in 2019 and in the longer term – realistic if biennial bearing is controlled and reduced. Groves are still having issues with anthracnose, and Difference has not totally eliminated the disease at flowering. This may not be surprising when inoculum load and weather are factored into the scenario, but overall Cercospora and Peacock Spot are increasingly being well controlled on a cumulative annual basis. The broader impact of anthracnose was not known prior to the project so is a work in progress. The effectiveness of Manzate is reflected in marked reduction in disease, with minimal new disease outbreaks in the groves following the recommended program. The use of other chemicals came up on several visits. Copper is not recommended for olive trees; other products not licensed for olives in New Zealand are also not recommended, often on a cost basis. Manzate was chosen for the project because it is well proven on other crops in New Zealand, is registered for use on olives in Australia and Mediterranean countries and has a short with-holding period. It is also cost-effective in the olive grove scenario. In conclusion, there is very constructive and affirmative feedback from the project consultants on all of the groves following the recommended program. Excellent turnouts occurred at all the Field Days, with acknowledgement that the project has already achieved substantial improvements for participants.

Project completion

The original project timeline has been extended by 12 months following the problematic 2017 harvest, with the final Focus Grove Field Days now scheduled for October 2018 and March 2019 respectively. This report was prepared at Milestone M10 of the Sustainable Farming Fund Project 404831: Increasing Market Share for NZ EVOO. Full details of the project and previous reports are available on the Olives NZ website: www.olivesnz.org.nz.

2018 NZ EVOO Awards The NZ EVOO Awards continues to grow in prominence, with winners gaining increasingly valuable marketing promotion and recognition. This 2018 event once again has a high-calibre panel of international and local judges, led by head Judge Esteban Santipolio from Argentina. He will be joined by Shane Cummins (Australian International Olive Awards Head Judge) and Dr Soumi Paul Mukhopadhyay from Australia, Georges Feghali (ex Lebanon) and local judges Ed Scott and Rachel Costello from Nelson. Medals and multiple “Best of” category awards are on offer, with major awards presented at the NZ EVOO Awards Dinner on Saturday, 13 October in Masterton. Entries for the 2018 NZ EVOO Awards will open on Monday, 13 August and close on Friday, 14 September. Entry packs will be sent to all eligible Olives NZ members at the start of September, and will be available for download from the Olives NZ website from early August.

2018 ONZ Conference

The NZ EVOO Awards Dinner will be held in conjunction with the 2018 Olives NZ Conference on Saturday, 13 October in Masterton .

The program will include presentations on the Focus Grove Project by Stuart Tustin, Factors affecting the Longevity of EVOO by Pablo Canamasas and Olive Growing in Argentina by Esteban Santipolio. A Field Day at Leafyridge Olive Grove will follow on the Sunday. Registration forms, including accommodation bookings, will be available in late June on the Olives NZ website.

2018 NZ EVOO Awards & Olives NZ Conference – Key dates • • • •

Entries open – 13 August Entries close – 14 September Conference & Awards Dinner – 13 October Field Day – 14 October More information: www.olivesnz.org.nz

Issue 108 • June 2018 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • 41

Tastebook R&D

Tastebook sensory training: describing extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and table olives (TO)

Learning and future recommendations

Dr Soumi Paul Mukhopadhyay: Australian Olive Oil Sensory Panel, Wagga Wagga; Research Horticulturist - Sensory and Consumer Science, Department of Primary Industries, Wagga Wagga.

Introduction

Tastebook is a sensory training initiative of the Australian Olive Association (AOA) sharing the experience of appreciating, describing and understanding the quality of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and table olives (TO). After two previous rounds, the current program focussed on positively describing taste, flavour and aroma attributes of EVOO and TO, emphasising writing well-crafted descriptors fitting the products. It is important to know how to describe well the sensory experience of an EVOO or TO, and communicate the message to the general consumers. For this reason, this round of the Tastebook program aimed to provide a platform for participants with different levels of judging expertise to have a positive experience in descriptor writing.

Samples and methodology

Tastebook Round 3 ran from mid-March to 30 April 2018. A total of five samples were sent to participants within Australia and abroad (Argentina, New Zealand and USA); three of them EVOO and two TO (Table 1). All five samples won Gold Medals at the 2017 Australian International Olive Awards (AIOA).

Samples

EVOO

Results and discussion

A total of 78 participants took part in Tastebook Round 3. Their respective judging experience showed that a large number of participants (34.6%) were olive oil enthusiasts or producers who would like to understand how to better describe EVOO and TO. The level of participation from judges of varying levels is encouraging for EVOO (associate/trainee judge 14.1%, level 1 judge 20.5%, senior judge 16.7%, panel leader/ expert 14.1%), however more participation is required for TO judges in future (enthusiast/ producer 52.6%, associate/trainee judge 23.1%, level 1 judge 12.8%, senior judge 6.4%, panel leader/expert 5.1%).

Identification

Scores/Medals in AIOA

Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) Sample A

Grassy Spur 'Frantoio'

87/100

Sample B

Elisi Grove 'Signore, Barnea, Frantoio, Coratina',

87/100

Rio Vista Olives 'Barnea, Frantoio, Corregiolo, Koroneike'

86/100

Sample C

Table olives

Table olives Sample D Sample E

Each participant was asked to taste three samples of EVOO and describe aroma, flavour and mouthfeel attributes with a minimum of 3-4 descriptors. As the learning intention was to allow participants to experience describing EVOO, the diversity of answers and descriptors relate to the level of judging experience of the participants. To visualise how each sample was perceived and described by the participants, a “word cloud” was developed to summarise the feedback. *To read the word clouds, identify the “size” of the words inside the cloud. The bigger the descriptor, the more frequently that descriptor was repeated within feedback for each sample. All three attributes of aroma, flavour and mouthfeel for each sample were combined together and represented as one word cloud, thus Figure 2 represents Sample A (EVOO), which can be described as having “green tomato, apple herbaceous and grassy/rocket aroma, clean mouthfeel with complex, lingering palate, good flavour transfer, mild peppery, green intensity and long finish, with medium/mild pungency and bitterness”. Every word cloud is different and stands alone describing the particular EVOO sample holistically. It is evident from all three word clouds that participants could perceive the differences in sensory attributes for all three EVOO samples and they could comfortably describe them well. The descriptors written by participants irrespective of their judging experience show an agreement for individual oils, and this agreement can be considered an achievement for this program.

Alto Olives ‘WILD Koroneiki in brine’

25/30

The Australian Olive Company ‘Koroneiki naturally fermented in red vinegar’

26/30

A similar approach was taken for writing descriptors for the two TO samples, with word clouds reflecting participants’ descriptors for the samples. Thus sample D was perceived as “good sized table olives of light colour with slight blemishes, clear and consistent brine, fresh appealing clean olive aroma with pleasant floral and vinegar note, good balance in olive flavour and texture, reasonably firm texture within fingers but softer in mouth, good balance in acidity and saltiness, mild taste, green olive flavour and slight pleasant aftertaste”. Sample E was described as having “even, good colour and appearance and

Sample A (EVOO) descriptors.

more appealing compared to sample D, the olives were darker in colour and blemishes could be seen on the surface. The brine was pale and most olives were ripe”. Sample E was identified as Koroneiki by most of the participants. The TO sample had a pleasant odour with fresh olive aroma, notes of fermentation were detected, brine was appealing and vinegar notes were perceived. The flesh to pit ratio was considered good for both table olive samples. Sample E was perceived as having “a good/pleasant lingering olive flavour, slightly firm texture in mouth, not crunchy enough, low bitterness and saltiness, balanced taste profile with vinegary aroma”.

Round 3 of the Tastebook program has received much positive feedback from participants about the judging criteria, the training notes provided and the ease of using the SurveyMonkey format. There are a couple of learnings from this round, the most important about descriptor writing. Most of the participants believed the training notes were helpful, but they would also have liked to have more information or the “story” of each oil/table olive to understand and judge it better. The process of writing descriptors was not easy for many trainee and enthusiasts; however they took it up with a positive intention of learning how to write descriptors well. The use of the online SurveyMonkey system to capture participants’ feedback gathered positive responses, however some had difficulties in completing the evaluation online in one sitting. One of the recommendations is to have a “training session” or “seminar” where the participants can learn more about how to describe EVOO and TO, and also how to appreciate them and upgrade their skills. To that end, a ‘Tastebook Live’ training session will be held as part of this year’s National Olive Oil Conference in Wagga Wagga in October. In summary, the Round 3 Tastebook online electronic version provided a great benefit for

most participants, and a platform to assess EVOO and TO samples and learn how to describe them well. Most participants are willing to take part in future rounds of the Tastebook program and they see clear benefits to themselves and the Australian olive industry in continuing this quarterly program. Acknowledgements The author would like to acknowledge and thank Shane Cummins, AOA Chief Judge and Tastebook Convenor; Peter McFarlane, National Table Olive Committee Convenor (AOA); and Gerri Nelligan, Managing Editor, Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor for their continuous support, patience and belief in making this unique Tastebook initiative successful. Tastebook Round 4 is scheduled for August 2018 and will be focussing on ‘green’ oils and green olives. If you’d like to participate, email program facilitators Shane Cummins at wizardofolives@hotmail.com or Peter McFarlane at peter@mc.com.au to register. **Due to space limitations, this is an edited version of the Tastebook Round 3 program. You can read Dr Mukhopadhyay’s full report in the Features section of the Olivebiz website: www. olivebiz.com.au.

Time’s running out: are your labels CoOL compliant? If you sell food in retail stores in Australia, new Country of Origin Labelling (CoOL) laws now apply to your products. The transition period ends on 1 July 2018, after which means packaged products can no longer be sold without the new labels, so it’s time to ensure that yours are compliant.

The legislation

The Competition and Consumer Amendment (Country of Origin) Act 2017 clarifies the correct use of “made in” and “packed in” claims.

New product labels

New labels have been introduced for food grown, produced or made in Australia. Including the recognised kangaroo logo for Australian product, together with a bar chart and text to indicate the proportion

of Australian ingredients, the labels aim to help Australian consumers make more informed decisions about the food and other products they buy by clearly showing where the food was made or packed, and how much was sourced from Australian growers. Different label apply for products: • grown, produced or made in Australia • grown, produced or made in Australia with minor processing overseas • (of non-Australian origin) packed in Australia • imported from overseas More specific labelling requirements also apply to some products.

Information and assistance

The government has created a step-bystep Country of Origin Labelling (CoOL)

AOA Label Guide There’s more help at hand with labelling issues via the AOA’s Australian Code of Practice Product Label Guide. The comprehensive guide leads you step-by-step through creating a label for Australian product sold in Australia, ensuring the end result is compliant with the Australian Standard for Olive Oil and Olive-Pomace Oil (AS 5264-2011). Covering all

online tool to generate labels tailored specifically for your products. The online tool is available at www. business.gov.au/foodlabels, along with the presentation and a fact sheet handout from the CoOL food forums held around Australia in March. Other information and support can be accessed by calling 13 28 46 from 8am-8pm Monday to Friday, or via the online enquiry form. Subscribers can also reference our comprehensive feature on the new CoOL requirements in the June 2017 edition of Olivegrower & Processor.

mandatory, optional and recommended elements of an Australian EVOO label, it’s a ‘paint by numbers’ guide which will make creating your label a breeze. Members can download the guide from the AOA website – www.australianolives.com.au - via the Members’ Lounge.

Table 1: EVOO and TO samples Tastebook Round 3. 42 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

Issue 108 • June 2018 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • 43

Olive industry R&D

Could Designation of Origin work for Australian olive products? An investigation into the feasibility of creating a geographical origin system resulting in greater co-operation and profitability of Australian olive oil growers: A case study involving Frantoio from the Fleurieu Peninsula (SA) and South East Queensland. Richard Gawel and Amanda Bailey Project 0743 Pty Ltd, Recognose and The Olive Centre

Summary

European experience has shown that marketing advantage leading to higher prices in extra virgin olive oils can be achieved by emphasising the healthfulness and taste differences attributable to the region in which the olive was grown. A pilot-study involving olive growers from the Fleurieu Peninsula region of South Australia and South East Queensland using the Frantoio variety showed that the oils from the two regions, harvested at the same ripeness and processed identically, could be reliably differentiated (>90% accuracy) by knowing the relative proportions of the types of polyphenols in the oils. Region also strongly influenced the concentrations of the important bioactive compounds α-tocopherol and squalene. A semi-qualitative sensory assessment of commercial Frantoio oils from the two regions was conducted by participating growers using a new rapid and intuitive sensory method, CATA. The results suggested that the oils from the two pilot regions, while displaying commonality in some taste and flavour attributes, appeared to have other taste qualities that could be used to distinguish them.

Introduction

Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is the natural ‘oily fruit juice’ that is extracted from fresh olives using a mechanical process without further processing. Consequently, every EVOO has a unique natural chemistry and taste profile, both of which can be directly attributed to the olive variety, where it is grown, and how the olives were processed into oil. European olive oil growers have profited by promoting this uniqueness by emphasising the geographical origin of their product using the Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) systems. These systems (broadly called

Designation of Origin (DO)) generally add 3%-40% of value to agricultural products, depending on type, with a premium of 20%25% being typical. In the specific case of EVOO, growers from three DO regions in Portugal attained 24%-30% price premiums over comparative oils that were blended with oils from other regions. Could a DO system be justified in an Australian context? As a first step, we explored whether there were sufficient differences in the natural chemistry and taste profile of olive oils to meet the underlying principle for a DO. That is, do oils from specific regions have ‘characteristic properties’ that can be used to differentiate them? To this end, a collaborative study between olive growers from the Fleurieu Peninsula (FLE) and South East Queensland (SEQ) was conducted. The study focused on the variety Frantoio as it is the major variety in the Fleurieu region and also widely planted in SEQ .

Method

Samples of 1-2 kg of fresh green Frantoio olives were provided by growers and processed into oil within 1-4 days from harvesting. Those delayed were kept chilled (4-10 o C) and fruit was sorted for ripeness and imperfections. The sorted olives were then divided into two lots to allow replicate extractions. No processing aids or water were used during processing.

Oil chemical analysis

The concentrations of 23 individual phenolic compounds representing the spectrum of phenolic types found in EVOO were determined by high performance liquid chromatography . Concentrations of bioactive compounds squalene and α-tocopherol, and the percentage of oleic acid as part of a fatty acid profile, were also determined. Two statistical methods were used to summarise the ability of the

phenolic profile of the oils to distinguish them by region: cluster analysis to group the oils based on the similarity of their phenolic profiles; and discriminant analysis to match the known regional origin of a subset of the oils to their phenolic profile, this acquired ‘knowledge’ then used to predict the origin of other oils based on their phenolic composition.

Sensory analysis

Five tasting training sessions were conducted for growers. Participants were trained in the assessment of EVOO and given an understanding of the growing and processing factors that affect the sensory characteristics. Some tasters undertook further training in recognising varietal characters including those from the Frantoio variety. Five commercial Frantoio oils from each of the two pilot regions were sensorially assessed and preliminary data on their regional profiles were obtained using a recently developed intuitive and fast sensory method known as Check All That Apply (CATA). This method is suited to the resource and expertise levels of a typical grower group wishing to taste profile their oils for the purposes of determining denomination of origin status.

Results

Measurements identified the similarities in the ‘polyphenol fingerprint’ of the Frantoio oils made in the same way but from olives sourced from the two pilot regions, which were then charted for comparison. In many instances samples were closely paired, indicating that their phenolic profiles were more like each other than they were to the other samples. These ‘twins’ were in all cases oils from replicate extractions from the same olives, which provides confidence that the simple extraction method used was reproducible. (Ref: Fig 1, original report).

A Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) is: The name of an area used as a description of a foodstuff • which comes from that area and • has a specific quality, goodwill or other characteristic property, attributable to its geographical origin. 44 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

Crucially, however, most of the oils made from olives sourced from one region were shown to be more like each other than a significant majority of oils produced from olives grown in the alternate region. This provides evidence that oils from the two regions have characteristic properties that can be attributable to geographical origin, which is the basis for any DO. Using another approach (discriminant analysis), the conclusions were the same (Table 1). Overall the region of origin was

correctly predicted in 40 of the 44 oil samples (90.9%), further suggesting that polyphenol profile is a useful indicator of regional uniqueness. Measurements of average concentrations showed significant differences between the two regions in 15 out of the 23 polyphenol types. Importantly, these 15 types were represented in all the major families of polyphenols found in extra virgin olive oil, suggesting that regional differences are likely to only be ‘captured’ by knowing the broad

True Group Put into Group

FLE

SEQ

FLE

96.20%

16.70%

SEQ

3.80%

83.30%

Table 1: Classification of regional samples based on polyphenol profile using discriminant analysis. Diagonals show correct classification.

phenolic profile of the oils. This is highlighted by the fact that the concentration of total polyphenols did not differ significantly between the regions.

Other components

Squalene, α-tocopherol and fatty acid profiles were also measured due to their influence on healthfulness, and that they may be affected by regionality. α-tocopherol is a compound with strong vitamin E activity and is found at much higher concentrations in olive oil compared with other edible oils and fats. It is a complex molecule, with one part acting as a strong radical scavenger (antioxidant), and the other part, being fat soluble, allowing it to incorporate itself into cell membranes, protecting them from oxidative damage. Squalene, a polyunsaturated triterpene, is the most abundant minor component in EVOO. Content ranges up to 12g/kg, which is around 50 times the average concentration (237mg/kg) of total polyphenols in Australian EVOO. There is increasing evidence that squalene consumption plays a cardioprotective role through a variety of biological mechanisms. Unlike most other minor components, the factors affecting squalene content in

Figure 2: Summary of α-tocopherol and squalene levels by pilot region. The top and bottom of each box represents <75% and >25% of the samples respectively. The cross bar in each box equals the average concentration. ‘Spike bars’ show minimum and maximum concentrations. Issue 108 • June 2018 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • 45

Olive industry R&D

SEQ

Pests and diseases

14.7

FLE

10.2

11.8

68.6

79.1

20%

Palmitic

40%

Stearic

Oleic

6.2

60%

Linoleic

80%

Linolenic

100%

Other

Figure 3: Average fatty acid profile by pilot region. Red bars = saturated fatty acids, green bar = monounsaturated fatty acid (oleic acid), yellow/orange bars = polyunsaturated fatty acids, grey bar = minor fatty acids.

EVOO are little known. Squalene content is known to be affected by olive maturity, being higher in oils made from green olives, and is also known to decrease significantly during bottle storage even when kept under ideal conditions. Both these reported factors were not in play in this study. α-tocopherol, squalene and fatty acid profiles differed significantly between oils made from the two pilot regions. α-tocopherol levels and the proportion of oleic acid were significantly higher in the FLE oils, and squalene levels and the proportion of saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids were significantly higher in the SEQ oils. Notably, squalene concentrations were on average >50% higher in the SEQ oils (Figures 2 and 3). α-tocopherol levels in Australian oils made from different varieties have previously been shown to differ due to growing season, olive ripeness and growing region. The fatty acid profile clearly showed a regional influence in this study which was consistent with the findings of others. The differences may be due to the hotness/ coolness of the region, with cooler regions attaining higher levels of monounsaturated fatty acids and subsequent lower levels of saturated and/or polyunsaturated fatty acids. To our knowledge, regional effects on squalene concentration in EVOO have not previously been reported and require further investigation.

Sensory outcomes

Five commercial Frantoio oils from each of the two pilot regions were assessed by

applying a rapid sensory intuitive method known as Check All That Apply (CATA): if a taster perceives a flavour/taste they check the character off a pre-determined list. Counts of how many times a flavour is checked is used as a proxy of its intensity. This resulted in only qualitative data on the commercial oils being obtained, as follows: the FLE oils were often described as being grassy and in some instances minty. The SEQ oils were similar to the FLE oils in that they were also grassy in flavour and had a similar level of bitterness and pungency. However, the SEQ oils were more often rated as being ‘sweeter’ and more ‘pine nut/ almond meal like’ on the palate.

Discussion: implementing a DO type system

The Australian Olive Association estimates that 94% of the 900 olive oil producers in Australia own less than 20 ha. As 85% of the total exhibits entered in competitions with ‘single estate/provenance’ classes were entered in those classes, it is reasonable to assume that most Australian growers produce olives on a single geographically defined holding and therefore could be eligible for a classification under a DO. In the European context, regional grower organisations have traditionally taken the co-ordinating role in defining and managing the DO. These include 1) defining production methods, oil composition and sensory parameters, 2) involvement in research and development directions, and 3) communicating the benefits of the regional DO ‘brand’ to consumers. Empowering

46 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

growers with these necessary skills and knowledge at a regional level is a prerequisite for success. The Australian olive industry has identified that industry profitability is contingent upon a strong knowledge base of its growers which is consistent with this requirement. Practical guidelines that describe how to administer a DO are now available. A further benefit is that by defining a DO, regional grower groups necessarily take ownership of what makes their region unique and are therefore invested in promoting how that can benefit consumers of their regional product. Growers of products that display regional identity in the EU have found that collaboration and co-operation are vital to maintaining a high-quality perception of an entire region leading to increased prices for all producers within the region. Lastly, any form of geographic indicator is a form of collective intellectual property rights accessible to any producer of the area that complies with the requirements. Quality certification schemes invoke fixed costs of compliance on those who take part and are potential beneficiaries. Such costs can have an asymmetric bearing on small producers, as the cost of measurement and compliance are the same regardless of volume produced. Under the scenario of this study, the compositional and organoleptic assessment would cost $400-500. Based on this estimate, an average Australian producer at 11K litres would expect to incur a cost of 4c/L for determination of DO status. Acknowledgements: The project is funded by the Farm Co-operative and Collaboration Program (Farming Together), delivered by Southern Cross University on behalf of the Australian Government, with seeding funds from Olives South Australia, Queensland Olive Council and South East Queensland Olive Growers Association. In-kind support via olive samples, training and sensory analysis was provided by participating olive growers. Our thanks to all. Due to space limitations, this is an edited version of the case study report. You can read the full report, and access additional tables, references and other elements, in the Features section of the Olivebiz website: www.olivebiz. com.au.

Vigilance required for Olive Knot Disease With the harvest season now well underway and wet weather more frequent, AOA Code of Practice OliveCare® Administrator Peter McFarlane has provided a timely reminder about Olive Knot Disease. To date most of our industry focus has been on fungal diseases of olives, in particular Anthracnose. However there are also several bacterial diseases of olives which require attention, including Olive Knot disease.

Olive Knot Disease: Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. Savastanoi

An increasingly prevalent disease of olives, with infection occurring through tree wounds including leaf scars, Olive Knot is a devastating scourge for Barnea and Frantoio varietals in particular. Symptoms: rough galls or swellings of variable size occur on twigs, branches, trunks, roots, fruit or leaves. Galls can appear either individually or close together. They are most common on twigs and young branches, but will also form around wounds on the main trunk. Starting as small swellings three to five mm across, they grow rapidly into smooth, spherical green knots, increasing in size as they mature and becoming darker and more furrowed. Transmission: the bacteria live in the galls and ooze out in wet weather. They enter the tree through wounds, including leaf scars, damage by hail and frost, pruning wounds or wounds caused during harvesting. Susceptibility: at risk are trees with wounds during periods of rain. Some cultivars, including Barnea and Frantoio, are more susceptible. Control: there are currently no bactericides registered for use on agricultural crops in Australia. The only available control agents in Australia are Copper Oxychloride and Copper Hydroxide, which must be applied within 24 hours of adverse weather or pruning/ harvest damage.

Olive Knot Disease management • maintain strong tree vigour to resist infection • be vigilant: regularly monitor trees for symptoms • prune and remove any ‘knots’ during dry weather periods • disinfect pruning tools including chainsaws between trees; wash down and disinfect pruning and harvesting equipment before entry to and again after leaving the grove • apply copper sprays within 24 hrs of rain, hail or frost events, after pruning and immediately post-harvest – timing is critical for effective control.

Olive Knot Disease is a bacterial infection characterized by galls on twigs and branches.

Disease cycle

Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. Savastanoi (Psv) is a gram-negative bacterium which is an epiphytic, opportunistic wound pathogen. It is naturally disseminated by rain and water splash. Psv survives epiphytically on olives and endophytically in knot tissue. Bacteria is exuded from knots during periods of rain and dispersed, infecting naturally and mechanically made wounds. The knots develop during active tree growth and reduce tree health and productivity, increasing susceptibility to ongoing infection as the cycle continues.

Prevalence

According to Boundary Bend Ltd Technical Director Leandro Ravetti: “Since 2014 more than 4,000 ha (20% of productive area) of fully established and productive Barnea trees around Australia have been removed and replanted with alternative varieties or land left vacant. One of the main reasons was the extreme susceptibility of this variety to Olive Knot (PMF -and susceptibility to Anthracnose) with no successful way of controlling the disease under Australian conditions. The cost to the industry of replanting and production loss has been, at least, 150M dollars. While it was believed that this problem was particularly linked to just a handful of varieties, the experience of other modern industries such a Chile or California is showing that with the repeated use of

Olive Knot infection can occur via leaf scars and injuries caused by mechanical harvesting and pruning.

copper, resistant strains of Pseudomonas become more prevalent and varieties previously considered as moderately sensitive (Arbosana) or rather tolerant (Arbequina) are showing much more serious signs of decline. “ Other factors attributed to the rising incidence of Olive Knot is also attributed are an increase in bark injuries caused by high-density plantings and mechanical harvesting and pruning operations; and the expansion of olive growing into more frost/freeze-prone areas. Growers experiencing Olive Knot Disease are requested to send details to Peter McFarlane at peter@mc.com.au. Refs: Diseases and disorders of olives in Australia, by Robert Spooner-Hart, Len Tesoriero, Barbara Hall. Field Guide to Olive Pests, Diseases and Disorders in Australia, by Robert SpoonerHart, Len Tesoriero, Barbara Hall, Publication No. 07/153. Epidemiology and management of olive knot caused by Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. Savastanoi, by Dr James Adaskaveg, Professor, Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, University of California Riverside.

Issue 108 • June 2018 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • 47

Olive business

Products and services

Managing social media for your business Social media is playing an increasingly significant role in promoting our industry and marketing our products. But there are potential traps you can fall into when promoting online. Here are some tips from the ACCC on how to manage your social media content and ensure you don’t fall foul of the law. Social media gives large and small businesses a direct way to interact with existing and potential customers, and promote their products and services. Businesses using social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have a responsibility to ensure content on their pages is accurate, irrespective of who put it there.

Quality products, great local service

Don’t make misleading claims on social media

You must ensure you don’t make any false or misleading claims as part of your marketing and promotional activities. This includes advertisements or statements using any media, including print, radio, television, websites and social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. There are no specific or different consumer laws or rules in place for social media. Consumer protection laws which prohibit businesses from making false, misleading or deceptive claims about their products or services have been in place for decades. These laws apply to social media in the same way they apply to any other marketing or sales channel.

Don’t allow others to make misleading claims in comments

You can also be held responsible for posts or public comments made by others on your social media pages which are false or likely to mislead or deceive consumers. In 2011, a court case concluded that a company accepted responsibility for fan posts and testimonials on its social media pages when it knew about them and decided not to remove them.

Minimise your risk

Don’t make statements on your Facebook or other social media pages that you wouldn’t make in any other type of advertising. If you’re unsure about what you can or can’t say, seek legal advice. Monitor your social media pages and remove any posts that may be false,

misleading or deceptive as soon as you become aware of them. This is what the ACCC would expect you to do with any other type of advertisement. Establish clear ‘house rules’ that apply to the actions of your fans, friends and followers when using your social media pages. These rules should be featured prominently on your social media pages. You should then block users who breach those rules.

Monitoring social media pages

The amount of time you need to spend monitoring your social media pages depends on two key factors: the size of your company and the number of fans or followers you have. Businesses should keep in mind that social media operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and many consumers use social media outside normal business hours and on weekends.

Responding to false, misleading or deceptive comments instead of removing them

You can respond to comments instead of removing them, but it is possible that your

response may not be sufficient to override the false impression made by the original comments. It may be safer to simply remove the comments.

Offer your customers a refund

You should offer a refund to any customer who made the decision to purchase your product or service based on a false, misleading or deceptive claim they saw on your social media page.

ACCC role in enforcement of social media

The ACCC can require companies to substantiate any claims on their social media pages, and can take court action where it identifies a breach of the law (or issue an infringement notice in certain circumstances).

Learn more

Visit the ACCC website www.accc.gov.au for more information on using social media for your business.

Top quality products and committed local service: they’re getting harder to find these days but you’ll get both from the team at Closures Online – 24/7. Based in Victoria, Closures Online is a family-owned business with a proven track record for “really good support”. “It’s what we’ve built our business on,” team member Paige Costello said. “We know people are busy, so we aim to make the packaging side of their business as easy and efficient as possible. We keep stock on hand for all of our oil lines, provide online ordering 24/7 through our website, and we’re always at the end of the phone or email to chase orders for clients, or to fill an urgent last-minute order. “That efficiency goes for delivery too: we ship to all areas of Australia and New Zealand, with turnaround times of 3-5 working days from placement of order. Normally we’ve got them out the next day, so it’s just courier time from there.” Closures Online’s reputation is also built on the quality of their products, all Australianmade or imported from Europe and backed by that guaranteed customer service. “When ordering from overseas you have no assurance around quality,” Paige said. “One of the main issues we hear about is incorrect fitting of the plug into the

bottle neck, resulting in leakage, and that’s generally due to variations in both Chinesemade glass and closures. Our caps are very consistent and we only source top quality products.”

New Stand-UP pouches

The latest addition to their range of quality products is the innovative Stand-UP pouch. “They’re widely used in Europe and we could see the benefit for the Australian market because of the distances people have to ship their product. The filled product is a third of the weight of other packaging, so they’re a great alternative to bottles and tins due to the reduction in shipping costs,” Paige said. “The material is very robust, and once the tap is in, it’s in – you’d have to pry it out with a crowbar – so unless they’re over-filled they’re failsafe. They’re used here for children’s snacks already, so it’s not unfamiliar territory, and really it’s the bag in box without the bulk. “They’re also great to take on picnics and to events where you can’t take glass, and

there’s a lot of interest from food service in the safety and convenience of an unbreakable bag with pour tap.” The Stand-UP pouches come in 1L, 1.5L, 2L and 3L options, and can be custom-printed in up to eight colours or purchased plain for hand-labelling. “They’re printed front and back just like a label, with a minimum order quantity of 10,000, but they have an extremely long shelf life,” Paige said. “And for smaller producers hand applied labels are a good option, with the plain white or green bags available from a minimum of 100 units.”

Caps and pourers

And of course Closures Online continues to offer a wide range of quality aluminium, metal and plastic caps across all bottle sizes, with custom printing available for larger quantities. They also stock the popular after-market pourer – the ideal way to value-add your quality EVOO products – at a fraction of the price of other suppliers. To find out more, or to place an order, go to www.closuresonline.com.au, email sales@ closuresonline.com.au or phone the Closures Online team on +61 426 875 855.

2018 AOA National Olive Industry Conference & Exhibition – October 18-20, Wagga Wagga, NSW www.australianoliveconference.com.au 48 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018 • Issue 108

Issue 108 • June 2018 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • 49

your calendar of olive events

What’s on

2018 Jun

efit Member Ben

June22 Entries open, 2018 Spring Sydney Royal Fine Food Show Olive Oil Competition – Sydney, NSW www.rasnsw.com.au

September 14 Entries close, 2018 NZ EVOO Awards – New Zealand www.olivesnz.org.nz

June 24-26 Fine Food New Zealand – Auckland, NZ www.finefoodnz.co.nz

September 21 Entries close, 2018 Australian International Olive Awards - Australia www.internationaloliveawardsaustralia.com.au

July 6 Closing date for Invitation to Participate, Australian Golden Olive Awards – NE VIC www.australianoliveawards.com.au

Jul

July 10-11 ExpoAzeite 2018 International Exhibition of Olive Oil & Olives - São Paulo, Brasil www.expoazeite.com.br

September 21 Presentations, 2018 Spring Sydney Royal Fine Food Show Olive Oil Competition – Sydney, NSW www.rasnsw.com.au

Oct

July 16 Entries open, 2018 Australian International Olive Awards - Australia www.internationaloliveawardsaustralia.com.au

Aug

August 25 Awards Presentation dinner, Australian Golden Olive Awards – NE VIC www.australianoliveawards.com.au September 5 Presentation dinner, 2018 Royal Adelaide Olive Awards – Adelaide, SA mj@johnstons.net.au

So 1st year membership benefit = $494 Peak Industry Body – Advocacy and Representation – Your voice to Government

October 19 Presentation Dinner, 2018 Australian International Olive Awards - Wagga Wagga, NSW www.internationaloliveawardsaustralia.com.au

Nov

November 15 Presentation dinner, 2018 Hunter Valley Olive Show – Hunter Valley, NSW treasurer@hunterolives.asn.au

✓ Australian Standard

for Olive oil and olive pomace oil AS 5264-2011

✓ Australian

International Olive Awards

OliveCare

The

Olive Awards

✓ AOA National

Page

Pieralisi Eclipse Modern Olives NSW DPI Oil Testing Service Australian Olive Association Closures Online New Holland Ag Sumitomo Chemical

✓ Consumer

2 5 7 11 13 15 17 18

Client

Netafim Australian Olive Association Olive Oil Packaging Services Costante Imports Task Automation Australian Olive Association Braud

Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • June 2018• Issue 108

Page

19 21 31 33 35 51 52

Awareness & Education Campaigns – Everyday, Fresher Tastes Better!

✓ Biosecurity

management

and reporting

✓ Grower field days

✓ AOA Facebook page ✓ Tastebook program

✓ Industry AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL

Advertiser index

✓ Market surveillance

and seminars

✓ Code of Practice

www.internationaloliveawardsaustralia .com .au

Client

60 Olivebiz ................. $ .. .. 1 x s ed Classifi $329 bership Annual mem 225 =$ 5 ha grower

**El Cultivo Del Olivo Book on joining $165 RRP

October 18-20 AOA National Olive Industry Conference & Exhibition 2018 – Wagga Wagga, NSW www.australianolives.com.au

August 20 Entries open, 2018 Hunter Valley Olive Show – Hunter Valley, NSW treasurer@hunterolives.asn.au

OG & P .... $4 x4 .............. n o ti p ri c s b Su

DOLLARS and SENSE!

October 14 Olives NZ grove visit – Wairarapa, NZ www.olivesnz.org.nz

August 17 – Entries close, 2018 Royal Adelaide Olive Awards – Adelaide, SA mjandrj@johnstons.net.au

Sep

October 5 Entries close, 2018 Hunter Valley Olive Show – Hunter Valley, NSW treasurer@hunterolives.asn.au October 13 2018 ONZ Conference & NZ EVOO Awards Dinner – Masterton, NZ www.olivesnz.org.nz

August 13 Entries open, 2018 NZ EVOO Awards – New Zealand www.olivesnz.org.nz

Conference ....... $95 n x1 ............ o ti a tr is eg R .... $20 x1 .............. er n in D A AIO ..... $150 Fee x1 ........ y tr n E A AIO

Membership it makes

Member $ discount

Industry Conference & Exhibition

✓ Point of sale

marketing merchandise

✓ PHA Biosecurity Levy

communications – Olivegrower & Processor, Friday Olive Extracts, Olivebiz

✓ Registered pesticide minor use permits holder for industry

✓ Voice of Horticulture Membership

AUSTRALIAN & NEW ZEALAND

& NATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE OLIVE INDUSTRY

✓ NFF Horticulture

Council Membership

✓ Industry Risk and

Crisis Management

The Australian Olive Association is the prescribed industry body representing all olive growers, certified importers and service providers in Australia since 1995. JOIN TODAY and take advantage of the many member benefits and services. Email Liz at secretariat@australianolives.com.au

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