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<pre>> Bill,
>
> Interesting question, and to be honest, not the easiest one to answer
> definitively, but I'll have a go for you.
>
> Work on the assumption that an olive tree will yield around 40kg of fruit
> once mature (at 8/10 years) and will yield more than that under good
> conditions, but being sufficiently pessimistic to only budget for a low
> crop.
> 40kg of olives per tree ... but what will you do with the fruit? There is
> currently a high demand for oil making olives, and expect to receive about
> $1 per kilo for your fruit. The demand for pickling olives is lower, but
> they do sell (if in perfect condition) for around $3 per kilo.
> It is probably wise to avoid being tempted by the "multi-purpose" olives
> (here in the Hunter Valley of NSW we have had some serious problems making
> oil out of Manzanillo) and settle for the best possible species for your
> project.
>
> If you do decide to go for oil, and decide to plant (for example) Frantoio
> you may need to plant another species as a pollinator. Plenty of people on
> this group can advise you about this aspect.
>
> How many trees? Okay, at 40kg per tree and 250 trees to the hectare (spacing
> of 8m x 5m or thereabouts) should give you 10 tonnes per year, or $10,000
> income per hectare. How much income do you want to generate, and how much
> work are you going to do yourself, or pay somebody do for you.
>
> 10 hectares planted ... $100,000 a year income ... yourself and one other
> full time employee, repay bank loan, picking costs, council rates, power,
> diesel, equipment costs, irrigation costs....
>
> Or do you intend you buy your own press, make your own oil and market it
> yourself?
>
> Sorry, but there is no easy answer, but I hope these figures give you a bit
> of an idea of the variables. If you would like me to do a more detailed
> study for you, please get in touch off the list at
> mike.wilson@hunterlink.net.au and I'll go into more detail.
>
> Regards,
>
> Mike Wilson.
>
>
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 16:46:15 +1100
> From: John Attwood <johnat@oxleyolives.au2.com>
> Subject: Re: Gingin
>
> Some of the problem might be that the people Bill was asking were at a
> conference aimed at harvesting and processing. Whilst that might seem
> the wrong way around, to be fair to the people there, they have/should
> have done all that before and wanted answers to more (dare I say it?)
> pressing problems!
> That being said, It sould be apparent to these self same people, that to
> encourage new members into the industry, they have to seriously listen
> to anyone with questions and then point them in the direction of the
> "right" (or at least a fair approximation to the right) answer. If
> someone suggested this forum as a place to get answers, they did Bill no
> end of favours, as he will get answers aplenty! I am disappointed that
> noone at the venue was prepared to have a shot at an answer.
>
> Whilst I concurr with the sentiments axpressed by Mike, below, the
> actual "answer" depends more on the result required. If Bill wants to
> become self supporting on the olives, there is a greater need for more
> trees (and possibly more cultivars - a belt and braces man, me!) than if
> he is satisfied with a hobby farm and sufficient income to play around
> with in retirement. If he hasn't already done so, I'd suggets to Bill
> that he contact Julian Archer (who I know lurks around these corridors
> of chat) and put the questions directly. I'd also suggest that Bill put
> the questions he wants answered, as clearly as he can, on this group for
> discussion.
>
> My grove is 300+ trees, on a staggered 5m then 8m row spacing and 5m
> inter tree. Reasoning? the harvesters were specified as requireing 8m
> between rows, the alternate 8m rows will allow acces to one side of each
> tree in each row. The harvesters were stated to need 5m between trees to
> spread their batwings. Thus the intertree and even row spacing was 5m.
> We needed a slightly higher density than the conventional 8 * 5 metres
> to get a reasonable number of trees into our (strictly limited) space.
> The land was bought before there was any suggestion of olives being
> viable here, and we cannot expand (physically nor economically).
>
> You cuts the suit to match the cloth!
>
> John Attwood
> Tamworth NSW Au

Thankyou both for your comments. It is actually a shame that we need to
do this electronically, I am a bloke who likes to get dirt under the
fingernails as often as possible, and sitting a keyboard isn't going to do
that. However, thankyou t0 both of you and to those "off air" who answered
my apparently simple question. It would seem that we have quite a community
here in Australia. Long may it live. I will be planting some trees before
long, and I have some scientific ideas about how "ripeness" can be
measured. I am a biochemist/microbiologist from way back.

Bill

Bill
</pre>
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