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<pre>Phil,
I think that the example of the family should be followed. Here the farmers
have formed cooperatives and the olive farmers here have an own 3 phase
press. In our area machine harvesting cannot be done because the hills are
too steep, but this would be undoubtedly a thing to do by the cooperative
because small farmers cannot afford the high cost for few trees. In Italy
cooperatives have tax advantages because gov wants to help small farmers to
organize themselves and to give them more economical power. I understand
that there are less statal helps for agriculture in Australia and NZ, but
anyway it is a good idea to put together the power of many small farmers. On
the other hand the cooperative must administrated as well as any venture.
Example: Some year ago a private press (modern 2 phase) opened in the
neighbourhood and withdraw a lot of farmers from their own co-operative,
because quality is much better although the price is higher.
As to the climate, El Nino does not come here (only on Xmas ;-)) ), but also
we have a tendency to drier and warmer climate in general and to heavier
(and more seldom) rainfalls. The effect of too much rain in the late
maturing phase of fruit is well known, it is a little bit like with
cherries: they crack and taste like water.
Nonetheless I would doubt if the absolute oil content was really lower,
because the fruit may have absorbed more water, but this should not reduce
the oil content, only it's percentage. In this case you collect more olives
in weight, but the total oil yield remains unchanged. I bet it's so. We know
well the opposite effect: For a long time people collected the olives at the
end of december (about 2 months after maturation) because olives were
lighter then and they saw only the higher percentage of oil and not the
worse quality. We are over that now.
Volker
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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 19:54:39 +1000
From: "Phil Bramley" <bramleyp@one.net.au>
Subject: RE: R: olive planting grid

Volker, I would suspect that the Internet will have a profound effect on
learning and enable groups, to share new and accumulated knowledge about
many subjects. The learning curve is no longer such a steep climb!

I think the 8x5 planting was purely for the sake of mechanical harvesting.
Olives Australia suggests this as optimal planting for harvesting and,
without any other experience in olives, we have followed this advice.

An interesting TV program on Australian television the other day described
the fortunes of a small olive growing family and how they have grown to
become a major player in the industry here. Essentially they formed an
association with other growers in a rural district and together they grow,
press and market under one banner. They have recently installed a heavy duty
Alfa Laval continuous press and the oil produced seems to be of very high
standard. Also of interest was the unusual climate condition for this last
season and how it had affected the oil yield of their olives. The olives
themselves were very fat and juicy but alas with not much oil content!
Apparently they received record summer rainfall close to harvest and this
affected the oil content of their fruit significantly. Global warming and El
Nino (or is it La Nina) seem to be the culprits. Has a change in the
climate affected your area in any way?

Regards

Phil
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