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<pre>Having returned from France and Spain I have to say that I'm about as
confused as one can get re. machinery to buy for our grove -or do I get
involved with a small local coop? erc. etc. etc.

Is it possible to get a survey underway to see what members are using, and
what members are planning buying in say the next 2 - 3 years? It seems to
me from reading the mail that there are a lot of smaller growers who will
be coming on stream in the next 2 - 3 years.

I realise a lot will be forming local co-ops and that is fine however I
have to say that in horticulture here in NZ, for every successful coop
there are 2 or 3 that aren't. That also applies to olives in Spain and
France - there are some very good ones and there are some shockers! The
difference in quality control, quality management and attitude to the
product was amazing.

Perhaps break it down into say 1 - 499 trees, 500 - 999, 1000 - 1499, 1500
- 1999 and perhaps 2000 plus trees.

Hopefully by everyone responding with what machinery they use and any
comments us guys who are struggling with a plethora of often conflicting
advice may be able to sort the matter out?

I'm sorry if this should have been sent to the survey list but I'm a very
new to the Net so please bear with me.

Kind regards
John Bishop
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<pre>John

Have a look at www.victorianolivegroves.com and it will give you some idea
of what we are up to in Bendigo, central Victoria, Australia. We have
around 200-300 members of our local association who have 200000 trees in the
ground, many turning 4 this season. It's been my intention to link with
these growers via their taking a holding in my firm. I might be able to
advise you soon on this process. I would add that the association had a
Finance Review committee formed last year to specifically look at what model
could be utilised for the mutual benefit of members and a co-op was ruled
out. Other regions are taking a different tack and if you go to my Links
page and click on the Hunter Valley site you will gain a good impression of
the way their co-op appears to be going.

I am mindful that there are some serious players out there and that small
boutique type operations may be doomed before they start. Have a look at
the overview page.

For my part I have used an Oliomio for the past two years which was adequate
for the task. This is now for sale as I am moving on to a 250 this coming
season.

Regards

Peter
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<pre>John,

We (Tanja Olives) have around 2000 olive trees in the ground and they range
between 1 and 4 years old. At the end of the last season we purchased a
second hand Oliomio 100 (100kgs per hour) centrifugal processor from a
producer in Griffith NSW. Like Peter Caird in Victoria he had outgrown his
machine and upgraded to an Oliomio 250 as a replacement. He doesn't actually
grow olives himself but services the local olive growers.

Other olive growers in the Bega Valley have trees ranging between 1 and 3
years old and our aim is to process their fruit with any spare capacity that
we might have with our 100. You might be interested in doing the same rather
than grapple with forming a coop! You may also find that relatively low
mileage oil processors will be available on the second hand market. We would
expect that our 100 will need to be upgraded within the next 4 to 5 years
and still only have a relatively low number of hours on the machine.

Regards,

Phil
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<pre>Hi John

I would like to tell you about our experience with the Alfa Laval machinery.

Our mills "Sadoun olive mill" is located in a village called Samar, north west
of Jordan about 30 km east of the Jordan River and 10 km south of the Golan
heights.

Within a radius of 5 Km around our olive mill there is more than 500,000 olive
trees (90% used for olive oil). Olive and agriculture is a large source of
income for the great majority of the farming families in northern Jordan.

Between our mill and my uncles' mill next door we have a processing capacity of
11 tons of olives an hour. We use Alfa Laval equipment, the best in my opinion.
I am going to take a few moments to write about their equipment. I think it is
well worth it ( a free advertisement for our Alfa Laval managers on board ;-)

Alfa Laval is one of the biggest manufacturers of Olive milling equipment in the
world. They belong to the Tetra Pak Group of Sweden, a multi billion company.
We have a lot of experience with their systems since my family
purchased the first Alfa Laval continuous production line in 1972. It was one
of the first lines to be sold outside of Italy at the time. Since then we
bought, sold, and installed more than 100 Alfa Laval lines in the Middle East.
We even had a De Laval oil separator since the early fifties.

The quality is just first class and the design and workmanship are absolutely
world class. Machines service and maintenance are tremendously user friendly
and usually require few repairs. Though their prices are higher 10-15% than the
their competitor's, however the quality and peace of mind of the Alfa Laval
machines more than pay for itself. The legendary Alfa Laval separators series
(x07) are extremely reliable. Nothing compared to it except for the Peiralisi
which is close second.

In the olive oil pressing industry, reliable equipment, quality and availability
of service parts, are the pillars of a successful harvest season. As sales and
service agents for Alfa Laval in Jordan, our company provides the mill owners
with 24 hrs emergency repair service during the olive season. This is
absolutely necessary when you want to keep your customers. Even if they
purchased equipment from us more than 20 years ago. It is all a matter of
reputation and word of mouth. When the mill owner knows that you will come to
the rescue when needed, then others who plan to buy olive pressing equipment
will come to you, because they know that you will stand by them and support
them.

Nothing more embarrassing to an olive mill owner than a broken machine. And at
the same time the olive is in the malaxer waiting to be pressed, and the farmers
are waiting anxiously at the hopper waiting their turn to get their olives in
the press. Specially for mill owners who own a single line only.

Preventive maintenance is the key here for the operation. Mill owners should
never start the olive season without performing full maintenance procedures.
Spare parts should be on hand for interval and emergency service. Proper
knowledge of daily service requirements, proper operating procedures, and
trained
staff, are essential ingredients.

As far as the survey is concerned, here is my suggestion: If a grower in
Australia has more than 2000 trees, then it makes sense to start his own mill.
According to Stan Kailis, he picked 220kg of olives from a tree at the
Benedictine Mission at New Norcia. That is a good yield. The tree in Jordan
yields between 50-100kgs of olives only. For the last few years, the area has a
drought.

So based on Stan's figure, 2000 trees will yield you 440 tons. For a 1 ton/hr
capacity machine, this will be enough to keep your machinery running 24hrs/day
for about 22 days (downtime and maintenance included). If more than one farmer
cooperate in buying one machine that is fine. Otherwise, one invests in the
machinery project and the other farmers around can utilize it for pressing their
olives for a price. Just like we do. It is a matter of dollar and sense.


Keep in mind that in any certain area (I am speaking about our olives in
Jordan), the olives will ripen at almost the same period of time or within a
window of 3-4 weeks. This is the time when the mills will be full to capacity
and the farmers will have to wait their turn to press their olives. If the
capacity is not available at the mill, then the farmer will suffer and his
olives will set for a long period of time affecting the final quality of the
olive oil produced.

If your area has a lot of olives and you expect it to be harvested within a
short window of time (a bell curve), I recommend buying a high capacity mill.
Don't buy those limited capacity (<1 Ton/hr) equipment. Those are startup
equipment similar to riding a bicycle instead of a Honda or a Harley motorcycle.

Coops in Jordan are not very successful and few in numbers. The reason is that
many of the partners are not willing to invest in new equipment and expansion
when the demand for more processing capacity is there. Sometimes for lack of
funds, and other times for lack of interest and experience.

Sincerely,
Jamal Sadoun
http://asadoun.home.att.net/olive.html

P.S. I will be happy to setup a survey for you on this list. Send me the
details.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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