OIL’s well for couple who bought back the olive farm

OLIVE industry stalwarts and award-winning oil producers Tony and Carol O’Neil, who run Cradle Coast Olives at Abbotsham in the North-West are halfway through harvesting their own olives, but have also been kept busy this year pressing olives for growers from across the state.

Mrs O’Neil said the combination of a warm summer with plenty of sunshine has helped to boost yields for many growers.

“The East Coast they started picking in early May and we got some really good results there,” she said.

“They got up to 23 per cent oil which is amazing because from down there it would normally be 15 to 16 per cent.”

The couple started pressing olives this year at the beginning of May, which is earlier than usual.

So far this season Mr O’Neil said they have pressed about 30 tonnes of olives and he anticipates they will process a further 10-15 tonnes before the season finishes.

“The yields are pretty good this year, you can see the trees are loaded,” he said.

“It has been a good summer for them because you need the sunlight to get the oil to accumulate, but in some areas that has been offset because some of the tress haven’t been irrigated.”

In a dry year Mr  O’Neil said olives off unirrigated trees can be more difficult to extract the oil from.

“You can pick the ones off unirrigated trees because when you put the olives in the press, they come out of the hammer mill just like chaff.”

Mr O’Neil said the summer conditions have a significant impact on oil yields.

“They’re a Mediterranean tree, basically so the more sun they can get the better,” he said.

“Of course, we get more sunlight down here than they do further north, so that all helps. We’re getting some very nice oils coming off, they’re very well balanced.”

Mrs O’Neil said one of the most interesting things about producing olive oil is the differences each season can bring.

“Every year is different,” she said.

“We pressed some of these Verdale ones the other day and normally this variety the oil is very buttery and very mild, and it’s always buttery this variety, but this year the oil has a bit of spice to it as well.”

Mrs O’Neil said the flavour of oil can vary significantly between different groves in different areas of the state.

Mr O’Neil said they are now about halfway through harvesting their own olives and yields are up compared to normal.

The couple press olives for about 30 growers ranging from people who grow a few kilograms for home use right through to larger commercial operations.

“Some people just have a few trees in a hedge row and bring in their 20kg or 30kg of olives and get 10 or 20 litres of oil and they’re rapt,” he said.

“When you look at the price of oil in the supermarket it isn’t going down so they’re happy to produce their own.”

Mrs O’Neil said demand for Tasmanian olive oil was still strong and some producers did not have enough to keep up with sales year-round.

“Some of the bigger ones from down Launceston way have been sold out for months so they were really keen to get this season’s olives off and get their oil back into the market,” she said.

The couple will be pressing oil right through until late September.

This is the second season the couple have been back at their Cradle Coast Olives farm after they sold the business a few years ago with plans to retire.

However, when the business came up for sale, they purchased it back again last year just prior to harvest

There are 300 trees in their grove which include the Paragon, Manzanillo, Verdale and Sevillano varieties.

Their operation, which was established about 25 years ago, is very much a family business and this week they had two of their grandsons Aaron and Hudson O’Neil helping out with harvesting.