Olive business

3 posts
Fri, 11/06/2015 - 15:17 #1

Member for

9 years
lfraser
Last seen: 11/06/2015 - 15:17
Joined: 11/06/2015 - 14:57

Olive business

Hi, my partner and I are looking at purchasing a property that currently has 2000plus olive trees on it. At this stage I am unsure of what type of olives they are however the ad does say they are mature. As far as I'm aware they are just planted on the property but are not currently being harvested or run as a business. As we are looking at this as a business venture can anyone give us an idea of what sort of out lay we would be looking at in comparison to returns? In all honesty we are complete beginners at olives and know basically nothing about them. We are just looking at it as a possible business but were wondering if it would be a viable business. TIA Linda.
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Fri, 11/06/2015 - 23:56 #2
barb
Last seen: 09/17/2019 - 18:07
Joined: 11/23/2011 - 09:38

Hi Linda,

 

 I would be a bit cautious if you are considering buying the property for growing and selling olives, as the market may be oversupplied because thousands of hectares were planted several years back and many folk lost a lot of money in the industry as it could not compete with cheaper imports from Spain and Italy. Because of this, you might have few marketing opportunities for your product. I would do a bit of research and find out what the market is like for olives, olive oil and so on. Also, different types of olives are used for different purposes. Some varieties are used for oil production and some are grown to make preserved/pickled olives and tepinade and so on.  

 

I would be very cautious about investing in this propety unless you do some in depth research on growing and production and also the available markets, before hand.

 

So if it were me, I would research some of the following:

1. What is the market for the product? Have the current owners ever sold any and to whom?

2. How olives are grown and cultivated (soil type, rainfall and so on all matter) ?

3. What varieties are they?

4. How old are the trees and are they already producing? Different varieties produce at different times of year.

5. Cost of production and profit or loss.

 

I hope that some of the above is useful to you.

 

Regards,

Barb

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Thu, 11/19/2015 - 15:56 #3
charlie
Last seen: 12/26/2018 - 09:21
Joined: 05/31/2011 - 09:44

Hi Linda,

Welcome to the forum thanks for the question.

I personally haven't been involved in growing olives, however I have done some research for clients. Below is a summary of my finding's which you may find helpful:

• Olives for oil dominate the market (80-90%) 
• If you are planting a small area use a table variety (also suited to pickling), if you are going to plant a larger area consider an oil variety.
• Soils must be well drained.
• Need irrigation to increase yield, quality and size.
• Require 5-10 ML/ha/year depending on location, rainfall, evaporation (100mm rainfall provides 1ML/ha).
• July average temperature must average 12 degree or less (Range of 0 to 24, average of 12 degrees).
• Spacing is important for mechanical harvesting (8m x 5m) no closer.
• Trees reach full maturity at 10 years.
• Require less management and machinery set up than other intensive crops. They do not require special machinery for pruning, spraying, cultivation and harvesting (if harvesting is done by hand).
• Harvest period March to July, important for olives to be harvested at exactly the right time (no flexibility).
• Major cost with mechanical harvesting ($1.00-2.00/kg) from year 5 onwards
• Yields of 1000-2000kg/ha in year 5 rising steadily to 8,000-10,000kg/ha in year 10.
• Breakeven point around 8 years.
• Table prices range from $2-5/kg, oil prices range from $0.7-1.50/kg depending on oil percentage.
• Capital outlay of $7000-10000/ha for olive trees, soil works and irrigation. Plus the cost of land and equipment. 
• Running costs range from $10,000-15,000/ha.
• Gross margin of $4000-$9000/ha from year 5 onwards. 

Below is a link to a useful article on growing olives

http://farmstyle.com.au/news/starting-out-olives-0

Regards,

Charlie

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