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Volume 15 - October 2010
CONTENTS
Due to difficulties in managing the transition to the new website, it is not possible to display the newsletter banner and sidebar. Links to photographs and files were also not functioning and the photographs and files had to be uploaded to my own website to be accessible to the newsletter.
Kapiti Olives - Best in Show 2010
Kapiti Olives had its beginning ten years ago when Alastair & Chris Bridge, Graeme & Chris Harris and a Raumati couple planted olive groves. They were later joined by David & Helen Walshaw who had planted 2,050 olive trees at Te Horo on the Kapiti Coast, following advice from Alastair & Graeme. Alastair & Chris sold their grove a few years ago leaving Kapiti Olives as a partnership between the Walshaw and Harris families. David & Helen became the majority shareholders.
David and Helen's grove of 2,050 trees and Graeme and Chris' grove of 900 trees contain four varieties, Leccino, Frantoio, Koroneiki and Picual, varieties that have thrived in the Kapiti climate. David and Graeme maintain their own groves with Helen handling the post harvesting and marketing of the oil. All of this is backed up with Graeme’s expert skills in branding and promotion.
The groves require little chemical input with only foliar application of a seaweed based spray and boron to correct a soil deficiency. Soil nutrient status is monitored with regular soil testing.
At harvest two men are employed to assist David. Over a two to three week harvest period using Pellenc mechanical hand held harvesters and a tractor mounted collector, David and the two men can harvest more than a tonne a day.
In earlier years Kapiti Olives operated an Enorossi hydraulic press, but as the crop increased in size it was decided to have the olives pressed under contract by The Olive Press in Masterton. The olives are pressed as single varietals and the individual oils are stored in stainless steel tanks under argon gas. Once all the varieties are pressed and the oil stored it is left to settle for 4 - 6 weeks after which time a tasting review of each oil is conducted.
The aroma, flavour, complexity and persistence is noted to decide whether any one varietal has all these qualities or if a blend would better achieve balance and harmony between fruitiness, pungency and aftertaste. The aim is to produce at least two styles of oil.
Their Best in Show oil was produced with the assistance of one of the country’s top blending consultants.
With an annual production of about 4,000 litres, Kapiti Olives is not a big producer. However this is expected to double within the next five years as the trees reach maturity. Rather than be a high volume producer, Kapiti Olives aims to produce the very best hand crafted extra virgin olive oil.
From 2005 through 2008 Kapiti Olives oils have won four gold medals and also gold in the "Olive Oils of the World" competition in Los Angeles. In 2009 they won a silver medal, but 2010 has been the pinnacle year for them. Winning awards is important to Kapiti Olives. It confirms that their olive oil is consistently world class and it gives reassurance to their customers that they are getting a truly premium product.
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President's Annual Report
This past year has been a year of consolidation for Olives New Zealand. It has not been an easy year for a largely new Executive elected at last year’s Annual General Meeting. But it has been a year of development and a year where we have seen successes that I believe will set us in good stead for the year ahead.
At the beginning of our term the Executive agreed that 2010 would be a year of consolidation. The previous year had been rather tumultuous for Olives New Zealand and with a good number of new Executive members and a new Executive Officer required, we intended to be cautious. We began by reviewing the health and position of the organisation to which we had been elected. We developed an action plan at our first meetings, created sub-committees, delegated responsibilities to executive members and commenced a long process of settling, renewal and bridge-building between the various factions within our organisation.
One of the priorities set by the Executive was to meet with and be accessible to growers, particularly bearing in mind that we needed to hear member concerns and consider the various opinions and strategic suggestions offered from within the membership. With this in mind I have visited Marlborough, Canterbury, the Waiheke Island olive festival, the New Zealand Olive Festival at Hastings and met with growers from the Wairarapa, Hawke’s Bay, Bay of Plenty, Wanganui, South Auckland, North Auckland and the Far North. The only region I have yet to visit is Otago.
The Executive remain open to receiving critique and we are certainly open to member suggestions, however, it is imperative that members take an active part in their local associations. Regional chairs add impetus and value to the Executive in both formulating our strategies and in implementing our goal of providing value for your membership fee. The Regional Chairs met together yesterday and we held a combined meeting of Regional Chairs and the Executive today. Both meetings were extremely constructive and cohesive. So may I please encourage all of you to dialogue with your Regional Chair, but not only that, also to actively participate in your regional organisation. Olives New Zealand and the branches are voluntary organisations that derive benefit from member participation.
By December 2009 it was apparent our organisation was very constrained financially due to a number of factors, but mainly due to two previous consecutive conferences running at significant losses and ongoing commitments to SFF Research. The financial stability of the organisation was, and continues, to be of concern to us. We have set about increasing the priority of financial viability, therefore our Olives to Oil Processors Course ran at a surplus, our Certification process has run at a surplus and our Awards competition has run at a surplus. By surplus I mean anything from breakeven to “small, but positive cash inflows” – we are not making any significant cash surpluses from these activities, however, neither are they a drain on our already depleted financial resources.
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Treasurers Report for year ended 31 July, 2010
The “Statement of Income and Expenditure” for the year under review reveals an increased deficit of $42,377 compared to that of $36,375 for the previous year.
Reduced total revenues of $126,537 down from $170,279 for 2009 and decreased Total Expenditure of $168,914 , down from the $205,904 for the comparable period in 2009.
The major variations have been caused by the following:
INCOME:
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Subscriptions for 2010 are down $6,767 showing a drop off of about 32 members. The subscription level indicated that some 276 members renewed their subscriptions for the year.
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Conference Income decreased some $9,562 adding to the decrease in Conference Sponsorship of $9,536, a total reduction of $19,098.
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Award Income and Medal Sales decreased substantially by $12,057, this being caused by a drop in entry fees of $2,247, Medal Sticker Receipts of $1,516 and no award Sponsorship compared to the $8,294 received from Pieralisi in 2008.
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Certification Fees are down $12,845 comparing Financial Years but this is somewhat clouded by the very late season and the July financial year end.
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Processor Course income was up on the previous year. Net increase of $2,012
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here were no sales Food Safety Templates sales compared to the $500 of the previous year. There have been several sales since balance date however.
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Grants from Agmardt for the 2009 Conference and assistance with the formulation of the Commodity Levy still to be received have been included in the figures.
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Interest received on deposits decreased by $4,649 due to far lower funds held by the organisation.
EXPENDITURE:
The major variations in this area (decrease of $37,740) reflecting the decrease in Revenues have seen increases in:
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Net outflow towards the Sustainable Farming Fund Project of $35,149
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Travel and Meeting Costs of $4,179 with more face to face Executive meetings held in the last year than the previous one.
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Certification costs of $5,713 due mainly to increased cost of Panels.
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Costs in providing The Australasian OliveGrower and Processor Publication (offset by the Orchardist cost decrease) increased $1,627 due to a payment timing issue.
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Decreased costs compared to the previous year saw savings in running the 2009 Conference of $13,632 but these savings only went part way to cover the overall loss incurred in running that conference of $12,621. The loss the previous year was $7,365.
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No affiliation fees were paid to Horticulture NZ after our request for a “Subscription Holiday” due to our lack of funds. The sum of $10,000 was paid the previous year.
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Also due to shortage of funds no Capitation amounts were paid to Regional groups and with one group not presenting their cheque the previous year and the amount being written back the resulting decrease totalled $9,095.
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Savings also resulted in Telephone & Tolls due to more face to face Executive meetings of $5,222, Printing & Stationery of $4,490, Awards costs $2,745, Processor Course (Olives to Oil) of $4,558, Executive Directors Fees $4,210 and Internet Site Costs $$2,107, when compared to the previous years costs.
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Costs not incurred this year as opposed to the previous year included such items as Food Safety Programme $3,905, Strategic Planning Expenditure $2,674, Marketing Contributions $1,134,
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Commodity Levy Introduction Expenses $7,878, General Expenses $1,264, IOP Manual Costs $953 and Testing Expenses (International) of $3,612.
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Also you will see no change to the Honorarium this year. Last year Mr Jim Syme declined payment for his services as has Mr Andrew Taylor in view of our financial situation.
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
As pointed out last year the contribution to the SFF ($35149) has now seriously eaten into our cash reserves.
As of the 31 July 2010 we have Cash Reserves of $48,206, Debtors from MAF (SFF) and Agmardt totalling $30,008 as well as Resident Withholding Tax and accrued GST Refunds.
Accounts Payable include amounts payable to Plant and Food Research for work carried out to the end of June , 2010 for the Sustainable Farming Fund Project which incidentally has been paid in September to them. Also included in Accounts payable are the accrued amounts as at balance.
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Executive Officer’s Report
For those of you who don’t know me I am Lesley Wilson
I took over the Executive Officers position on the 20th of February 2010.
It has been 8 months of learning. Learning about olives, olive oil, and learning about the systems and processes of Olives New Zealand.
I have spent this time sorting out where the administrative issues are and recommending, to the Executive, ways of sorting them out.
Firstly, the ONZ accounts are now all on line. We are using Xero. While it costs $50 per month to use this service for every account we send out via email we save $1+ in postage, envelope and EO’s time. The invoices are easily sent in a timely manner and the financial position can be seen at a glance.
Our website: This should be our first port of call for members and people interested in Olives both nationally and internationally. The current website is out dated and clunky (for want of a better term). I have been working with Mogul to develop and newer fresher site. It is based Content Management System so that we can control what goes on the site and when. We can develop this as far as we want. It will greatly increase the timeliness and accuracy of information going to members. It should be up and running by the end of next week.
We now have one database. This is modified for different people (magazine, Xero, Mogul) but it is accurate and a base from which we can build
I am acutely aware of ONZ’s financial position. All ONZ activities at now run on a cost recovery+ basis taking into account the EO’s time.
Sponsorship: We had put together a strong sponsorship proposal which is now under review due to the cancellation of the conference. I believe we are still in a strong position to gain significant sponsorship and the new website will be very attractive for our sponsors. Many are keen, but we need to programme our events calendar for the next year to give our sponsors certainty.
Savantes course: I would like to thank the Executive for sending me on this course. It was invaluable. It gave me a far greater understanding of oils, taste profiles and faults, and of the issues surrounding olive oil production and marketing here around the world. I would highly recommend this course to all oil producers.
Some statistics. We have just under 200 members, 200 oils were certified and 100 oils were entered into the awards.
I am receiving many more positive comments about ONZ in the past couple of months than when I took over the position. Members can see the progress that is being made and the efforts put in by all involved.
I am looking forward to next year and tweaking the systems and processes further. Once we have the strong base developed and up and running we can focus on planning for the future.
I would like to thank the Executive for supporting me and taking my recommendations on board. I have worked with many agricultural and horticultural industries in New Zealand. I believe that ONZ has a positive future and that the Olive industry in New Zealand is in good hands.
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Success in Bringing Olives to the People!
Despite gale force winds in Hawke’s Bay over the weekend the New Zealand Olive Festival went off without a hitch. As the gates opened at 10am people poured down the Sileni Estates driveway. With lots to see, do and taste Vicky Rope from Food Hawke’s Bay says ‘We believe we have secured another great event on the Hawke’s Bay event calendar with people travelling from outside the region for the event, we had people from Taupo, Wellington, North Canterbury, Waiheke Island and Nelson plus a lot of locals”
Celebrity Chef from Wellington, Rex Morgan was a huge successful showing keen foodies how to utilise Olive Oil in different ways. Olive Oil ice-cream atop an Olive Oil chocolate cake drizzled with citrus infused oil was a hit as it was handed around the audience.
The oil workshops were interesting with one man saying he needs never use butter again, when oil can do much the same thing and it is better for you!
A most talked about feature of this years’ festival was the Chefs Table with Dish Magazine. Hosted by Victoria Wells, Editor of Dish magazine, we had a lot of eager people wanting to sit down with the chefs to ask them about their careers, tips in the kitchen and future plans. “People are really interested in chef’s and the chance to sit down in an intimate environment with them to chat was a great opportunity” Vicky Rope says.
Stallholders were happy with the turnout, experiencing great sales and a lot of interest in Olive Oil, olives and the general industry.
Vicky Rope
Food Hawke's Bay
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Musings on the Inaugural NZ Olive Festival
The inaugural NZ Olive Festival at Sileni Estate, Hawkes Bay was great fun.
 Despite dire weather forecasts for the whole weekend, the day dawned sunny but windy. With a small amount of reorganization all stalls were comfortably accommodated indoors – although the bouncy castle was abandoned as being unwise due to the wind!
The decision had been made to hold the event out of town and to charge a small entrance fee. This did not seem to deter the visitors and it was very well attended with people interested and knowledgeable about Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Not only was it a chance to sample excellent NZ EVOO and table olives, but also an opportunity to attend tasting and appreciation workshops, cooking demonstrations and a chance to meet chefs and discuss the different ways olive oils can be used.
Our stall was extremely well attended and sales were excellent with our costs for the event being more or less covered – which exceeded our expectation.
It was extremely encouraging seeing so many children wanting not only to try the oil and table olives but enjoying the experience!
Thanks to the Hawkes Bay Association for making such an event open to all. We were the only olive oil exhibitor from outside the Hawkes Bay – hopefully more will see the benefit in future years of promoting the fabulous olive products produced in New Zealand on a national scale as well as through festivals in individual districts.
It is definitely our intention to be there again next year. .
Sally Woolhouse
Minerva Estate
Marlborough
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Department of Labour Updates
The Department of Labour have prepared notes to guide businesses affected by the September earthquake in Christchurch. While they were prepared in response to the Christchurch earthquake they will be of assistance to a business's post emergency planning. The notes may be downloaded by clicking here.
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Around the Regions
Central Otago
Central Otago Olive Growers held its AGM on 4 September at the restaurant of the Cromwell Campus of the Otago Polytech. After nearly ten years on the committee, the last four as Chairman, Steve Clark stood down and Sue Stark was elected Chair. The former committee was re-elected with the addition of a new member Sam Gonzalez, who manages the region's largest olive grove.
At the conclusion of the AGM, Sue Stark spoke of Steve's contribution to olive growing in Central Otago and presented him with a gift and a certificate of honorary life membership.
The AGM was followed by the harvest dinner and a tasting of many of the new season's oils.
Marlborough
On Sunday, 17 October, a group of Marlborough olive growers met at the grove of John and Raewyn Wall who own the lovely Riverstone Terraces Lodge.
There was a demonstration by Mark Heard to show how to prune olive trees for maximum efficiency when using a trunk shaker harvesting machine. He explained the height the, preferably, single trunk needs to be – pointing out that if the “umbrella” is used then more height is needed. He also emphasized how much easier it is for the operator if the skirt of tree is lifted to help with visibility from the driver’s seat of the machine. Mark pointed out that the wider spread of the branches the more fruit is lost if using the “umbrella”.
This was followed by a pot luck barbeque and thanks to Annabel Langbein’s new cookbook some wonderful food was supplied.
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Congratulations to Sally and Roger Woolhouse from Lusatori Grove (www.lusatori.com) for the Gold Medal and Best in Class won in the 2010 Olive New Zealand Awards.
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A group of Marlborough olive growers have launched a Marlborough label ”ORA Marlborough”. We all know this will be as successful as the Sauvignon Blanc. The oil is available for sale via the internet. Log on to www.oraoliveoil.com.
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News Briefs
2010 Australian National EVOO Award Winners : more
Eugene Pallisco Describes The Olive Oil Infusion Process : more
Stone Mills Make "Better Oil". It's FICTION. : more
Te Horo pumping out the good oil : more
Leonardo Colavita and the UC Davis Olive Oil Report : more
CSI: Olive Oil : more
Australia Charts Five-Year Course for Olive Oil Industry : more
Judging EVOO Competitions Takes More than Just Tasting : more
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Coming Events
24 October : Kapiti Lunch, AGM and olive oil tasting at Lance & Kathleen Wiggins' olive grove, 32 End Farm Road, Waikanae, 11:30am.
6 November : Central Otago Olive Growers. A field day with the theme "Biodynamics in Action: will be held at Burn Cottage Vineyard, 115 Burn Cottage Road, Lowburn, starting at 1.30pm.
20 & 21 November : Waiheke Olive Festival Rangihoua Estate 11:00am to 4:00pm. It’s a family friendly event which showcases this season’s oil and other olive products. It also has fine food and wine and great local music. A fun day on our beautiful island. The show goes on rain or shine.
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