A celebrity chef wants Australian consumers to embrace locally-grown olives, as growers warn cheap imports are leading to losses in an industry that is already very small. 

Mark Best said domestic table olives were a better quality product that followed truth-in-labelling laws and helped reduce the impact of food miles on the environment.

“There’s enormous opportunities to stop being net importers of these products and start promoting our own products,” he said.

The South Australian-born chef said the state had a long history with olives, which were among the first exotic trees planted in Adelaide in 1836.

Growing up in the Barossa Valley, he saw olive groves everywhere but many trees were pulled out in the 1970s when the Australian government slashed import tariffs. The industry has been rebuilding since.  

“I think there’s a real market waiting there. It’s a bit of diversity [for farmers] and more economically advantageous for the consumer,” Mr Best said. 

The latest figures from grower industry body Hort Innovation showed Australians consumed about one kilogram of olives per person each year, but 75 per cent of that was imported olives. 

Meanwhile, the local table olive industry produced about 3,000 tonnes of fruit per year, with 80 per cent of producers having less than 5 hectares of land.

The cost of cheap imports

Terry and Luba Mau of Viva Olives bought the business just five years ago but have decided to sell and separate their grove-to-table olive business in the Riverland region.

The husband-and-wife team said trying to compete with the cheap import market while dealing with Queensland fruit fly restrictions had contributed to their decision to sell.

Mr Mau said he was proud of their work rejuvenating the neglected olive groves at Karte in the Southern Mallee district, and getting the Viva Olives processing plant in Loxton operating at almost full capacity.

“The oil industry in Australia is very well established and does very well but the table olive business is not nearly as well established for anything other than boutique producers,” he said.

“People will happily buy an Australian product but usually won’t pay a big premium when the comparable product from overseas is available at a much cheaper price.”

Aussie olives ‘fresher and better’

Having grown up in Loxton, where Viva Olives is located, Sarah Asciutto of Rio Vista Olives said she was disappointed to hear about the sale of a business that had provided local pride and jobs.

To honour their Italian heritage, Ms Asciutto and her brother Jared Bettio purchased some olive groves in the Adelaide Hills before establishing Rio Vista Olives near the Murraylands town of Mypolonga.

She said they produced olive oil rather than table olives because of the investment needed to meet quality expectations, and concerns around managing waste from olive brine. 

Australian Olive Association chief executive Michael Southan said olive growers needed to invest more into harvest machinery and processing equipment to achieve the volume and scale to supply local demand and still make a profit.

He said about 3 to 4 per cent of Australian-grown olives were sold as table olives, with the rest used to produce olive oil. 

“One of the challenges is, how do you process high volumes of olives for table olive production, while minimising potential bruising to the olives, as you need to sell the whole olive,” Mr Southan said. 

He said the federal government also needed to continue to reduce export tariffs to support the growth of the industry.

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