22 Jan OliveCare® – Welcome to our newest member
Posted at 12:12h
in OliveCare
Bruny Island Olives
Contact: Owen and Dianne Carrington-Smith, Phone: 0418 123 423
Producers of Certified Australian Table Olives
2019 AIOA: 2 Best in Class, 2 Gold Awards, 1 Silver Award, 1 Bronze Award
Pictured above: the Bruny Island Great Bay Farm showing most of the olive grove.
- We have 132 trees on less than half a hectare of a 71 hectare farm, (the rest is grazing land and bush: 50/50)
- First planting was 2002
- First commercial harvest was 2007
- Our potential harvest capacity is an average 2,500 kgs p.a. Some years many trees exceed 50 kgs per tree). Our top harvest to date has been 850 kgs as we steadily build markets.
- We only produce table olives for sale.
- We have over 20 varieties, and label product by variety.
- About 55% of production is marketed to catering outlets (i.e. Restaurants), we do not export.
- All processing and final bottling is undertaken on the farm – in a fitted out container behind the farm shed. (We do not contract process or bottle.)
- The limited spray program is completed by late February, however due to our latitude first harvest does not commence until late June and continues into September. Hence any required withholding period is easily covered.
- Given the small size of the grove we have the same management program for all trees – i.e. spraying, spreading and fertigation.
- Before I retired I was the MD of one of Tasmanian’s salmon farms. We produced large quantities of cold smoked (uncooked) salmon for retail sales. Hence we had to have strict HACCP and testing programs for listeria and e- Coli.
- Our process water is filtered (5 micron) then UV treated. We have “first flush” diversion installed before rain water goes into the tank.
- Over the years our table olive microbiological testing for commercial sales have consistently and always meet the OliveCare® criteria.