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The Tel Aviv District Court has ruled that Tit Bit Food Industries, which manufactures the iconic Izhar olive oil brand, will go into receivership. The company owes NIS 170 million to seven banks. The petition for receivership revealed that the company’s financial difficulties date back a decade, and that in 2002 the banks and the firm agreed on terms for the repayment of the debt. In 2010, however, the company’s finances took a turn for the worse and it found itself unable to pay creditors.
Driven by rising consumer demand for olive oil, growers are buying land for olives or adding olive acreage at a swift pace — allowing them to diversify with a crop that uses relatively little water and thrives in low-quality soil. The California Olive Oil Council estimates that 5,000 new acres will be planted each year in California through 2020. It estimates olive oil production will hit 2 million gallons for this year’s crop, up from 1.4 million gallons for 2011-2012.
Further safeguarding olive biodiversity by setting up the world’s third olive germplasm bank – in Izmir, Turkey – was at the top of the agenda for a meeting at the International Olive Council’s Madrid headquarters on April 13. The creation of a collection at sufficient distance from the existing ones in Marrakesh, Morocco, and Córdoba, Spain, is seen as prudent to help ensure plant survival in the event of loss, such as due to natural catastrophes and disease.
This year’s Tocal Field Days event will be held from Friday 4–Sunday 6 May, at the Tocal Agricultural Centre, Tocal NSW. The Tocal Field Days are held every year in the first weekend in May, with exhibitors featuring the latest in farming techniques and technologies from solar energy to fencing construction. There are also demonstrations, a range of entertainment including piglet races and the Grand Parade, and great food and wine. Tocal is 14km from Maitland and a free shuttle bus will operate from Maitland Railway station on the hour from 9am each day. More information https://www.tocalfielddays.com
All the industry information you need to know is out now in the 2012 edition of the Olive Industry Directory. This vital annual reference book for the olive industry also includes: updated olivegrower and processor listings, supplier listings, Buyers’ Guide – one-stop supply shop, organisations, calendar of 2012 events, 2011 statistics and 2011 industry overview. To order call +618 8369 9555, email [email protected] or visit www.olivegrower.com.au.
Olives New Zealand is conducting a training course survey. To provide feedback on what type of courses, where, when and duration, click here
The term ‘antioxidant’ should be banished from food labels and replaced with more specific claims about the health benefits of the phytonutrients and other ingredients in question, according to one leading academic.
The EU Farm Commissioner has launched a plan to rescue the European olive industry from low prices and increasing costs. It’s a move welcomed by the Olive Oil Working Party of Europe, which says the market is in serious crisis, because prices have dropped to 50% below their level 10 years ago. In a situation that mirrors Australia, farmers say they’re up against ‘the buying power of a handful of supermarkets’.
Californian table olive distributors still have seven million cans in storage despite another disappointing crop in 2011, the head of a state marketing group said. Growers in California ended up with just under 27,000 tons from last year’s harvest, noted Alexander Ott, executive director of the California Olive Committee. That’s a mere drop in the bucket compared to the record 195,000 tons harvested in 2010.
Still, inventories grew from the 5.3 million cans on hand after last season, which is causing the committee to ramp up its marketing programs. The panel is using Twitter and Facebook and attending blogger conferences to younger consumers who aren’t as aware of California olives, even though they’ve long been grown in the state.
Spanish company Genosa has announced that its olive extract Hytolive has received GRAS status following a review by panel of independent experts.