Between rows of old vines in Australia's biggest wine region, a new crop of olive trees is showing green shoots for an industry in crisis.
In short: -
~ Wine grape growers in South Australia are looking for crops, such as olive trees, to diversify their business amid a global wine oversupply.
~ Super high-density olive trees, which can bear fruit in about two years and can be harvested using vineyard machinery, are in demand because of an olive oil shortage.
~ What's next? One Riverland council is exploring opportunities for an olive oil processing facility to support growers with transitioning crops.
Under a grey winter sky, the brown nubs of the vines await pruning ahead of the next vintage in South Australia's Riverland.
But with some grape growers facing another year of prices below cost of production, Ashley Ratcliff has taken action by planting olive trees in his vineyard.
"We could see that olive oil was something that we could sell direct to our consumers, and so we looked at olives as the next offering in our mix.”
The super high-density trees Mr Ratcliff has planted can produce fruit in two years — about half the time of a regular olive tree — and he can keep using his existing vineyard infrastructure and equipment.
The viticulturist, whose business grows about 50 grape varieties, said he had always done things differently and he hoped others will follow suit.
"We've got a contract with a producer wholesaler and we're going to get some of our growers to also plant olives," he said.
"Some of their backgrounds ... are Greek and Italian, so they're quite excited to do something that maybe their grandparents did many years ago.”
Why super high-density olives?
While the world has been drinking less wine, demand for olive oil has grown.
Extreme weather and disease has created a global shortage of olive oil, something grape and bulk wine sales broker Chantel Kitsenkas has seen as an opportunity.
"Australia consumes more than double its own production of olive oil and we're relying on a lot of imports outside of the Mediterranean," she said.
"We're only producing about 2 million litres, so if we can make that up with our own Australian-made products then that would be a great start.”
To cater to this demand, Ms Kistenkas has been working with a local council in the Riverland to find growers willing to swap grapes for olives to produce oil.
"We have ten-year purchase agreements available, so there is long-term stability for those investing, and we're open to blocks of five hectares or more," she said. More
Reporter and Photo Courtesy of ABC Rural: Eliza Berlage