Published in Australian Tree Crop Magazine Spring 2015
Olive growers from Australia and overseas will unite with industry professionals for the Olive Exposium 15, Australia’s largest event for the commercial industry, in Sunbury, Victoria, in November.
Growers from as far afield as Turkey and Iran have already expressed interest in the two-day event, along with Australian and New Zealand growers, who will hear from an array of speakers including food and wine luminary, Lyndey Milan, and Paul Vossen, an international
olive specialist.
Event organiser and managing director of The Olive Centre, Amanda Bailey, said the Olive Exposium will be a worldclass event for growers so they gain better commercial results in their grove, processing operations and marketing activities.
It will be held at Pitruzzello Estate, Sunbury, on 26 and 27 November 2015.
“Events like these are important to address the many issues which face today’s grower and processor,” Mrs Bailey said.
“We will be discussing the latest issues surrounding the industry and practical ways growers can progress their grove in any direction with the plethora of topics on offer.”
These topics include growing olives in changing climates, strategies for managing the top five pests and diseases in olives, understanding smoke point in olive oils and other cooking oils, health claims, health benefits and how they relate to the food code, exporting premium products and much more.
The event will also address:
- organoleptic tasting accreditation
- grove efficiencies including harvesting
- biennial bearing
- organic olive oil production
- what happened in Italy
- marketing – new ways that haven’t been tried in Australia and are successful abroad
- what does it take to be sustainable in the longer term in the Australian industry?
- where is the Australian supermarket sector going?
Growers will enjoy hearing from keynote speaker, Lyndey Milan, who has been instrumental in changing the way Australians think about food and wine for 30 years.
‘Hospitality of the table’ is her catchphrase, as evidenced by her numerous television appearances, nine best-selling books and countless culinary appearances over the years.
Ms Milan hosts the latest ‘Taste of Australia’ television series, which features fresh extra virgin olive oil in abundance.
Paul Vossen has been a farm adviser at the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) since 1980.
His research has focused on efficient fruit harvest for small-scale growers, olive fruit fly control, organic cultural practices, different mill equipment types, comparing oil cultivars
growing in different climatic regions of California, and the influence of tree irrigation on olive oil sensory qualities.
He also conducts olive pruning demonstrations every year and his online pruning video for olive trees has been one of the most visited sites on the UC-Sonoma webpage.
Mr Vossen coordinated 15 olive oil production short courses and taught 26 olive oil sensory evaluation courses in the US and internationally to train producers, consumers and marketers
about high quality olive oil.
He was a founder of the California Olive Oil Council and developed the first olive oil taste panel in the US to become recognised by the International Olive Oil Council.
Currently panel leader for the UCCE taste panel in Santa Rosa, Mr Vossen has been an olive oil judge and has trained other judges for several olive oil competitions all over the world.
As a researcher and educator, he has written several book chapters, peer reviewed scientific papers, newsletters and popular press articles about olive oil production, processing and
sensory evaluation.
olive exposium 