In South Africa, late February is traditionally associated with the end of the grape and citrus harvests. Yet we could see olive trees that were laden with green olives on their way to purple. While it seemed the olive harvest could start anytime, late February is almost a month earlier than the traditional start date for the olive harvest. A heat wave last spring followed by milder summer temperatures may be to blame. Many growers are still reeling from the poor performance of their trees in 2014, when production was down 70%. What will the 2015 olive harvest bring for South Africa? Only time will tell.
While we waited, we were invited to a South African Olive Growers Assoc. meeting at Willow Creek in Nuy Valley. More than 100 farmers, importers, and producers of oil and table olives were there. An few, like us, were visitors. We were told that the men and woman present were about half of the growers in South Africa. This group has taken it upon themselves to maintain high standards and work collectively in an environment in which there is no expectation of government subsidies for local products. While there, we were able to connect with several growers who invited us to their farms to observe the harvest and pressing later in the season. This newsletter describes our experiences with three groves in three different valleys a short distance away from our home base of Stellenbosch. The groves produce oil from 2,000 (Antonij Rupert), 20,000 (Rio Largo) and 200,000 (Willow Creek) trees respectively. Read on!
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