Willow Creek’s Cooperative Approach Brings Stability to Olive Growers

Summary

Willow Creek Olive Estate in South Africa is trans­form­ing into a hub for a coop­er­a­tive move­ment among local olive farm­ers, offer­ing shared infra­struc­ture and exper­tise to improve sus­tain­abil­ity and prof­itabil­ity. The Guild of Groves, launched by Willow Creek, aims to strengthen the over­all pro­file of South African olive oil while pro­vid­ing steady returns for farm­ers through col­lec­tive pro­duc­tion and risk-shar­ing.

Located in the Nuy Valley at the foot of the Langeberg Mountains near Worcester in South Africa’s Western Cape, the award-win­ning Willow Creek Olive Estate is under­go­ing a sig­nif­i­cant trans­for­ma­tion.

The farm, one of the country’s largest olive oil pro­duc­ers, recently earned two new awards at the 2025 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition Southern Hemisphere Edition.

Inspired by suc­cess­ful mod­els in Italy, Spain, and Chile, Willow Creek has become a hub for a new coop­er­a­tive move­ment among local farm­ers. Its lat­est ven­ture, the Guild of Groves, was launched at the start of the last cam­paign to make olive farm­ing more eco­nom­i­cally and socially sus­tain­able for grow­ers fac­ing ris­ing costs and shrink­ing mar­gins.

“Olive farm­ing in South Africa is quite expen­sive, and his­tor­i­cally the local olive oil price was tied to import par­ity, mostly Spanish bulk prices. At those low lev­els, farm­ers would not be able to make a profit,” said Willow Creek CEO Eleanor Stoker in an inter­view with Olive Oil Times.

“Farmers focus on grow­ing olives, while we take care of pro­cess­ing, bot­tling, and mar­ket­ing,” she added. ​“They bring their fruit, we grade it care­fully, process it, store the olive oil, and dis­trib­ute it through­out the year accord­ing to our cus­tomer base.”

Similar coop­er­a­tive struc­tures are com­mon in South Africa’s cit­rus and apple indus­tries. Now, olive grow­ers can also ben­e­fit from shared infra­struc­ture and exper­tise. Willow Creek oper­ates one of the country’s largest pro­cess­ing facil­i­ties, allow­ing mem­bers to reduce pro­duc­tion and cer­ti­fi­ca­tion costs through col­lec­tive ser­vices.

“We have the infra­struc­ture, expe­ri­ence, experts, and per­son­nel,” Stoker said. So far, 35 olive farm­ers have joined the Guild, which is open to pro­duc­ers of all sizes. New mem­bers undergo a review of their past pro­duc­tion, farm­ing prac­tices, and orchard con­di­tions before join­ing. The tech­ni­cal team con­tin­ues to visit and advise them through­out the year on irri­ga­tion, fruit devel­op­ment, and treat­ments.

“The idea is to ensure that all prac­tices align with the Guild’s stan­dards,” Stoker explained.

Over nearly three decades, Willow Creek has gar­nered numer­ous awards for the excep­tional qual­ity of its extra vir­gin olive oils. The Guild now builds on that foun­da­tion to strengthen the over­all pro­file of South African olive oil while improv­ing farm­ers’ liveli­hoods.

“The ini­tia­tive was cre­ated to stim­u­late the indus­try, grow employ­ment, and strengthen com­mu­ni­ties. Olives are just the means we’re using to achieve those goals,” Stoker said. ​“Our farm­ers trade as if they own a small por­tion of Willow Creek. The finan­cial ben­e­fits flow back to them, while we take a small com­mis­sion for man­ag­ing oper­a­tions.”

By pool­ing pro­duc­tion and shar­ing risk, the Guild helps make olive farm­ing more sta­ble and sus­tain­able. Weather events, fluc­tu­at­ing yields, and the nat­ural alter­nate bear­ing cycle of olive trees can cause severe income swings for indi­vid­ual grow­ers. Through coop­er­a­tion, farm­ers can count on steady returns.

“Even if there’s weather destruc­tion in one area, it doesn’t affect every­one. And if one farmer has lit­tle olive oil this year and a lot next year, they still receive a con­stant price,” Stoker said.

In its first year, the coop­er­a­tive pro­duced about 250,000 kilo­grams of olive oil. ​“This year, with new mem­bers and a big pro­ducer join­ing us, we’ve dou­bled that to 450,000 kilo­grams,” Stoker noted. ​“It’s ambi­tious to talk about a one-mil­lion-liter pro­duc­tion, but we believe it’s achiev­able if the model con­tin­ues to deliver ben­e­fits for farm­ers.”

Willow Creek’s prod­ucts are now appear­ing more widely in retail chains across South Africa. ​“Retailers like Woolworths and Checkers appre­ci­ate the sen­ti­ment behind what we’re doing,” Stoker said. ​“There’s a deeper ​‘why’ to the prod­uct, and that helps us get listed more eas­ily.”

The coop­er­a­tive aims to shift olive oil away from being treated as a com­mod­ity and toward a pre­mium, value-based prod­uct that rewards qual­ity. ​“Our goal is to move away from treat­ing olive oil as a com­mod­ity and toward a pre­mium, sta­ble model that rewards high qual­ity,” Stoker said.

Global demand for pre­mium extra vir­gin olive oil is ris­ing faster than demand for stan­dard grades, both domes­ti­cally and inter­na­tion­ally. Willow Creek cur­rently exports to the United Kingdom, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates, with plans to expand its inter­na­tional dis­tri­b­u­tion.

“As pro­duc­ers in the south­ern hemi­sphere, we have a unique advan­tage: we can sup­ply the world with the fresh­est olive oil right when the north­ern hemisphere’s stocks are aging,” Stoker said.

Looking ahead, the Guild plans to wel­come more farm­ers into its net­work. ​“The proof is in the pud­ding,” Stoker con­cluded. ​“The suc­cess we’ve seen so far gives us con­fi­dence, but it also reminds us how impor­tant it is to keep build­ing on what we’ve started.”