After Two Bad Harvests, Producers in New Zealand Anticipate a Rebound

With grow­ers in New Zealand prepar­ing to start har­vest­ing in late March, some are look­ing for­ward to a bet­ter out­come after a sec­ond-con­sec­u­tive pro­duc­tion decline last year.

New Zealand pro­duced 125,000 liters of olive oil in 2023, down from 180,000 liters in 2022. The poor har­vests came after bumper crops in 2020 and 2021, when the coun­try pro­duced 200,000 and 270,000 liters, respec­tively.

In December 2023, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) reported rain­fall well above nor­mal lev­els in cer­tain areas, con­trasted by below-nor­mal lev­els in oth­ers.

According to NIWA data, pro­duc­ers will not have to con­tend with the extreme rain­fall that marred their har­vest last year, the country’s eighth wettest on record.

“After a cou­ple of wet sea­sons, par­tic­u­larly last year, when it was so wet that two-thirds of our grow­ers couldn’t get machin­ery into their groves, we are qui­etly opti­mistic this sea­son is going to be bet­ter,” Emma Glover, Olives New Zealand’s exec­u­tive offi­cer, told Olive Oil Times.

However, she added that the South Island regions with a bumper crop last year would likely pro­duce fewer olives due to the olive tree’s nat­ural alter­nate bear­ing cycle.

The out­come is not set in stone, though. In March 2022, pro­duc­ers were opti­mistic for a third high pro­duc­tion year. However, heavy rains and cool con­di­tions dur­ing the har­vest com­bined to lower the final yields.

Glover said the next few months are crit­i­cal as the fruit ripens. With the har­vest sea­son start­ing soon for the early regions, most will begin har­vest­ing slightly later, from the end of May to mid-July.

“Fruit set, in gen­eral, looks good, but it is patchy between groves and tree vari­eties as they bounce back dif­fer­ently from the last few years,” she said.

Diana Crosse, co-owner of Kāpiti Olives on the North Island north of Wellington, expressed opti­mism ahead of the har­vest, which will start in her groves at the begin­ning of June.

“The crop on the trees looks very good, and we are hope­ful of a high yield,” Crosse said. ​“The weather has been good,” but she added they would like more sun­shine.

Meanwhile, Ross Vintiner, co-owner of Vintiner’s Grove in the North Island’s Wairarapa region, said the abrupt shift from too much rain to too lit­tle is tak­ing a toll on his groves.

“After two years of con­sis­tent and heavy rain, the trees are regen­er­at­ing, using most of their energy to regrow branches and foliage,” he said. ​“Now we are in near-drought. Fruiting has taken a hit with con­tin­ued stress.”

“As with a num­ber of local groves in the Wairarapa, fruit vol­umes and oil yield will be down com­pared to last year,” Vintiner added. ​“The oil qual­ity will likely be very good, with high polyphe­nols expected from a very hot sum­mer and likely autumn.”

He pre­dicted that the har­vest would begin in early May. ​“The trees look amaz­ing, respond­ing well to bio­dy­namic and organic nur­tur­ing,” Vintiner said.

Margaret Hanson, the co-owner of Blue Earth, also from the Wairarapa region, is expect­ing results sim­i­lar to Vintiner’s.

“After the last two wet years, the chal­lenge this year so far is how dry it is,” she said. ​“A lot of work has gone into repair­ing irri­ga­tion that has not been used for a long time.”

Hanson said the yield of their Barnea olives will be down sig­nif­i­cantly this year. ​“It has not enjoyed the wet years and is exhausted after five big har­vests in a row,” she said. ​“So we are tak­ing the oppor­tu­nity to do some major restruc­tur­ing on our trees.”

“The rest look great,” Hanson added. ​“The quan­tity of fruit may not be quite as high as the last cou­ple of big years, but the weather so far sug­gests that we will return to much higher oil yields and polyphe­nols. Good news.”

• National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research