General News
7 May, 2026
Efficiency in harvesting ancient fruit
SHAREHOLDERS in Australia’s largest olive oil producer converged on Cobram Estate’s Boort grove and processing facility as this season’s harvest gets underway.
SHAREHOLDERS in Australia’s largest olive oil producer converged on Cobram Estate’s Boort grove and processing facility as this season’s harvest gets underway.
More than 200 people attended the shareholder day, special buses running from Melbourne while other shareholders flew from interstate to tour the company’s operations.
Nutritionist and board director Joanne McMillan told them olives were an extraordinary fruit that ticked the boxes from nutritious to sustainable.
“It’s a natural product ... an ancient fruit,” she said that had seen modern production make efficiency improvements on ancient steps in growing and processing.
Dr McMillian and Cobram Estate co-founder Rob McGavin told shareholders the company’s extra virgin olive oil accounted for 35 per cent of Australia’s production and 65 per cent of national sales.
Shareholders in the listed company liked investing in an Australian business, said Mr McGavin.
““Extra virgin olive oil is healthy food and people enjoy the investment because it’s real,” he said.
“The shareholding is loyal and the company has grown from scratch. When we came to Boort, the paddocks had lucerne sheds.”
Today, the Boort grove has more than 1.5 million trees. The $25 million processing mill, the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, is now handling its third harvest.
Across Australia the company owns 7000 hectares of planted freehold olive groves containing more than 2.6 million olive trees.
Its Australian mills can process 144 tonnes of olives an hour.
Mr McGavin said harvest had started at the company’s Boundary Bend grove early in the month and Boort about a fortnight later.
“Over the past 25 years, Cobram Estate Olives has grown to become the market leader in the Australian olive industry and a global leader in sustainable olive farming,” he said.
Earlier this year, Cobram Estate completed a deal to purchase California Olive Ranch, increasing its footprint in the North American market.
Mr McGavin said the shareholder open day came two years after the last open day.
“That was just as the new processing plant opened. We had 500 shareholders that day.”
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