Heat is more dangerous than the cold in most Australian regions. About 2 per cent of deaths in Australia between 2006 and 2017 were associated with the heat, and the estimate increases to more than 4 per cent in the northern and central parts of the country. In fact, Australian death records underestimate the association between heat and mortality at least 50-fold and chronic heat stress is also under-reported.

The Darling River in January 2021 at Kinchega National Park in Menindee. (Supplied: Paul Oxenham)

A ban on pumping from the Barwon-Darling River has been partially lifted, 12 days after the rule was introduced. The rule, part of the NSW Government's Barwon-Darling Unregulated Water-Sharing Plan, requires A, B and C class licence holders to stop pumping when the flow at Wilcannia has been less than 200 megalitres for 90 days.

There is a spring in the step of irrigators in southern New South Wales who are growing summer crops like rice for the first time in three years. Irrigators in the Murrumbidgee Valley were recently given a full water allocation for the first time since 2016.

Seasonal workers from the Pacific Islands will be allowed into Victoria under special quarantine arrangements under a deal struck between the Victorian and Tasmanian State Governments.

The arrangement will see Tasmania quarantine the 1,500 workers for two weeks before they are allowed onto Victorian farms, while Victoria will meet Tasmania's 330-person commitment for returned travellers in Melbourne hotels.

With biosecurity risks increasing and finite resources available to manage them, general surveillance is becoming an increasingly important part of Australia’s biosecurity surveillance. General surveillance involves people from all walks of life participating in gathering and reporting information about the presence of pests, weeds and diseases. 

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) has been exploring general surveillance in its ongoing ‘Making general surveillance work’ project.

Read more here.

It’s important to keep up with the changing status of pandemic regulations across the country, so you can access state-specific information on COVID-19 from the links below: 

Got something to sell? Or want to buy? Go direct to your target market – olive growers and producers – like Robert, who wants to buy naturally-brined green olives.

If you’ve got something industry-related to sell, you can reach your target market directly with Olivebiz Classifieds. Our online Classifieds service is an easy and inexpensive solution to advertising your unwanted equipment, extra oil - or even your grove. And if there’s something you’re looking for, it’s the ideal way to get the message out loud and clear to your peers and industry associates – like Robert, who wants to buy naturally-brined green olives.

Olivebiz Classifieds cost just $40 for AOA members ($100 for non-members), including a text ad and link through to either your web page or images hosted on our site. And you don’t need to be a tech-head: just send us your info and we’ll post it up for you.

Olivebiz Classifieds are online now at www.olivebiz.com.au/classifieds. To arrange a listing, contact Gerri at editor@olivegrower.com.au.

A year ago, Canberra was surrounded by fire and smoke. The city had just sweated through its hottest year on record and the region was in drought. The past month was a stark contrast. Temperatures have been high this week but summer, to date, has been wet and wintry. Canberra is green rather than the dry yellow of 2019. So why is this happening in a warming planet? (And yes, it is still warming: 2020 was the fourth-hottest year on record.)

A "carpet" of mice has blanketed parts of New South Wales, with farmers and townspeople working tirelessly to keep the rodents at bay. The mouse population has been on the rise in Merriwa in the Upper Hunter, extending to Tamworth and Moree in New England and into Queensland.

Clint Taylor, who works for Bush Heritage Australia at Bon Bon Station — a former sheep property that is almost the size of Sydney — is all too familiar with the destruction rabbits can cause. In 2019 the organisation and the station, based near Roxby Downs in South Australia's far north, was awarded a $10,000 grant through the local Natural Resource Management Board to undertake rabbit mapping and control.

LaTrobe Business School, in partnership with Agriculture Victoria, is delivering a 12-week program on how to take agri-food businesses online. Digital Harvest will cover a number of topics, including agribusiness development, sales, retail, e-commerce, digital leadership and strategy, analytics, SEO/SEM, email marketing and social media.

Details: 

Online registrations close at midday on Thursday, 4 February. More information here or email accelerator@latrobe.edu.au. 

The Export Market Development Masterclass series provides practical and actionable export insights and guidance for export success. Delivered over three two-hour online sessions, the Masterclass explores and explains the different characteristics of key export markets to identify North Asia markets (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China) with the highest potential to deliver sales growth for your business.

All content is specific to the food and beverage and agribusiness sectors and will be tailored to key product categories represented by participating businesses. Participants will receive access to the Food South Australia Export Plan Builder Toolkit to prepare their market strategy.

The Masterclass is suitable for SA food and beverage businesses who are existing exporters and want to enter or expand in the North Asia markets, or for businesses re-entering exporting with a focus on these markets. 

Details: 15, 17 and 19 February 2021, 10.00am to 12 noon. Participation is free. Register here or contact SA Food and Beverage Export Hub Manager Annabel Mugford - annabel@foodsa.com.au or 8303 9435 - for more information.

The International Freight Assistance Mechanism (IFAM) continues to provide new and extended flights for export freight, including a new focus on key Asian markets.

Routes announced this week include: (new) Adelaide to Singapore, Brisbane to Ho Chi Minh City 

a, Perth to Taipei via Narita, Melbourne to Bangkok and Sydney to Los Angeles (extended) Brisbane to Dubai, Melbourne to Los Angeles and Perth to Singapore.

Contact your preferred freight forwarder to access available flights. 

For more information and flight details, visit the IFAM webpage or download the IFAM Flight Schedule Outbound.

There’s just a little over two weeks now until the first of the AOA’s Healthy Soils Field Days program, running during February and March in major production regions across all states.

Each field day focuses on the role of healthy soils in producing healthy trees and lifting grove productivity. Presented in the grove, the information will cover a wide range of topics around soil health, from identifying and managing soil issues to monitoring and improving both soil and tree health. Along with expert speakers, each program will involve a panel of specialist service providers who will demonstrate and discuss the latest technology to monitor, test and measure vital soil parameters and tree health.

14 February - Lentara Grove, Exeter, TAS

21 February - Lisadurne Hill Olives, Rushworth, VIC

28 February - Peninsula Providore Farm - Nangkita Olive Grove, Tooperang SA

7 March - Hunters Dream Estate, Pokolbin NSW

14 March - aFthonia Farms, Hampton (via Toowoomba), QLD

28 March - Preston Valley Grove, Lowden (via Donnybrook) WA

Cost* is $40 incl GST for AOA members and levy payers; $50 incl GST for others.

The full program for each field day, including speaker and venue details, is available on the OliveBiz website here, where you can also register. 

This one day of learning how to care for your soil will repay you, your grove and your business for years to come. Don’t miss out, register now!

Webinar: Seasonal farm work for international students 

Do you know international students looking for work? Seasonal work in agriculture can fit around studies and this webinar can help them find out what the jobs are like and where to apply.

Facilitated by Agriculture Victoria, Outcome.life, Study Melbourne Career Catalyst and OnePassport, the webinar is being run at 4pm (AEDT) on Thursday, 28 January and will explain what seasonal work actually is. Speakers will come from speakers from across the industry, including Agriculture Victoria, fruit and vegetable producers and students who have already taken up a seasonal work opportunity.

All employment opportunities promoted are compliant with FairWork Australia guidelines.

Find out more here.

Limitations and requirements for international visitors around the COVID-19 pandemic mean that, despite the scheduled roll-out of vaccinations, the situation for international visitors other than from Australia is unlikely to improve in the near future.

The Olives NZ executive has therefore concluded that the proposed 2021 Processing Practices Course with Pablo Canamasas cannot be scheduled.

On a positive note, it is hoped that the 2021 NZ EVOO Awards Judging Panel will include two Australian judges, even if this occurs remotely.

We’ll update on both events throughout the year, and as/if the situation changes.

Eighty-three percent of the sugar found in olive pits can be efficiently retrieved and, thanks to the high quality of the raw material extracted, it can then be used in several different industrial processes. Researchers at the University of Jaén has devised a new method they believe will appeal to the food and pharmaceutical industry as well as the biofuels sector.

This swap works surprisingly well for certain types of baked goods - however, there are some instances when olive oil simply won't do the trick. Baking swaps can be tricky, so it's best to know the ins and outs of ingredients before making adjustments. If you've ever baked an olive oil cake and liked the results, you might want to explore other baking recipes where olive oil can be used, but is the swap a straightforward one?

With 2021 now underway, Friday Olive Extracts (FOE) continues to bring all the latest industry news and events to your Inbox every week. THE place to share olive industry news, event details and reminders, our industry e-newsletter keeps growing in popularity and we now have nearly 4000 subscribers across the globe. If you’re not one of them, you can sign up here.

And please remember that FOE is YOUR e-newsletter, so we’re keen to receive your news and help spread the word. Just email your information to Editor Gerri Nelligan at editor@olivegrower.com.au - it’s free, and the best way to reach your fellow industry members!

As the 2020 harvest draws to an end in Greece, data released by the European Commission reveal a mediocre season of olive oil production with a projected output of around 265,000 tons.

Other estimates, though, predict a lower total of 230,000 to 240,000 tons.

The processing industry is helping to raise rural incomes. Hou Liqiang reports from Longnan, Gansu:

Though still regarded as a newcomer to China, the olive tree is nicknamed the "premier's tree" because Premier Zhou Enlai introduced the Mediterranean native in 1964. That year, Zhou not only promoted the importation of about 10,000 olive trees from Albania, but also planted one in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province.

Healthy Soils Field Day - Exeter, TAS

Healthy Soils Field Day - Rushworth, VIC

Healthy Soils Field Day - Tooperang SA

Healthy Soils Field Day - Hunter Valley NSW

Healthy Soils Field Day, Hampton (via Toowoomba), QLD

Olives NZ AGM (Zoom)

Soil CRC Participants Conference

Healthy Soils Field Day - Lowden (via Donnybrook) WA

Entries close, Berlin Global Olive Oil Awards – Berlin, Germany

Entries close, OLIVE JAPAN 2021 International Olive Oil Competition

Registrations close/samples due, EVO IOOC – Palmi, Italy

Farm2Plate Exchange 2021 – Scenic Rim, Qld

Winners announced, OLIVE JAPAN 2021 International Olive Oil Competition

Hort Connections 2021 – Brisbane, Qld

Entries open, Hunter Olive Show

Entries close, Hunter Olive Show

Awards night, Hunter Olive Show

2021 National Olive Conference & Trade Exhibition - Devonport, Tasmania

To include your event, or update your existing event details, email FOE editor Gerri Nelligan at editor@olivegrower.com.au

Friday Olive Extracts Editorial editor@olivegrower.com.au

Advertising: editor@olivegrower.com.au

Subscribe to Olivegrower & Processor magazine secretariat@australianolives.com.au