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The Village Press Olive Oil

The Village Press, Hawke's Bay

The Village Press in Hawke's Bay is a specialised olive oil producer founded by Wayne and Maureen Startup with the help of industry specialists.

It all began in 1994 when they bought a property near Havelock North where olive trees had been planted 40 years ago in an olive canning trial by Sir James Wattie. This led them to international research to assess the potential for olives in the Bay.

Wayne and Maureen have travelled to study olive growing and processing in the Hunter Valley and other olive producing areas of Australia, Israel and Italy.  They also attend the New Zealand Olive Association annual general meetings, field days and Olive Industry events.

They ran trials on various species and imported a second hand press from Italy to set up their processing arm, The Village Press.

Nine different cultivars are grown with each tree capable of producing at least 30kgs of fruit and up to 50kgs each season. Oil product started at 3,500 litres and is likely to continue its exponential growth.

 

 

Wayne and Maureen have now been joined with three other equal Shareholder/Directors -

• Tony, Vicki and Nathan Casey, Stuart Webster and Carol Morgan, with Bob Armstrong as their independent Chairman.

These Shareholders also have olive growing interests with Nathan Casey, The Village Press Operations Manager.

The Village Press believes olives and their processed products have an exciting and profitable future in New Zealand horticulture.