Since 2023, the steering committee for the Long Road Olive Co-op Ltd has been working together to create the business case and guiding framework to help small scale olive growers to increase their productivity and profitability. The co-op name reflects the journey to incorporation, as well as the fact that small scale growers are all over the place; hiding in urban backyard pockets, or down country dirt roads.
This producer co-operative brings together growers with between 1-3000 trees under management for collective processing and marketing of olive related products, discounted bulk purchasing of equipment and growing inputs, and grower education and social events. We champion the concept of “a single sale supports many” from the customers’ perspective, helping them to spread the impact of their consumer dollars further to support food security.
With assistance from the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals’ Bunya Fund grant, Ceilidh Meo, and her husband Charles, have transformed their olive processing business into a co-operative for the greater good. The dedicated steering committee members were strategically chosen from their existing customer base, and Ceilidh and Charles have applied their eighteen years of olive-related learning to create a new platform to address the needs, concerns and experiences of small scale growers. Having worked with both urban and rural growers over their time in the industry, and seen many small groves change hands, they knew the time was right for a co-operative business venture to reinvigorate the small-scale olive grower sector.
Having come this far, the Long Road Olive Co-op Ltd is now seeking expressions of interest from potential members, and sharing an invitation to celebrate the launch of the co-op. The launch is taking the form of an art exhibition which will run at Dudley House, on View Street, Bendigo, from 18–29 September. The works explore the theme of “Ancient Roots in the New World: Olives as Food for the Body and Soul”. While the exhibition is free to attend, a number of ticketed events are running alongside, with an olive inspired gastronomy dinner to be held on Saturday, 20 September from 7pm at MacKenzie Quarters, a fine dining establishment located at 10 MacKenzie Street, Bendigo. The Long Road Olive Co-op is excited to share tastes beyond the usual olives and oil you might be used to.
For more information about the launch, please visit www.ancientroots.art to download the program of events, or purchase tickets.