Olive Innovation

Most weekdays you’ll find Dr Alf Scragg tending to the clients of his Rangiora medical practice, but outside regular work hours Alf ministers to another sort of customer altogether – young olive trees. 

Alf and his family purchased Gloria Behana Olive Grove in North Canterbury in early 2005. The six year old grove consists of approximately 600 trees between one and six years old. Alf’s keenness to experiment with aspects of the grove operation led him to Waste Exchange, and to switch from plastic to hessian ties for his young trees. 

Alf hadn’t heard of Waste Exchange until he searched the internet. He was looking for alternatives to plastic ties to secure his young saplings to posts and support them until they grew sturdy enough to stand alone. Although the plastics ties were suitable and inexpensive, Alf wanted “something that had a little bit of give, would cause no damage to the trunk, and would also rot down without leaving any residue.” Through Waste Exchange Alf got several bags of hessian ties between 10 and 40 metres long. These were used on the trees under four years old. 

“With support the tree learns to support itself in strong winds, and the ties have worked pretty well, given the huge winds we have had in recent months” said Alf. “In next two years the ties should rot away, so they won’t need to be removed, and by then the trees should be strong enough that they don’t need support.” The trees should be ready to be picked in June, and the fruit will be pressed for oil. “It’s a bit of experimentation” says Alf. “This is a young industry, so we need to be innovative to succeed. I already have ideas about what else might be possible.”