Cobram Estate Olives Limited
Reimagining farm waste to create value adding products
We shifted from producing only extra virgin olive oil, to converting our olive by-products (leaves, pomace, pits) into new value-add products (renewable biofuel, olive leaf teas, health extracts, compost). Regenerative farming and circular economy practices are creating positive environmental outcomes in terms of waste minimisation and carbon sequestration. By maximising the value-add of by-products we now use olive leaves and extracts to create health and nutrition products under our Wellgrove, and Stone & Grove brands. We use olive pits as renewable energy for our boilers and surplus is sold to other companies. By-products from the tree we can’t use are returned to soil as natural mulch and fertiliser and combined with sustainable farming methods this results in less than 0.5% of operational waste to landfill, and high carbon sequestration – we capture approx. 4kg of CO2e for every litre of extra virgin olive oil produced. We mapped and fenced over 1,300Ha of native vegetation within our properties to protect biodiversity and have begun reforesting 500Ha of native tree species as part of a new project.
We are partnered with the Victorian Malleefowl Recovery Group and are currently exploring how we can improve native habitat on our groves to encourage the iconic and threatened Malleefowl to exist on our properties (with corridors from nearby protected areas).