THE first olives are being harvest in Loddon groves with crews starting on Tiverton Rothwell’s Orana property last week.
Seven harvesters are part of the month-long harvest that sees crews working alternating shifts 24 hours a day near Borung.
“We’re hoping for a good average harvest this season,” said grove manager Dale Stelfox.
“This is the third harvest of the original planting and there have been more trees planted over the past year. We’ve now a grove that has  374,000 trees across 1000 hectares.”
Mr Stelfox said the company continued to invest in the Borung grove with the recent installation of 65 frost fans to protect fruit and assist with early bud growth before flowering.
The fruit harvested at Borung will be transported for processing at Cobram Estate’s Boort plant.
Tiverton says: “The development and subsequent operation of the 1000-hectare olive grove at Orana has been a major achievement for Tiverton.” 
The company says soil preparation and tree establishment processes have cut synthetic inputs used at the grove by a third when compared to standard agricultural practice.