Olivado were proud to recently sponsor and attend the NZ Avocado International Industry Conference, held in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty.
Held over three days, the theme of the conference was “growing avocados for the world”, and featured speakers from throughout the industry from as far as Australia, China, and Colombia.
The conference was a roaring success, helped in part by our CEO, Gary Hannam, whose speech was much lauded by the attendees.
About the NZ Avocado Conference
Held over four years, the NZ Avocado International Industry Conference gives the country’s avocado growers a chance to get together and discuss past, present and future issues affecting the industry.
Avocados have grown in popularity around the world in recent years, and the New Zealand avocado industry has met the challenge by boosting production and investment.
Avocados are now the third largest fresh fruit export of the country, worth an estimated $150 million. There are now over 1,600 avocado growers in New Zealand, the vast majority of whom are represented by NZ Avocado Growers Association Inc.
Olivado’s role at the conference
We played a significant role at this year’s conference, as we were not only a Silver Sponsor of the event, but our CEO Gary Hannam spoke to the attendees, giving his global perspective on how to help grow the avocado industry.
In his speech, Gary explained why New Zealand is the home of extra virgin avocado oil.
Before Olivado, there was only cheap, chemically extracted, chemically refined avocado oil for the cosmetic industry. Olivado now sells in 33 countries around the globe, retailing 60% of all the world’s branded food grade avocado oil.
Gary also explained to his audience the issues facing the industry today, including lesser quality avocados from Israel and Chile. These parts of the world use too much irrigation in their orchards, leading to a plump, but tasteless fruit.
New Zealand avocados, and in particular those grown in the Bay of Plenty, are healthier than avocados grown throughout the rest of the world, with 50% more Coenzyme Q10, an important vitamin-like substance required for the proper function of many organs and chemical reactions in the body.
Gary finished his speech by introducing guest speaker Dr Nic Gill, an avid avocado oil consumer and good friend of Olivado. Dr Gill has spent the spent the last 11 years as Strength and Conditioning coach to our winning All Black team.
Olivado’s role in the industry
One of the biggest challenges in the industry is the growing demand for genuine, high-quality avocado oil, and how to meet this demand.
Obviously, we can only grow avocados at a specific time of year, which leaves production down for months at a time but with demand still growing.
Olivado have combated this problem by opening processing plants in Kenya, allowing for avocado production year-round.
Our ground-breaking cold extraction process has now become industry standard, allowing avocados to be turned to oil and still retain their incredible health properties.
We also take our responsibilities to our workers very seriously. Our factory in Kenya and the farmers who supply us with avocados are certified organic and fair trade by IMO, a member of the International ECOCERT group based in France.
Olivado are strong believers in Fair Trade and we wear our certification with pride. We buy our avocados directly from small bio-diverse farms, paying a premium set price, thus bypassing brokers and guaranteeing the farmers a regular income.
Olivado continue to set the standard for high-quality avocado oil, and as we showed at the conference, we will continue to inspire, connect and enable avocado growers around New Zealand and the world.
Take a look at our range of outstanding, award-winning oils here, or head on over to our Facebook and Instagram pages for the latest news and recipes.