Source
http://www.olivesnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021-Grove-Census-Harvest-Data-Report.pdf — original source (opens in a new tab; the file is not redistributed)
Olives NZ — 2021 Grove Census
NZ olive productivity per tree — and the missing unit that stops it becoming a per-hectare figure
The industry body’s annual grove census. National average 10.93 kg fruit/tree at an oil yield of 13.84% (≈ 1.5 kg oil/tree). Regional kg/tree: Hawke’s Bay 16.65 · Nelson 12.48 · Wairarapa 12.13 · Canterbury 10.08 · Kapiti 9.52 · Auckland 6.06 · Waiheke 5.50 · Marlborough 4.93 · Northland 3.87 · Central Otago 3.77. 🔴 NO PLANTING DENSITY IS PUBLISHED. The report gives trees by region but no grove area, no spacing, no trees/ha anywhere — the word “hectare” does not appear. kg/tree cannot be converted to kg/ha from this source (RT_392). ⚠ Sample: 62% response (101 of 163 groves), and “None of the super groves responded” — the super groves are ~94,000 trees, almost 30% of the industry. 17% reported “No Harvest”.
Summary
The 2021 grove census published by Olives NZ, the industry association, reporting harvest outcomes across responding olive groves: average fruit yield per tree nationally and by region, and the oil yield percentage extracted from that fruit. It is the primary NZ dataset on olive productivity, and it is the earlier of two census editions in corpus — the 2024 edition is OT_181, which reports a very different kg/tree on a partly different basis.
Its structural limitation is a missing unit rather than a missing number. Everything is stated per tree. A land-based food model needs per hectare, and the conversion requires a planting density that neither this report nor any other NZ source located so far publishes. The result is that olives are usable in the model only as kg oil per tree, and only as a range across census years.
Key claims
- claim: "NATIONAL AVERAGES, 2021 census: 10.93 kg fruit per tree; oil yield 13.84%. [verified verbatim against the source]"
source_location: "Olives NZ 2021 Grove Census — national summary (average kg/tree and oil yield %)."
- claim: "REGIONAL AVERAGE FRUIT YIELD, kg/tree: Hawke's Bay 16.65; Nelson 12.48; Wairarapa 12.13; Canterbury 10.08; Kapiti 9.52; Auckland 6.06; Waiheke 5.50; Marlborough 4.93; Northland 3.87; Central Otago 3.77. [verified verbatim against the source]"
source_location: "Olives NZ 2021 Grove Census — regional results table (kg per tree by region)."
- claim: "⚠ SAMPLE LIMITS: 62% response rate (101 of 163 groves). Verbatim: 'None of the super groves responded' — the super groves comprise approximately 94,000 trees, almost 30% of the industry. 17% of respondents reported 'No Harvest'. [verified verbatim against the source]"
source_location: "Olives NZ 2021 Grove Census — response-rate and sample-composition notes."
- claim: "🔴 NO PLANTING DENSITY IS PUBLISHED ANYWHERE IN THE REPORT. The report gives tree counts by region but no grove area, no spacing and no trees per hectare — the word 'hectare' does not appear in the document. kg/tree therefore CANNOT be converted to kg/ha from this source. [negative finding, verified against the full document]"
source_location: "Olives NZ 2021 Grove Census — whole document searched; no area, spacing or per-hectare figure present."Neobiome Intelligence relevance
Feeds d02_smart_food_systems as the NZ olive productivity anchor — usable per tree, not per hectare.
| Term | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Fruit yield | 10.93 kg/tree (national, 2021) | regional range 3.77 (Central Otago) to 16.65 (Hawke’s Bay) |
| Oil yield | 13.84% | the stable parameter across census years |
| Oil per tree | ≈ 1.5 kg/tree | product of the two above |
| Trees per hectare | UNPUBLISHED | RT_392 — blocks the per-hectare conversion entirely |
| Oil per hectare | not computable | — |
How the model should carry olives: as kg oil per tree, as a range across census years — approximately 1.5 kg oil/tree (2021) down to ~0.75 kg/tree (2024, OT_181). Never as a midpoint, and never as a per-hectare figure until a planting density is sourced.
Two reasons to treat the 2021 figure as an optimistic end of the range, not a central estimate:
- The largest producers are absent. “None of the super groves responded”, and they are ~30% of the industry by tree count. The census measures the responding tail, not the industry.
- 17% reported “No Harvest” — so the reported kg/tree already sits alongside a substantial non-producing fraction, and how that fraction enters (or does not enter) the average is a basis question that becomes explicit in the 2024 edition (OT_181 states it includes all recorded trees regardless of harvest; 2021 declares no equivalent).
The cross-cutting recovery caveat applies here too: 13.84% is an oil yield from fruit as measured by the industry’s own processing, and the screw-press recovery gap (RT_391) governs any further pressing assumption. No engine cell is auto-changed by this ingest.
Notes
- Industry-association census, self-reported by growers — hence
data_quality: medium. It is nonetheless the best NZ olive dataset available and the only one with regional resolution. - The missing-hectare finding is the most useful thing on this page. It was verified by searching the whole document, not inferred from a table. It converts “we should be able to model olives” into a specific, retrievable blocker (RT_392).
- Regional spread is nearly 4.4× (Central Otago 3.77 to Hawke’s Bay 16.65 kg/tree) — larger than any plausible national-average treatment can absorb. If olives are ever modelled, they must be modelled regionally.
- Read alongside OT_181, not merged with it. The two editions differ in response base and averaging basis; the 2024 page carries
contested: truefor that reason. - Vintage: 2021 census.
Research targets
Documents to retrieve
- RT_392 — NZ olive grove planting density (trees/ha or spacing). The single missing unit that would convert this census’s kg/tree into kg/ha and make olives a modellable land-based oil pathway.
Research gaps
- Not raised as RTs (recorded here instead):
- The super-grove sample gap. ~94,000 trees / ~30% of the industry did not respond in 2021. This is a limitation to state, not a document to retrieve.
- The averaging basis of the 2021 census (whether non-harvested trees are included). 2021 declares no basis; 2024 declares one. Recorded as the reason the two years may not be like-for-like — see OT_181.
- Time-to-first-harvest and grove establishment cost for olives. Not in this source and not yet sourced elsewhere; relevant only if olives become a modelled pathway, which the density gap currently prevents.
Connections
Links to
Sources (1): OT_181
Referenced by