OLIVE growers are being asked if they'll back a move to direct a portion of their levy funds for marketing purposes.
The Australian Olive Association (AOA) has contacted growers to gauge the level of support for splitting the current Olive Research, Development & Extension levy of $3 per tonne of fresh fruit delivered to a processing facility, to include a proportion of money for marketing.
It comes as the AOA board says its recognises a need for more generic marketing of both the olive products produced by Australian growers and of Australia as a producer of premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
"It should be noted that the Commonwealth, via Horticulture Innovation Australia (HIA) cannot dollar-match levy funds collected for marketing; therefore the proportion of the olive levy funds collected for RD&E WILL BE dollar-matched and the marketing component WILL NOT BE dollar-matched," the AOA communication says.
"In saying that, we believe that there are other opportunities for marketing funds to be dollar-matched through various other Commonwealth funding initiatives."
"In the past a voluntary Consumer Awareness and Education collection mechanism existed which has not resulted in sufficient funds to undertake meaningful work."
The levy proposal is set to be discussed at the upcoming National Olive Industry Conference and Trade Exhibition in Mildura on September 14 and 15.
