Peter and Marlies Eicher: Closing the loop by selling on farm
Marlies and Peter Eicher have been growing olives in Boort for ten years and have experienced the full impact of reduced water availability.
Originally immigrants from Switzerland, Marlies and Peter lived in Melbourne and worked as engineers before they stumbled across olives and learnt of the tree’s tolerance to dry conditions. With the desire to bring up a family in the country and be part of a friendly, tight-knit community, an olive grove in Boort made a lot of sense. “The amount of land and water we had available here was sufficient to make a real business out of it” says Peter.
The predecessors of the Eicher’s property used 100 per cent of their water allocation to flood-irrigate pastures, which were used to fatten stock before taking them to market. “With olives, we use nowhere near our water entitlement” Marlies says. “We use drip irrigation and only water once a week at night to keep evaporation down. Our return has multiplied ten-fold compared to what people were doing here before.”
The Eichers use resources, water and energy sparingly and produce their olives and olive oil organically. “From our upbringing in Switzerland we’re always trying to do things more efficiently.”
But it’s not just their farming methods that are winning over the market. “Contact with end-users is the beauty of our business as we produce, pack and sell the product, so there is no middle man,” Peter says proudly. “We’ve found that younger generations want to know the story behind the product. When they realise we do it all ourselves, in the organic way and with little impact, they view this very positively and are willing to pay extra for it.”
Marlies and Peter have also observed the vertical integration of their products building “bridges” between city and rural folk. Their farm is part of the Loddon Discovery Tour and people can go there directly to buy Salute Oliva products, which now include beautiful handmade soaps, and tasty organic jams and chutneys from their fruit trees. “Through our products, city people see farmers caring for the land. And people in the country see city people appreciating more sensitive farming practice.”
