Marion and Bede MacKenzie

by Bede Mackenzie

Marion and I began growing avocados on our small farm at Bellthorpe, near Maleny, in 1993 when we planted the first of 1500 trees. Our first crop was produced in 1997 and our first harvest of one tonne was followed by a lovely old bottle of Grange Hermitage; so much hard work for so little!

One of the first decisions we made was to grow according to biodynamic principles and not to use any chemical sprays on our trees. In those days we could not be organic because we had neighbours on two sides growing non organic avocados.

It was evident early on that we had to do something with our waste fruit. Waste fruit is produced by skin blemish, wind rub, sun burn, insect bite, hail damage and anything else that is not a farmer’s friend. In the early days a lot of our waste fruit went to charity.

Around the year 2000 a New Zealand company started processing avocados into oil and we were one of the first suppliers from the Sunshine Coast. In 2004 another NZ company set up their oil processing plant in Cleveland and again we were big supporters. All good things eventually go somewhere else and in 2006 both NZ companies left Australia.

In 2007 we set up Maleny Avocado Oil to market avocado oil made from our own fruit grown on Maleny farm. Our oil is processed by an olive grower near Crows Nest. Our oil is made by taking the skin off and removing the seed and then making a big guacamole mash in one tonne lots. This is mixed for about two hours which slowly increases the temperature to about 45 degrees Celsius; about this time the cells start to release the oil at which stage it is pumped through a centrifuge to extract the oil. The guacamole waste is fed to cattle. The oil is put through a filter to remove any small flesh that may have been spun out and then stored in 200 litre drums in cool, dark conditions. As required, we bottle the oil for delivery to you through Food Connect.