When city girl Lisa Rowntree married her dairy farmer sweetheart, she imagined "a red and white chequered tablecloth and drinking tea under the shade of an elm tree."
"Instead, my husband handed me a pair of overalls and a pair of gumboots and said 'let's head to the dairy'. It was a rude introduction to becoming a farmer's wife!",she says with a good natured laugh.
Lisa soon settled into country life and raised three sons with husband Jim (Tom, now 18, Harrison, 16 and Lachlan, 13). But after eight years on the Myponga dairy, Lisa and Jim decided to move to land they owned in Coonalpyn, to allow Jim to spend more time with the boys. Two years later a daughter, Taylor, was born. The landholding at Coonalpyn enjoyed a sandy soil and Mediterranean climate. Jim and Lisa were still tossing around ideas on how best to use the land when Lisa read a newspaper article on olives.
"It was 1996 and I said to Jim, 'how about olives?'"
The pair started researching the olive industry in South Australia and came up with precious little.
"There were a couple of people growing olives in the Adelaide Hills, but nothing our way."
After a study tour of Israel, Lisa and Jim were convinced olives were the way to go. They arrived back home full of enthusiasm and with plans to start planting. The bank, however had other ideas and knocked back their loan application.
"In those days olives were considered in the same vein as tea tree plantations or emu farming. It was seen as a fly by night sort of thing."
Unperturbed, they sold shares and borrowed money from Lisa's parents to fund the planting of 7,500 olive trees - a combination of an Israeli variety called Barnea and Picual, a Spanish variety and Longridge Olives was born.
In 2008, when the Rowntree’s trees were two years old, Lisa formed the Upper South East Olive 
Forum, which later changed name to the Limestone Coast Olive Growers Association. Around the same time, Lisa and Jim began managing a nearby 215-hectare site planted with olives for a managed investment scheme.
From there, Lisa’s involvement with olives grew along with her own plantation.
"I wanted to be involved in things that affected the industry, and have a voice on policy and direction for the industry. Jim and I have got our heart and soul invested in this, and we figure you can sit back and let other people make the decisions, or you can get involved and help shape things."
Lisa became a representative for the South East on the board of Olives South Australia. As part of her role, she organised an industry conference that was deemed a huge success with hundreds of people attending, some from as far away as Spain and Italy.
"It was a big leap forward for the South Australian olive industry."
Within 24 months, Lisa was voted President of Olives South Australia, a position she still holds today - along with a long-term position on the board of the Australian Olive Association.
Lisa's contribution to the olive growing industry in South Australia was recognised in 2005 when she was named South Australian Rural Woman of the Year. Today, Lisa combines her advocacy work with the management of her own and four other olive plantations in the South East.It's a busy life, but she loves it.
"It's hard work, but developing any industry is hard work. Australia is a small producer on a world scale, so we have to work hard to differentiate our oils from other oils."
"But we have, without a doubt, some of the tastiest and freshest oils in the world."
Lisa says Australia's efficient olive harvesting and processing techniques means the olives are processed quickly, ensuring fresh, healthy and flavoursome oils.
Lisa is excited about the future of the olive industry.
"If we can weather the current global financial crisis and get over the 'hump' the future is looking good. At the moment, prices for olives are low, lower than they've ever been, but if growers hang in there we'll come out [better] at the other end. There are changes afoot in the global olive industry and consumption is increasing all the time. It's an exciting time to be involved."
South Australia's reputation for producing fine olive oils will be further boosted by industry development initiatives funded by a recently-introduced industry levy. Under the scheme, South Australian olive growers will pay a levy per tonne to processors to fund industry development to help lift the profile of the state's olive industry.
Contact
Lisa Rowntree
p +61 8 8573 6545
m +61 407 736 070
e longridge@dragnet.com.au
w www.rowntreemanagement.com.au