Value-adding key to olive success

Mr Milner is one of only four olive producers left on EP, when once there were more than 30.

In recent years olive producers have come under pressure from cheaper, lower quality imported products, forcing some out of the industry.

But Mr Milner says there is still money in olive production, if you are prepared to "think outside the box".

He has done this by creating a world first - chocolate liqueur olives.

Mr Milner said people travelled from far and wide to visit Tumby Bay to try this creation.

The product was launched at the Eyre Peninsula Field Days at Cleve in 2010 and has gone on to become one of Windy Hill Olives' most popular products.

Mr Milner's route into olive production is not what you would expect.

"I actually worked as an industrial chemist in Whyalla," he said.

When he was looking to retire he considered two options - timber production and olives.

"Timber was just going to be too hard," he said.

"Once I decided on olives, it was a matter of choosing whether to come down to this area in Tumby Bay or go to Clare."

With a huge number of olive producers already established in the Clare Valley, Mr Milner opted to stay closer to home on EP.

"I bought my first property in 1995 at Lipson Cove, which is how the business became Windy Hill," he said.

Mr Milner later moved his business from Windy Hill closer to Tumby Bay.

"I moved down here in 1999 and started producing table olives in that year," he said.

When starting out, Mr Milner produced just a few jars of olives and a little bit of oil and gave them away.

"People wanted more of the product, and I thought if I can sell a certain amount, I'll keep going and keep growing the business," he said.

The business ended up selling 500 jars of olives in its first year of operation.

Today, it has grown to produce more than 2000 jars a year.

But it is no "walk in the park" to produce those kinds of numbers, especially with all the fruit hand-picked.

Machinery is not an option because it would bruise the fruit, downgrading its quality.

"I'm lucky that I've had the same group of people helping me pick the fruit for the past 15 years," Mr Milner said.

"Some of them are in their 80s, but they love helping out."

He produces a range of table oils and extra-virgin olive oil, and the creation of his chocolate liqueur olives came about as a response to public demand.

"People were always asking if we had a sweet olive, but there's no such thing," he said.

Instead, Mr Milner started trialling different olive and chocolate options before coming across his chocolate recipe, which is now a closely held secret.