Telita lavender yield down

• Bailey Davenport with Oscar Giudici from Essential Oils Tasmania harvesting lavender.
Photo by Karen Haywood.

By Daisy Baker
February 05, 2020

Telita has been a hive of activity in recent days, with the annual lavender harvest happening on the Davenport’s farm to meet quotas for Essential Oils Tasmania (EOT).

Mr Davenport said they harvested four hectares of lavender, which will be distilled into lavender oil and sold to the perfume market through EOT.

“Yield is down a little this year due to colder conditions early on in the season,” he said.

“We are expecting to distil around 130 kilograms of lavender oil.”

When harvesting the crop, the machine stands the plant up fairly straight and gives it a ‘haircut’.

The process requires two people, one of whom draws the short straw of standing on the back of the harvester which is said to be the hot spot for bee bites.

The Davenports have been growing the perennial crop for the past eight years as part of their mixed cropping operation.

“It’s a nice part of our mixed cropping that we do here,” he said.

“I would consider expanding a small amount, up to six hectares or so, in the future but it’s not set in stone.

“EOT have a market for all the lavender oil they can produce but prices are static at the moment.”

In a separate project on the Davenports’ property, the geo positioning satellite technology station proposed for Hardmans Hill on Derby Back Road is looking like it will be up and running by March 2021.

The Davenports were approached by the federal government about installing a global mobile satellite system (GMSS) base to provide more accurate GPS signal in the area.