About Kailis Organic Olive Groves
Mark Kailis established Kailis Organic Olive Groves in 2001 with the vision of creating the first truly global organic premium extra virgin olive oil brand. Since 2001, the company has undertaken extensive market research and implemented a team of people sharing a wealth of knowledge and passion for organic and everything that encapsulates.
The Kailis family name is synonymous with the provision of fine foods; seafood, processing and import/export of quality foods in general. The origins of the family in Western Australia date back to post World War 1 when branches of the family emigrated from the tiny Greek Island of Kastellarizo.
The success of the wider family in Western Australia has been built upon key family values of honesty, loyalty, quality and reliability, values that mesh well with the mission of Kailis Organic. Kailis Organics key focus is first and foremost organic production and processing in a sustainable fashion, with the ultimate focus on quality of flavour in the end product. This focus ensures quality controls that guide production from the farm gate all the way to the kitchen.
Kailis Organic controls all production and sales aspects of Kailis Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil and associated brands, from grove management through processing and packaging, logistics, and sales and marketing, making it one of the world's largest vertically integrated organic olive groups. Kailis Organic embraces world's best practice in sustainable agriculture, organic farming and the development and operation of the Kailis Organic business model to the highest levels of accountability and governance.
"I Think Therefore I Organic"
Rene Descartes, a French philosopher born in 1596 in Touraine, a small town of La Haye, France and educated from the age of eight at the Jesuit College, first coined the statement of modern consciousness "I think therefore I am" .
Remarkably we can still find profound meaning in these words today, because like all notable works of humanity the meaning can be found in its simplicity.
In applying simplicity to our corporate philosophy Kailis Organic sees its mission as "I think therefore I organic", a slight derivation on Rene's works however it applies to all who share the vision of a healthier future for our land and rivers and ultimately our children.
Since the adventures of 18th century, German chemist, Justus von Liebig, later dubbed "the father of chemical agriculture," the first world has been on a quest to stand apart from the environment with an attitude of conquering not understanding and working with the processes of nature. I might add Justus, later renounced his initial findings but the wheels of big business had turned enough for his later works not to make for popular reading.
For 95 years we have applied billions of tons of synthetic chemicals onto our land and rivers, thus depleting the very fabric that binds healthy land together. Australia is one of the last frontiers in pristine environment. With a determined need to keep this asset for future generations, Kailis Organic has developed organic management plans and farms, with only the purist of certified ORGANIC input applied at the most critical times to maximise their effect.
Sustainable Agriculture
Many modern agricultural practices harm the environment, impair human health, and destroy the social and economic wellbeing of rural communities.
Sustainable food and farming systems that enable producers to work in partnership with nature have been developed to correct these deficiencies. These economically viable and environmentally sound systems have been successfully demonstrated throughout the world. However, their adoption has been slowed by lack of government support and difficulty in gaining access to new information.
Sustainable agriculture refers to an agricultural production and distribution system that:
- Achieves the integration of natural biological cycles and controls;
- Protects and renews soil fertility and the natural resource base;
- Optimises the management and use of on-farm resources;
- Reduces the use of non-renewable resources and purchased production inputs;
- Provides an adequate and dependable farm income;
- Promotes opportunity in family farming and farm communities; and
* Minimises adverse impacts on health, safety, wildlife, water quality and the environment.
Organics
Organic farming underpins Kailis Organics approach to sustainable agriculture. Organics is much more than merely not using synthetic chemicals. Active soil care, erosion control and efficient water usage are all part of the Kailis Organic ethos.
The demand for organically produced, non-genetically modified foods in all segments of the food industry is currently outstripping world supply.
This demand has been fuelled by consumer concerns both threatened and real, in particular in Northern Europe, through the Mad Cow's Disease and the Foot and Mouth epidemic. The demand is now such that it is difficult for producers to maintain the necessary consistency of supply.
Kailis Organic purchases only fruit grown using certified organic systems of agriculture able to balance productivity with low vulnerability to problems such as pest infestation and environmental degradation, while maintaining the high quality of the land.
In practice, this involves a system that avoids or largely excludes the use of synthetically compounded fertilisers, pesticides, growth regulators and other harmful or potentially harmful substances.
It includes the use of technologies such as crop rotation, mechanical cultivation and biological pest control, and such materials as legumes, crop residues, animal manures, green manures, other organic wastes and mineral-bearing rocks.
Kailis Organic actively works with all suppliers of organically grown olive fruit with more input into critical decision-making, which determines the ultimate quality of our olive oil.