About

Who Are We

Oleifera was created by a collection of farming families, all dedicated to producing rapeseed oil of the highest quality. In the beginning there were twelve farms involved, all based in Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. The original Oleifera brands, Naturally Northumberland and Brilliantly Borders, reflected the provenance of the seed produced between these growers. Recently, Oleifera has partnered with a group of like-minded Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire farmers to create a third brand, Essentially English.

The story of our oil is much like any other food really - seed goes in the ground, rain falls, the seed grows, the farmer harvests the seed, the seed gets crushed and the oil gets bottled. Except, unlike many products in today's world, we can tell you the name of the man who planted the seed, the name and exact location of the field in which it was planted, how many inches of rain fell on the seed and even the names of the people who drove the tractors at harvest time (and the names of their wives and children)! We can trace every single bottle of Oleifera to the exact field in which it was grown.

This is what makes Oleifera stand apart from other oils, even other cold pressed rapeseed oils; the passion of our farmers to produce the very best seed,  and the care taken in the storage, crushing, filtering and bottling of the oil to make sure each bottle is traceable back to each farm. The result is a collection of three exceptional oils, each with subtle variations in characteristics that are due to the differences in soil type, rainfall and climate between the farms.

From Small Beginnings ...

Jill McGregor is the inspiration behind Oleifera. The McGregor family has farmed in the Scottish Borders since 1927, growing wheat, barley, potatoes and oilseed rape outside Coldstream but with agriculture facing economic challenges, Jill, who is a qualified farm secretary, began to look at ways of adapting their family business to cope with the changing times.

"Everyone was talking about trading beyond the farm gate and growing crops to meet the needs of consumers, which seemed to be the right direction to go in," says Jill. "I thought we should start by looking at how to develop a product that makes use of crops we already knew and understood. I talked to a lot of people and spent hours on the Internet and eventually thought that rapeseed oil would be a good product for us to try. It is widely used abroad, but had not really taken off in the UK, yet in Scotland and the North East we grow rapeseed very successfully. As a product, it ticked all the boxes for health benefits, local production and low air miles that are such key issues these days."

A small batch press was set up, which slowly squeezed the oil from the McGregor's own rapeseed. After a settling period this all-natural product was then put into a bottle and the first oil was tried.

"I was thrilled when we tried the oil. It was really good to cook with and incredibly versatile. My children were happy to eat anything cooked with it and, knowing the health benefits I was especially pleased."

Jill's research had shown that rapeseed oil is particularly good for you. It has half the saturated fat of olive oil and ten times the level of Omega 3. It also has a perfect natural balance of Omegas 6 and 9 and high levels of vitamin E. What is more, rapeseed oil is incredibly stable and has a very high burning point (230 degrees C).

Realising that there was a future in rapeseed oil production, Jill spoke to a number of neighbouring farmers about investing in a research and development project to look into all aspects of the business including oilseed varieties and customer requirements.

"Twelve other farmers came on board," says Jill, "Some are in Northumberland on the English side of the border and some in Scotland" Each farmer made a small investment in the research and development fund and in October 2005 Borderfields Ltd was born. Jill was clear as to the company's philosophy: "Although we are a group of farmers, we are also business people and it was decided from the outset that this was not going to be an amateur production, but was going to be done in a highly professional way."

A difficult period of pressing, testing and research followed. "It was trial and error at this stage," says Jill, "There are very few people in the UK who know about rapeseed oil production and we had to refine the system ourselves. I also knew that we didn't want to just use the first variety of rapeseed we had tried, and that we should be careful in selecting what is, after all, our product's only ingredient." Samples of many different rapeseed varieties were sourced from growers across Europe and the UK.

In May 2006 the final shortlist of fourteen varieties of rapeseed were pressed, ready for the selection panel. Professional chefs and experienced cooks were brought in to sift through the subtly different flavours of the oils. "It's like wine," says Jill, "Each variety produces a slightly different texture and taste and we wanted to find out which one was best suited to the culinary oil market." After a lot of time and research one variety of rapeseed was selected for the first product. "It's a great all-rounder," says Jill, "And very well suited to all types of cooking. It makes the crispest roast potatoes, very stable mayonnaise and a delicious carrot cake."

Once the oilseed variety had been chosen the press was put into full scale production. From first pressing to bottling takes about six weeks, so there was time for some serious customer research. A DEFRA grant was obtained and a focus group analyst was commissioned to undertake important product research. "The results were very encouraging. The focus group loved the oil and they were really taken with the subtle nutty flavour. They were also very interested in the issues of local production, low air miles and the great health benefits."

Next came the brand and, again, Jill and the Borderfields directors opted for a fully professional approach. They employed brand consultants NE6 in Newcastle to work with them on developing and designing the product brand. The name Oleifera is the Latin for oil-bearing seed. As the Romans had pressed rapeseed oil many centuries ago and the North East is rich with Roman history it tied in with the importance of local heritage. The distinctive bottle and striking artwork completed the brand and Jill was thrilled with the result. "It's one of the few bottles of oil you could take to someone as a present," she says.

In November 2006 the first bottles of Oleifera rapeseed oil were sold in shops in Northumberland. It became clear very quickly that production levels were going to struggle to keep up with demand. The original press was producing twenty cases of oil a week but it was all being taken by existing customers, leaving Jill unable to sell to new outlets. A new press was purchased which gave a massive increase in production and, from this moment on, the business expanded rapidly.

Oleifera was launched in Scotland in April 2007 using rapeseed grown on the Scottish side of the border. The Scottish oil proved to be just as successful as the Northumberland-grown oil in its first summer.

After two years of considerable growth and with popularity for the product spreading far beyond the reaches of the Northumberland and the Scottish Borders, the group of farmers started to look for other partners to continue to expand and get the recognition that their oil deserved. In the autumn of 2009, the perfect partners were found in Colin Bower and Tim Bradshaw. Colin’s farm situated in the historic parkland of the Rufford Abbey Estate in Sherwood Forrest, whilst Tim’s farm in on the edge of the Wolds in Lincolnshire. Colin and Tim approach their farms in a very similar way to the original growers, taking every care to produce the very best crops. The oil produced from Colin and Tim’s seed forms the latest edition to the Oleifera family – ‘Essentially English’.