California Aims to Break Greek, Spanish & Italian Olive Oil Monopoly
Posted by Neil Payne on November 23rd, 2009An oil boom is under way in California’s agricultural heartland, as evolving tastes and a trend toward healthy fare have transformed a profession as old as civilization: olive production for the extra virgin market.
Gnarly trees picked by hand are being supplanted. This year, California’s olive oil production will top 1 million gallons for the first time, the lion’s share from 8-foot trees planted in hedgerows and mechanically harvested, then pressed into oil within 90 minutes.
California Aims To Break European Dominance
Growers have invested millions laying the groundwork to become a player in the global olive oil market, now controlled by Spain, Italy and Greece.
In the past 10 years, roughly 7.5 million trees have been tightly planted on 12,500 acres, an experiment growers hope will make California olive oil cheaper and fresher than that of their competitors. State officials estimate that in another decade there will be 100,000 acres of hedgerow trees producing 20 million gallons of oil to help sate Americans’ 75 million gallons-a-year thirst — 99.99 percent of it now imported.
“There’s a promising future ahead for this crop,” says Dan Flynn, head of the Olive Research Center at UC-Davis. “With the growth in olive plantings, California could emerge as a world leader in a relatively short period of time. It might take 20 years, but that’s how long it took with the other crops.”
The “other crops” are almonds and canning tomatoes, once the domain of Spain and Italy but now controlled by California growers, who have the economic advantage of producing on large-scale farms.
Read More>Associated Press
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