Olives101.com

By Debra Smith,
Charles and Gayle Pancerzewski didn’t know much about olive oil when they bought a 25-acre olive grove in New Zealand.
They learned fast, after the man tending their land went bankrupt and they discovered he had planted a variety of olives that won’t produce at their balmy northern New Zealand grove.
That’s how Charles [...]

Can India become a major producer and exporter of olive oil?
50,000 sapling of various varieties will be planted near Jaipur to find the Variety most suitable to India.
By Siddhartha Sarma,
The agriculture board of a desert state, a micro-irrigation firm, and an Israeli company think so. Later this week, 50,000 olive saplings of various varieties [...]

The village of Wimberley is set in one of the prettiest parts of Texas and the soil here is great for growing flowers, fruits and vegetables.
One local farmer is getting some historical results; Bella Vista Ranch owner Jack Dougherty is getting the Texas soil to produce something rare in this part of the world: olives.
“This [...]

Climate change could lead to more crops of olives and sunflowers being grown in Dorset, delegates at an environmental forum heard.
Around 60 people, including farmers, politicians and environmentalists, attended a meeting on climate and landscape change at Kingston Maurward College organised by Dorset’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) branch.
Environmental workshops followed keynote speeches by [...]

Himachal Pradesh will welcome the proposed Indo-Spanish joint venture olive oil extraction unit establishment in the interiors of the state to give boost to the professional cash crop cultivation.
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today, after discussing the JV proposal to set up olive oil extraction unit in the state, said the border areas of the [...]

Marketable health benefits, along with a growing consumer interest in Mediterranean foods and unique regional flavor choices, are helping to drive an invigorated olive oil market in the U.S., which should surpass $1.3 billion by 2010, according to Olive Oil in the U.S., the latest market research from Packaged Facts.
Packaged Facts projects that the olive [...]

C. Martín / J.Cano
Nine Rumanians, resident in Fuente de Piedra, have been accused of stealing thousands of kilos of olives and selling them for sums below the market price.
Criminal organisations operating in Andalucía have found a new way of getting rich quick in the area’s abundant olive harvest. The Guardia Civil has recently arrested nine [...]

A pest is harming one of Northern California’s most important crops….and the problem seems to be growing.
By Steve Milne,
It’s a fruit fly that plagues olives. The bug first appeared in California 10 years ago and has spread across the state. Hannah Burrack is an expert on the olive fruit fly. She teaches entomology at North [...]

The government has planned to enhance olive oil production and processing areas in 12 districts of Balochistan to bring 6,000 acres land for cultivation of olive orchards.
According to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture sources, during the five years, 675,000 plants in these districts which are considered as low delta crop for mass propagation of [...]

By Stevie Ipsen,
An olive crop worth about $2,400 is reportedly missing after several men, posing as pickers from a local olive oil company, picked and drove away with 6 tons of olives.
According to William Klarenbach, his mother’s 6-acre property on Flournoy Avenue consisted of manzanilla and mission olives that were simply loaded into pickup trucks [...]

“A tree will produce and produce. You can neglect it, abuse it, forget about it, not water it and it’ll still produce olives,” says Dan Flynn, a U.C. Davis scientist.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=885424805320245878

They stand as immovable sentinels of the past. Many of these giant mission olive trees are almost four stories tall and at nearly a century and [...]

By Reed Fujii,
LODI - Jeff Colombini is the president of Lodi Farming, a large diversified farming operation.
Still, early last week, he found himself on a towering harvester clattering down rows of a 3-year-old olive orchard, gathering fruit destined to yield a greenish-yellow gold in the form of oil.
No, he wasn’t short of help, Colombini explained [...]

Article by Julia Moskin,
Photo by Sylwia Kapuscinski,
Marco Smouha performed the ancient autumnal rite of olive-curing last week here at his son’s home, far from the nearest olive groves, but close to the traditions of his ancestors.
Mr. Smouha used 40 pounds of walnut-size fresh green olives from California, where the season is nearing its peak this [...]

Last year saw very small crop
Nearly half of this year’s harvest is picked

It’s a tale of “famine to feast” in California olive groves.
After an extremely small crop last season, Central Valley olive growers have seen production rebound sharply this fall.
The larger overall crop means that individual olives have been smaller in some groves.
Other farmers pruned [...]

While the rest of the Mediterannean consumes most of the olive oil it produces, olive oil consumption in Turkey is the lowest in the region. Turks consume one kilogram of the oil a year while their neighbors comsume an average of 15. Producers in Ayvalık say it’s time the government inspires Turks to buy and [...]

By Elena Becatoros,
ARTEMIDA, Greece - The smoldering trunks of olive trees stretch across mountain slopes and valleys, their precious fruit lying like pellets of charcoal on the blackened ground. As far as the eye can see, the groves that produce one of Greece’s best known exports have been devastated.
A week of forest fires have not [...]

Tunisia’s olive oil exports more than doubled in the first five months this year to 113,200 tonnes from the same period last year, official data showed.
Olive oil represents half of the country’s farm exports, which account for more than 10 per cent of total sales abroad.
The value of Tunisia’s olive oil sales abroad soared to [...]

Regional experts, public officials and owners of olive oil presses convened this week to draw up a strategy for regulating the olive products sector and addressing environmental problems resulting from olive by-products.
During the third meeting of the regional committee of the integrated waste management of the Olive Oil Pressing Industries Programme, participants discussed means to [...]

Olive oil is different from other cooking oils in many ways. The most important differences to consumers and cooks are its heart-healthy properties and its taste. Unlike vegetable oils, it has one.
It can be evaluated like wine, especially extra-virgin olive oil that comes from the first pressing of olives grown in one grove or region. [...]

By Ramona Frances,
Unlike other commodities in Madera County, the fruit from olive-bearing orchards will not lead to a “bumper” crop this year. The price may be good, but this year’s yields aren’t as impressive.
“Some of the trees are looking good (this year), others don’t have anything on them at all,” said grower Jim Erickson said [...]

California’s 2007 olive crop forecast is 110.0 thousand tons, more than 4 times larger than last year’s crop. The bearing acres are estimated to be 31.0 thousand acres, resulting in a yield of 3.55 tons per acre. Although the 2007 California olive crop seems to be turning out lighter than originally expected, it is shaping [...]

By Ching Lee,
California olive growers are expecting excellent prices for this year’s crop, which is projected to be 112,000 tons, up considerably from last year’s 16,800 tons.
After a disastrous crop in 2006, California table olive growers are poised to receive some of the highest prices ever for their fruit this year, but many fear growers [...]

This year’s olive supply is definitely causing a demand for laborers to harvest the crop. Local growers say they cannot find enough people to help with the harvest. They say there are many reasons the labor force is lower this year, but the main problem is the huge loss of migrant workers.
In past years, North [...]

Exports from the Aegean region dropped 32 percent compared to the previous 12-month period, falling to $201 million this year.
Aegean olive producers, who experienced record exports between 2005 and 2006 although it was a cyclically low production year, preferred to keep their products home during the 2006-2007 marketing year, a cyclically high production year, Anatolian [...]

After a small harvest last year, demand for California-grown olives has risen, and farmers will earn a record price for their crops this year.
The Olive Growers Council and olive canners have agreed on prices that will earn farmers an average of $1,000 a ton. Because of last year’s small crop, stocks of canned olives are [...]