California Olive Oil Survey: Output Up 30%, Passing France

California’s olive oil output is up about 30 percent this year and should pass one million gallons, more than France produces, according to the California Olive Oil Council’s 2010 industry survey, whose full statistics were published this week. Growers are planting around 8,000 acres a year, much of it in dense hedgerows. Here are the numbers, where the growth is coming from, and the questions a buyer should ask before cheering.

What the survey found

The California Olive Oil Council (COOC) says the report is its first full look at the industry since 2004. It covers three parts of the business: growers, the mills that press their fruit, and the nurseries that sell young trees. Olive Oil Times summarized the headline figures last week and reprinted the report’s introduction on Monday.

The numbers describe an industry in a hurry. Production went from 650,000 gallons in 2008 to 870,000 gallons in 2009 and is expected to top one million gallons by early next year. The total area of olives, counting groves planted for table fruit as well as for oil, is “likely higher than 32,000 acres and could be as high as 41,000 acres”. Patty Darragh, the COOC’s longtime director, said the industry has “grown very dramatically since 1992”.

Where the growth comes from

Most of the new oil comes from super-high-density groves, planted at 500 to 900 trees per acre and harvested by machines that straddle the rows. The survey expects such groves to reach maturity at four years and to average about 40 gallons of oil per acre. Paul Vossen, the University of California farm advisor who leads the UC Cooperative Extension taste panel, told Olive Oil Times at the start of the month that this year’s harvest would reach about 4.5 million liters, helped by trees planted in 2008 coming into bearing. Glenn and San Joaquin counties have the most high-density acreage, followed by Butte.

The demand side explains the rush. According to the survey, American consumption has grown from about 30 million gallons a year to almost 70 million over two decades, and California supplies almost all of the domestic extra virgin. Dan Flynn of the UC Davis Olive Center has said California could rank among the world’s top ten producers within the decade.

• Small farms, mills and wineries are adding olives alongside the big high-density growers.
• The number of mills is rising, and they are processing faster.
• Tasting rooms are opening at a rate of about one a month, the COOC says.

What it means for buyers

More California oil means fresher oil on American shelves, because it does not spend weeks at sea. It also arrives a month after new federal grade standards came into force, as we reported in our note on the USDA standards, and California already has its own COOC seal for certified extra virgin. But scale changes an industry. A state that once meant boutique oil from old Mission trees is becoming a place where large high-density growers make much of the volume, most of it from a single Spanish variety. Our earlier piece on California oils growing on us tells the boutique side of the story.

Sources

• Olive Oil Times, “California Survey Confirms Olive Oil Boom” (November 23, 2010)
• Olive Oil Times, “2010 California Olive Oil Industry Survey Statistics” (November 29, 2010)
• Olive Oil Times, “Vossen: California Olive Oil Production Will Set New Record” (November 1, 2010)