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Local Olive Industry Bets On Bright Future

Bob Crane has a lot on his mind. The blistering, delirium-inducing summer sun has faded to picnic-perfect afternoons. Some of the spring-green fruit are taking on a purple blush on 220,000 trees. Despite careful irrigation, the drought has pushed the harvest about three weeks early.

Credit Marc Albert / NSPR
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NSPR
Super high density olive groves at Lucero Olive Oil viewed from atop a specially modified harvester. New planting methods make olive oil production economically viable in California.

“There’s differences amongst different trees in an orchard, different from one side of an orchard to another side,” he says. “A different soil type, or different orchard, so even within varieties, there’s lots of differentiation.” 

Crane is the president of Crane Mills. They’re the parent company of Lucero Olive Oil, a growing small producer with exacting standards and an eye toward ambitious yet measured growth.

Traditionally, there’s been lot less to furrow the brow. The prime olive growing region of Tehama County, anchored around the self-proclaimed “olive capitol of the world,” has historically produced table olives — the cured, canned, pitted black pizza toppers and jarred black or green olives patiently awaiting a date with a toothpick and perhaps a bath of gin and vermouth. Gathered when ripe and then cured, harvesting and processing table olives is comparatively straightforward. Olive oil production requires artistry and a good deal of science.

Crane presides over an impressive fiefdom and has built an internationally recognized reputation for high-quality oil, attracting descriptive accolades typically reserved for the finest Napa Valley varietals.

“There’s tremendous amount of difference between, even within a single variety — something that’s harvested when it’s green or when it’s ripe, and between the different varieties, there’s a tremendous amount of differences in taste, in applications,” Crane says.

Credit Marc Albert / NSPR
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NSPR
After a quick bath, sorter Alex DeJesus pulls blemished fruit from the line, just before the olives get crushed for their oil.

And the slightest variation in weather or other variables can throw a wrench in everything. Olives can’t be harvested after a rain — several bursts from thunderstorms this weekend caused some hiccups. When temperatures climb above 80 degrees, the harvest goes on hiatus, as high temps degrade picked fruit even faster.

Timing is also key. Crane and Lucero General Manager Liz Tagami describe a timetable that to the uninitiated seems the agricultural equivalent of transporting organs for transplant. The fruit must go from hanging on a branch to squeezed for oil within hours, racing against a clock that robs olives of certain qualities.

The industry around Corning and elsewhere in the region and across the U.S. is changing. Fast. Consumer demand for healthier fats, the growing popularity of Mediterranean cooking and the elevation of gourmet food culture has helped launch a boomlet in boutique olive oil with potential Lucero is measuring in tonnage.

“What happened in the ’80s?” Tagami says. “People were starting to have Meritage wines: big cabs became important, and I think now were a little bit more nuanced in our drinking style, but it evolved decade to decade. With that kind of experience, with cheese, coffee, chocolate and wine, it’s happening a lot faster with olive oil. People get it. They know they can get their everyday oil and enjoy that, and if they want something a little more fruity or floral or grassy, peppery robust they can go for that to match what they are cooking that night.”

Credit Marc Albert / NSPR
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NSPR
Developed in Spain, the Super High Density planting method allows growers to plant up to three times as many trees on the same land, and mechanically harvest their crop. Here, the method is put to use outside of Corning, by Lucero Olive Oil.

Revolutionary high-density planting techniques, developed in Spain, have greased the skids for California olive oil. Traditional plantings, with tall, broadly spaced trees, require hand harvesting. Fine for table olives, the speed and labor costs would price local oil right off of store shelves. Growers can cram as many as three times as many trees onto an acre utilizing the new techniques. This isn’t done to improve yields. It’s done to allow mechanical picking. Three varieties: Arbequina and Arbosana, both from Spain, and Koroneiki, from Greece, thrive in super-high-density groves. Fed by drip irrigation, the trees are pruned to stay nearly dwarf.

From atop a towering French-built modified grape harvester, rows of trees stretch off into the far distance, broken only by gently undulating terrain and the shimmering waters of the Tehama-Colusa Canal.

Brian Crane, vice president of Crane Mills, takes the wheel and the $325,000 piece of heavy equipment rumbles to life. In a manner of seconds, a diminutive tree vanishes, only to nearly immediately emerge, stripped of fruit. As the machine works the row, it’s obvious even a battalion of olive picking John Henrys would be left in the dust.

Dumped via conveyor into large containers, the gathered olives are soon brought to the mill. Within minutes, they’re washed and sorted, and fed into a crusher. Five giant stainless steel drums then stir the mixture, which Monday resembled a bright green tapenade. The mix then enters a centrifuge and finally settling tanks before a trip to the bottling room

Lucero is hedging on a bright future. California, where the bulk of U.S. olive oil is produced, is barely an afterthought on global markets. Tagami, who until she joined Lucero spent part of her career judging international olive oil competitions, said there’s little need to break into overseas markets. Ninety-seven percent of the olive oil consumed in the U.S. is imported. That leaves a huge potential for growth:

“We are a small grower by world standards, and there’s certainly enough demand in the U.S. to just stay here,” Tagami says.

Credit Marc Albert / NSPR
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NSPR
Olives in various states of ripeness adorn a tree at Calolea Olive Oil Co., in Loma Rica, Yuba County.

As consumers learn more about quality and nuances, Tagami said, demand will only increase.

“In Europe and North Africa, there are some amazing oils,” she says. “Very high quality, and you pay for that because the producers take extra pains to harvest at a certain time, mill in a certain way and blend to achieve what they think is the optimal flavor for that olive in that place and time. And in America, it’s no different.” 

Lucero has been actively planting. They’ll have 50 percent more fruiting trees in coming years. With capacity at the mill limited, the company is diversifying its orchards into new olive varieties — 18 of them. Each with its own subtly different flavor profile. While this may entice curious shoppers perusing market shelves, it also serves a very practical purpose. Each varietal ripens at a slightly different times, allowing the harvest to proceed without bottlenecks at the mill.