UC Davis Olive Center Fact Sheet

UC Davis Olive Center Fact Sheet
January 14, 2008

What will the Olive Oil Center do?

The center's mission is to enhance the economic viability of the California olive industry.

In the land-grant university tradition, UC Davis intends to bring together the academic expertise necessary to help the California olive industry overcome the current stagnation in its table-olive sector and to provide guidance in developing production methods for the growing olive-oil sector.

The center plans to develop olive-related courses for UC Davis students, conduct research in a variety of fields and provide continuing-education short courses for members of the olive industry.

Why is UC Davis starting this center?

The University of California has a distinguished history of collaborating with the olive industry stretching back to 1898, when UC Berkeley Professor Eugene Hilgard and pioneering California olive producer Frieda Ehman worked together to develop a canning process for black ripe olives.

During the past decade, University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisors and specialists have coordinated olive-oil production short courses, olive-oil sensory evaluation short courses and educational grower tours to Europe. They also helped start the California Olive Oil Council, developed the first International Olive Oil Council taste panel recognized outside the Mediterranean region, collected industry productions statistics and developed a cost study to help assess the crop's investment potential. The university also has conducted research on high-density planting systems, pruning levels, mechanical harvest, variety evaluation, orchard irrigation, plant nutrition, disease management and olive fruit fly control.

Today, UC Davis has internationally recognized authorities in key areas related to olive production and processing. The campus also has a young, but successful, olive-oil production program and more than 2,000 olive trees, which comprise the most extensive collection of olive varieties in North America.

How is it being financed?

The center has received $75,000 in seed funding from the campus's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the Office of Research. Startup funds totaling $25,000 also have been provided by industry affiliates. Proceeds from the campus olive-oil production program will help provide operational funding for the center, which hopes to attract further funding from state and federal agencies, and industry.

What kind of equipment will be required?

The new center will include state-of-the-art milling equipment. In fall 2008, the Olive Center plans be processing olive oil with the equipment.

Where will it be housed?

The center's administrative headquarters will be in the academic wing of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science complex, which is under construction and scheduled for completion in June 2008. The milling equipment will initially be housed in the Department of Food Science and Technology's food-processing plant and later moved to a new campus facility that will be built in the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science complex. Classes and research activities will be housed in a variety of campus locations.

Who from the university will be involved with the center?

The center will be coordinated by Executive Director Dan Flynn, who also manages the UC Davis olive-oil production program. Faculty co-directors will be plant scientist Vito Polito and food scientist Charles Shoemaker. More than 30 individuals from the fields of plant science, food science, agricultural economics and agricultural engineering have expressed interest in participating in the new center. These include campus researchers and University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisors.

How will the olive industry be involved?

Members of the California olive industry have been instrumental in helping UC Davis define the practical problems that might be addressed by the center. The industry also has provided startup funds for the new center. The campus hopes that members of the industry will participate in public outreach courses and maintain ongoing communications with university researchers.

BACKGROUND ON CALIFORNIA OLIVES:

Are olive trees native to California?

No. Olive trees originated in Asia Minor, spreading about 6,000 years ago from Iran, Syria and Palestine to the rest of the Mediterranean region. Records show that in the mid-1500s, olive tree cuttings were taken by the Spaniards to Peru. In the 1700s, Franciscan monks brought olives to Mexico and northward as they established the California mission system. The first recorded planting of an olive tree in California was in 1769 at Mission San Diego de Alcala.

How old is the California olive industry?

Commercial olive farming in California began in the late 1800s, primarily in the valleys of Central and Northern California. Those early olive crops went into olive-oil production but, in the early 1900s, the industry shifted, as canning technology resulted in higher returns for table olives than for oil. Today, 90 percent of California's olive production is for canned olives, with only 10 percent crushed for oil. This is just the opposite of Spain, the world's leading olive producer, which grows 90 percent of its olive crop for oil and only 10 percent for cured olive products.

How big is the California olive industry?

California is the only state in the nation producing a commercially significant crop of olives. Approximately 70 to 80 percent of the ripe olives consumed in the United States come from California. While the olive is an important specialty crop for California, the state's olive industry is dwarfed by that of Spain. For example, a 2002 Census of Agriculture indicated that California had 39,591 acres of olives grown on 1,549 farms, while Spain had more than 5.6 million acres of olives grown by 571,150 producers.

During the past 25 years, health-conscious consumers have led a revival in olive oil as a flavorful alternative to vegetable oils. Demand for olive oil has doubled during the past 10 years. California now produces about 400,000 gallons of olive oil annually.

The development in recent years of new tree varieties that can be efficiently machine-harvested has also led to large new plantings of olive trees. Industry experts forecast that California's volume of olive oil will increase by 500 percent in the next five years.

Which are the leading olive-producing counties in California?

The top olive-producing counties in California are Tulare, Tehama and Glenn counties.

What olive varieties are grown in California?

California farmers grow dozens of different olive types. The five most important California table-olive varieties are the Manzanillo, Sevillano, Mission, Ascolano and Barouni. The Manzanillo represents the most acreage, while the Sevillano and Ascolano are valued for their larger olive size. Olive-oil producers have planted large numbers of the Arbequina, Arbosana, Koroneiki, Frantoio, Mission, Manzanillo and Leccino varieties.

More information about California olives is available online from:

The UC Fruit and Nut Research and Information Center: http://fruitsandnuts.ucdavis.edu/crops/olive.shtml
The California Olive Oil Council: http://www.cooc.com/

Media contact(s):
• Dan Flynn, Olive Center, (916) 825-7536 (, jdflynn@ucdavis.edu
• Pat Bailey, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-9843, pjbailey@ucdavis.edu


UC Davis Launches New Olive Center
January 14, 2008

Hoping to do for olives and olive oil what it has done for grapes and wine, the University of California, Davis, today launched the first university-based olive research and education center in North America.

Plans for the new UC Davis Olive Center, which is part of the university's Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, were unveiled in San Diego during the international Winter Fancy Food Show, a gathering of 16,000 retailers, restaurateurs and other vendors of specialty foods.

The center has been established with a combined $75,000 in seed funding from the campus's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the Office of Research. Startup funds totaling $25,000 also have been provided by Corto Olive, the Musco Family Olive Co., Bell-Carter Foods, the California Olive Oil Council and the California Olive Ranch.

"The university had the privilege of helping move California wines into the world's highest rankings," said Dan Flynn, executive director of the new center. "Now we look forward to harnessing UC Davis' research expertise to help vault California olives and olive oil into that same league."

Neal Van Alfen, dean of UC Davis' College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences said: "This is the beginning of a historic new partnership with one of the state's most promising industries. We are confident that it will lead to advances in olive growing and processing, and a better understanding of the link between olive products and consumer health."

Alan Greene, president of the California Olive Oil Council and a vice president of the California Olive Ranch, said: "The olive center will help all olive producers, large and small, tackle the pressing challenges facing our industry. We anticipate that the center will enhance the economic viability of the California olive industry in an extremely competitive international marketplace."

UC Davis, with its faculty of plant and food scientists plus more than 2,000 olive trees in the campus landscape and research orchards, is uniquely positioned to host the new center. Its olive trees comprise what is thought to be the most extensive collection of olive trees in North America.

In 2005, UC Davis began pressing and processing olive oil from its trees, using the proceeds to help cover the cost of maintaining the trees. In 2007, the campus processed 425 gallons, which translated into 6,500 bottles of olive oil. The campus's three olive-oil blends earned silver and bronze awards at the 2007 Los Angeles International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition.

Flynn, who manages UC Davis' olive oil production program, said the new center's initial priorities will include strengthening California's olive oil labeling statutes, conducting research on issues identified by olive-oil and table-olive producers, and identifying better laboratory methods for detecting adulterated olive oil. The center also plans to establish a certified-organic olive orchard and will develop a research taste panel to help improve the quality of olive oils.

Serving as faculty co-directors for the center will be Charles Shoemaker, a professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology, and Vito Polito, a professor in the Department of Plant Sciences.

More than 30 individuals from UC Davis and the UC Cooperative Extension have expressed interest in participating in the center. They represent a variety of disciplines including plant sciences, food science, agricultural economics and agricultural engineering.

The center's program will be devoted to teaching, research and educational activities. As planned, the teaching component will eventually include a general-education class on olive oil; student internships; and short courses on olive growing, and olive-oil processing and sensory evaluation.

An olive-oil processing plant will be placed in the new Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science complex, which is under construction and scheduled for completion in June 2008. The new Olive Center will include state-of-the-art milling equipment. The Olive Center plans to begin processing olive oil with the equipment in fall 2008.

The olive-oil processing plant will enable the center to examine the impact of different olive varieties, environmental factors and growing practices on olive-oil quality. Researchers affiliated with the center will also explore potential health benefits of olives and olive oil, pest management strategies and mechanical harvesting improvements.

In the area of public outreach, the center will offer short courses on the production and sensory evaluation of olive oil. It also will develop an informational Web site and library. And, the Robert Mondavi Institute will showcase olive trees in its edible organic garden.

The University of California has a long history in olive-related research, teaching and outreach, stretching back to 1898 when UC Berkeley Professor Eugene Hilgard and pioneering California olive producer Frieda Ehmann worked together to develop a canning process for black ripe olives. That tradition continues today through the efforts of UC Davis researchers and UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors.


Additional information:
Olive Center fact sheet


Media contact(s):
• Dan Flynn, Olive Center, (916) 825-7536, jdflynn@ucdavis.edu
• Pat Bailey, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-9843, pjbailey@ucdavis.edu



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