Local olive oil producers call this year's crop devastatingly low

Posted: Feb 6, 2012 6:31 PM by Nancy Chen
Updated: Feb 7, 2012 8:08 AM

Local olive oil prices may be going up soon because of a much smaller crop than usual. Olive growers say this year is one of the worst they've seen in a while, calling the yield "exceptionally small."

Farms on lower elevations in north San Luis Obispo County were hit the hardest. Several say they won't be able to sell wholesale this year, while more inland farms on higher elevations weren't hit hard at all.

Farmers say knew it'd be tough this year, but no one expected to be this tough, especially at a time when the Central Coast olive oil industry is still developing. The State Department of Food and Agriculture estimates the olive crop of 2011 statewide to be down 67 percent from 2010.

Growers are coming off the heels of a record high yield, which stressed the trees for this year.

"What we had last year, it's a thing that happens maybe every fifty years," said Yves Julien, who owns Olea Farm in Templeton with his wife Clotilde.

Most olive crops grown on the Central Coast are bi-annual, and so this year was already supposed to be a slow year. However, two cold days in April prevented pollination, which meant even worse news.

"We had a lot of flowers, but pollination didn't happen," Julien said. "And that's why the crop was so bad."

Julien calls himself lucky; he and his wife got about 60 percent of last year's crop, but others are struggling to get even 10 percent.

Olio Nuevo called its harvest "exceptionally small" on its website, announcing the suspension of most wholesale and bulk sales. Similarly, Pasolivo announced on its website that none of its extra virgin olive oils will be available wholesale until the end of the year; it also says it will have to slightly increase prices to make up the difference.

"That's the problem when you start building customers, and then you don't have enough oil to provide them," Julien said. "And what's going to happen? They can go back to European olive oil."

However, he says the local industry as a whole will still intact because of all the new farmers entering the market, which will help make up for the individual low yield.

Julien says he doesn't doubt the great potential of the olive oil industry in North San Luis Obispo County.

"For a French guy, it's a dream to live here," he said. "For an olive tree, it's a dream to be in North County. Same thing."