U.S. olive producers have switched over wholesale to producing growing the fruit for oil, and foreign growers have filled domestic demand for processed olive, according to a new USDA report.
Until 2000, nearly all U.S. olive production was canned. But the share of California olive production that is crushed for oil has gone from 10% in 2005 to more than 75% as of 2022, USDA says. Meanwhile, imports accounted for 80% of the U.S. supply of processed olives by the early 2020s, up from 40% in the early 1990s.
It’s easy to be “in the know” about what’s happening in Washington, D.C. Sign up for a FREE month of Agri-Pulse news! Simply click here.
The shift in production from table olives to olive oil "has been driven by increases in labor costs and import competition, as well as technological advancements that have made harvesting olive oil-type cultivars quicker and less expensive," the report says. Olives had historically been harvested by hand.
According to data from USDA’s 2022 ag census, 84% of the U.S. olive-bearing area, with 1,600 operations spread over 41,828 acres. Most of the production is concentrated in the northern Sacramento Valley and southern San Joaquin Valley.For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com
