The Case for California Olives

Laura Avery

Mirror contributing writer

   It is no accident that the most popular sized olive is the one that can fit on the end of the fingertips and pop into the mouth one at a time. Or that the vast majority of California olives are commercially processed, black and come in a can. In fact, outside of a green olive on the end of a toothpick in a martini glass, the average consumer’s exposure to olives is the random chunks found in pizza toppings and Mexican foods – large, “ripe” one-size-fits-all Manzanilla olives.
   In fact, Fred and David Adams, fourth and fifth generation olive growers in California are carrying on the tradition began by Dave’s his great-great grandfather, who began farming Manzanillas in Sunland, California in 1880. He was a preacher and one of Sunland’s founding fathers, and the family has photos taken when families used to gather for Sunday picnics at Oak Park near a small lake that remains today. Family lore has it that Fred’s great-great, the preacher, learned how to process olives using a vat fermentation method. So successful was he that he founded the Sunland Olive Company in 1907, which employed 160 workers, but originally the olives were a way for him to gain entry into some of the local bars, where a jar of olives gave him an opportunity to speak to some of the local patrons and possibly seek a convert or two. 
   By 1954, urban development had taken over the Adams’ olive ranch in Sunland, and Sunland Olive Company closed. Dave’s great-grandfather moved his family of eight children up to the Porterville area and began buying land for new olive orchards. By 1964 Dave’s father Fred and Fred’s father were both farming olives, Fred in Lindsey and his father in Porterville. Fred got more involved with small-scale processing and began using several different cures for bottled olives that would be sold exclusively at Farmers’ Markets, roadside stands, and specialty distributors. The last of the Adams’ mass-produced canned ripe olive labels was sold just two years ago to Musco Olive Products, one of the two remaining canneries in California.
   Fred Adams and his son David now farm on 55 acres in and around Lindsey. They use five different cures for their bottled olives, which are either the Manzanilla, the Mission or the Sevilliano variety, and the olives are harvested at different stages of ripeness for each process, from the green, to pink, to the fully ripe black stage. The Calamata –processed olive is picked at the pink stage. The name Calamata is copyrighted by a town in Greece where the process originated, so the Adams’ refer to theirs as a Calamata-type olive. Their black olives gain color by hanging on the trees until they turn completely black, whereas commercially processed black olives are picked green, then treated with both lye and ferrous glutinate to add the dark color. The Adams’ also do their original salt process, where very black ripe olives are layered with rock salt and left to cure for up to nine months. 
   Sadly, other olive growers in Fred and Dave’s neighborhood are being forced out of business by cheaper imports from Morocco and Spain. The world’s largest consumer of olives is Pizza Hut, followed by Domino’s and Taco Bell. Imported processed black olives cost $18 per case, while a case of Californias is $24. Unbelievably, it would cost only an additional three cents per pizza to cover the cost difference and to keep many California olive growers in business. 
   As is the case for many of their fellow farmers, the Adams’ feel lucky when they have a break-even year, like they did last year. Now they are looking ahead to the imminent arrival of a mechanical harvester, which is due to be unveiled at the huge annual farm equipment show in Tulare. Machine harvesting would cut their labor costs considerably; $50 per ton to machine harvest as opposed to $350 per ton to harvest by hand. Farmers need to make $350 per ton on their olives to cover expenses. In preparation for a new era of mechanical harvesting, Dave Adams has had to “hedge” his trees by cutting them evenly along one side so that the big harvesting machine can go through the orchards and do its job efficiently and even then approximately 25% of the olives would be left unpicked.
   The Adams’s and their olive orchards, some with 80-year old trees, are definitely planning to stay in the business. Direct sales at Farmers’ Markets and at roadside stands have encouraged them to resurrect the old “Sunland” olive label, complete with the original artwork. Innovation, perseverance and a love of farming have kept this five-generation olive farming family going, albeit with a rueful look at the difficulties that 120 years of olive growing have brought them. 
   So how about leaving an extra nickel on the counter the next time you visit your local Pizza Hut?