In the U.S., “thankfully, we’re starting to plant a lot of olive trees,” said Jill Myers, founder of Women in Olive Oil, an international network of women who work in the industry. While Americans consume 90 million gallons of olive oil each year, the U.S. only produces about 5% of that, according to the American Olive Oil Producers Association. Myers described it as “a New World oil.”
She’d like to see different regions experiment with olive growing. Respective climates, soils, and altitudes result in individual terroirs. Oregon, Florida, and Arizona also have a smattering of olive oil farms.
However, the industry remains hamstrung by climate change, affecting which areas can successfully bear fruit. While olive trees resist droughts, they can’t take frosts, extreme heat, or overwatering. Plants that were once suited for certain climates no longer are, and farmers are trying to keep up with which areas support different types of production.
While the South’s olive oil production is on the rise, challenges loom ahead. The nonprofit Public Citizen determined “Texas is the U.S. state most vulnerable to climate change,” with increasing chances of hurricanes, droughts, wildfires, and floods. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency expects Georgia will grow warmer and suffer “severe” floods and droughts.
Spanish missionaries produced olive oil for the first time on American soil around 1803 in California, Marc Flacks wrote in “New Missionaries: In the olive groves of the Golden State.” Much of the state operates in a Mediterranean climate, with dry, hot summers and mild winters—weather in which olive trees thrive.
Similarly, the Texas Hill Country, a drier region in Central Texas, offers toasty temperatures that can hit cool lows. For that reason, the state has made gains with its wine vineyards.
“Texas has a lot of land. There’s a lot of grapes growing there,” said Myers, who hails from the Lone Star State. “Olives and grapes grow well together.” Sometimes, they’re even planted together, with BKWine Magazine depicting the pair as “an inseparable duo.”
Georgia contends with humidity, “but they’re also making some really good olive oil,” Myers added. At Woodpecker Trail Olive Farm, the Polings just kicked off the annual harvest, which entails handpicking the olives off more than 10,000 trees. “It’s all labor-intensive,” Curtis Poling said. “There’s no machine harvesting,” in order to better preserve the olives’ polyphenols and their sought-after health benefits.
A team of around 30 workers pick the olives, utilizing bins that hold up to 1,000 pounds each. To beat the September heat, the olives are then cooled to about 60 degrees before they’re milled within 12 hours.
“You don’t work that much all year, except for when you’re pruning,” Tracy Poling said. “The harvest day is the big day.”