An Overview On Central Coast California Olive Farm

By Brenda Warner


There are many forms of economic activities all round the world farming being one of them. A number of people actually live on farming. They do it for to meet their basic needs. In addition to provision of income, farming is beneficial for provision of food. This leads to healthy living. Various cash crops are grown at various places. This is to feed both the local and worldwide market. A good example is the central coast California olive farm.

The source of olive is the its tree. This tree has been growing in the coast of California for a long period of time. The product of this plant is olive oil. The oil is known worldwide and has many applications. The tree is short, squatted and always green. They bore long, thin fleshed and small fruits. An indication of ripe fruits is when they turn purple or green. Managing the crops can be described to be both easy and at the same time difficult.

One factor that has made the plant grow well even in the coast is the fact that it can withstand majority of the climatic conditions. This means that the plant is adaptable to both sun and temperate conditions. The trees also adapt to various soils and retain their leaves preventing them from drying up. They can also bear fruit all round the year. Harvesting of the fruits is easy as they are short.

Currently, many cash crops have developed a mechanized system of harvest. This however is not true when it comes to this plant. Mechanization does not go well with its harvest. It is even proven that the quality of the resultant oil goes down with an increase in mechanization systems used. This means therefore that high quality oil results from manual work of picking them manually with the use of hands.

Manual harvesting can be done in two ways. The methods include harvesting while placing in the baskets and the second being harvesting with the use of nets. The first method is the best but is not such effective and cost incurring. The second in which long sticks and rakes are used with the net is more effective and cheap.

As said earlier, there are limited methods of mechanized harvesting of olive. The reason behind this is that the machines will damage the tree branches and leaves. The first method of machine harvesting involve using a machine to shake off the fruits from the tree. The second involves the machine covering the tree and sucking off the oil. Harvesting should be done at the right weather conditions. This will help net a good harvest.

Experienced farmers will always not fall out identifying the correct season to harvest. This involves noting the season when rains are not heavy, there is moderate cold and less fog that may hinder the harvesting process. During harvesting, three people are enough to deal with one tree.

Small scale olive farmers usually employ the use of family labor during the harvesting period. Large plantations with many trees will require external source of labor to help during this period. With them however, they are faced with a challenge of inadequate labor as many persons do not enjoy farm work.




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