From the Fields - Sean McCauley

By Sean McCauley, Contra Costa County olive and field crops farmer

We just finished harvesting our olive crop right before the rain. That was the last crop of the year that we brought in. It was a relatively good year. Tonnage-wise, we got in the upper quartile of what we typically get. We probably had 5% to 10% less tonnage than last year, which is not very much difference. But the crop was also later. We were probably two weeks to four weeks later on the harvest schedule. This year was the latest to harvest. We had some challenges, but we got all the crop in.

We had a good crop last year, but the fruit quality was just better this year. It was the best quality oil that we’ve had. In Northern California, we had a relatively mild summer. It didn’t get really hot for very long like it did last year, so our fruit didn’t ripen as fast. I believe we only had maybe three days in a row of hundred-degree weather, whereas last year, we were in hundred-degree weather for a month.

Overall, the fruit ripened slower, and the quality of oil and polyphenol counts were higher. I think as the fruit ripened slower, it made a better quality oil. That was good news. Plus, the crop was decent. We believe weather and what went on in our climate this summer was a benefit for us.

Last year, we planted about a thousand acres of wheat, which is the crop we harvested this year. Our problem was it was too wet. It was crazy rain. It was unprecedented up here. The amount of water we got was good, and the wheat that we got was good, but a lot of it got flooded out. We planted another thousand acres this year of dry-farm wheat. We’ll see what happens.