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Resources

The University of California offers a number of resources for the olive grower and processor.

  • Farm Advisors.  UC Cooperative Extension offers farm advisors throughout California who are specialists in the growing conditions for their areas.  Several farm advisors have experience with olives, including Lynn Wunderlich (Amador/El Dorado Counties), Janet Caprile (Contra Costa County),  Joe Connell (Butte County), Bob Beede (Kings County), Rachel Elkins (Lake/Mendocino Counties), Paul Vossen (Sonoma/Marin Counties), Joe Grant (San Joaquin County), Bill Coates (Monterey/Santa Cruz/Santa Clara/San Benito Counties), Franz Niederholzer (Sutter/Yuba Counties), and Elizabeth Fichtner (Tulare County).   To find a farm advisor in a specific county, go to ucanr.org/County_Offices/, click on the county you want, then click on the “contact us” link on the left side of the screen.
  • Olive Research and Education.  The UC Davis Olive Center website offers a schedule of events such as short courses and symposia, along with recently published research and links to other helpful sites.  Paul Vossen, farm advisor for Sonoma/Marin Counties and longtime olive oil expert, offers a number of helpful resources on olives.
  • Crop Information.  The Fruit and Nut Research Information Center offers resources on many crops, including olives.  
  • Pest Management.  The UC Davis website on Integrated Pest Management offers identification and control information for insects, diseases, and weeds. 
  • Food Safety. The UC Davis Food Safety website provides links to presentations, publications, and other websites with information related to the production, harvest, and processing of foods. The emphasis is on microbial food safety but many other subjects related to food such as biotechnology, food quality and food security are also addressed. 
  • Weeds.  The Weed Research Information Center provides weed identification and control information. 
  • Cost Studies.  The UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics provides access to all of their published cost-and-return studies on a wide range of crops, including olive studies going back to 1938. 
  • Mechanical harvesting research.  Dr. Louise Ferguson has led mechanical harvesting research project for medium-density orchards for table olives. 
  • Olive Production Manual.  The Olive Production Manual summarizes decades of UC research on orchard practices for the table olive sector, with much of the information also relevant to the oil sector.     $35 
  • Organic Olive Production Manual.  A supplement to the Olive Production Manual that covers organic olive production.    $18 
  • Olives:  Safe Methods for Home Pickling.  Free UC information on producing table olives at home.


Previous Course Presentations

Presentations are made available to past course attendees only.  If you are interested in purchasing any of the presentations listed below, please email Dan Flynn