A Well-Oiled Scheme?

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Rather than fight a battle with the balance sheet, many producers look to supplement their oil ventures through auxiliary income. Stockton-based Bozzano Olive Ranch hopes to establish itself first as a custom mill, pressing olives from outside orchards into oil.

It's a move the Bozzano family believes will turn the industry's typical profit timetable on its head. With trees planted in February, they're still several years away from producing any olive oil of their own but will offer custom milling to other growers in the meantime.

"There are tons of people planting olives, but not a lot of people are milling," says Joe Bozzano. "We're just getting started with our own olives, and this will help get us through those growing pains."

While he declines to share specifics, Bozzano notes that industrywide fees typically range from $300 to $400 per ton. Since even a small mill can cost upward of $100,000, a figure out of reach for most family-owned orchards, there's a healthy demand for the service.

After years of taking his fruit to an outside facility, Madison added a mill to his Yolo Press operation. In addition to revenue from usage fees, the mill provides greater control over the crushing of his fruit and helps foster a sense of community with other small producers.

"It bolsters the bottom line, but it's also part of the culture. I took my olives to another press before I had my own mill. I couldn't have started without that transitional phase, so now I'm returning the favor," Madison says.

Orchard owners Mark Nalley and Kurt Kornchuck took a different approach when they established the California Olive Oil Company. Looking to extract more profit from the olives themselves, they sell 95 percent of their fruit to the Musco Family Olive Co. in Orland. Their olive oil is produced from the remaining olives, as well as olives purchased from outside growers.

With olives generally bringing in $500 to $1,000 a ton, the system is so cost-effective it covers all orchard maintenance costs and earns a profit. Additionally, purchasing different varieties of olives allows Nalley and Kornchuck to create greater flavor variations in their oil without the expense of diversifying their own plantings. "We love olive oil, but selling the fruit pays the bills," says Nalley, who is also the California Highway Patrol's chief helicopter pilot. "We're actually looking to expand our acreage, and we'll probably sell most of that additional fruit."

While a sense of ingenuity helps, it isn't always enough.

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