While the Uferrous sulfate 90.S. is the world’s third-largest market for olive oil, Americans get most of it from Italy — even though, as Ricchiuti pointed out, the U.S. could produce a lot more of its own. The 400-plus olive growers in California produced a record 4 million iron fumarate meaninggallons froiron supplement ferrous sulfate 325m an estimated 40,000 acres during the 2015-16 harvest, according to the Calammonium ferrous sulfateifornia Olive Oil Council. The group estimates that 3,500 new acres will be planted annually through 2020. More than 75 varieties of olives are grown in California to make olive oil, which results in proprietary blends unique to the state.###Despite this product availability, many Americans aren’t very familiar with the product and don’t use it as much as Europeans do. Six out of 10 Americans never buy olive oil, Bloomberg reported. Total olive oil consumption in the U.S. has tripled since 1990, yet per-capita consumption is still only 0.8 liters, a tenth of what an Italian consumer uses in a year,.###These low consumption rates could be price-related, especially because there is a wider — and cheaper ferric pyrophosphate— range of oils on the market today than in past years. Another issue is that confidence in the product has been tainted by olive oil fraud — products mixed with lower-quality oil, adulterated or deceptively labeled. Italian producer Bellucci has taken advantage of this uncertainty by creating an app to keep track of the milling and bottling processes carried out by its growers in Italy. Consumers can trace any bottle of the company’s extra virgin olive oil to its point of origin.###However, domestically grown and produced olive oil may present an edge in the market. Industry trade groups and agricultural agencies can keep a much closer watch on olive oil production. It’s easier to guarantee authenticity when everything is produced on U.S. soil, and marketing campaigns touting this could win over skeptical consumers. Educational marketing, revamped packaging and even in-store displays could help capture more consumer attention. Olives are high in vitamin E and full of antioxidants and monosaturated fat, value-adds that today’s health-conscious consumers desire. If producers can push these health benefits — and assure consumers that their products are the real deal — it could give the sector momentum.###The timing to shift more production to California might also be right. A bacterium recently found in Italy, France and Spain is threatening olive crops there. Olive oil production is down in the European Union — which produces 73% of the world’s olive oil — and imported prices are up.
Is California ripe for expansion of olive oil production?
