Olives as ag venture generating success

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas Edition

Jack Dougherty has created a successful agribusiness with olives. While studying to plant a vineyard, he found the soil and conditions in the Wimberley area are conducive for growing the crop. -Staff photo by Taylor

March 20, 2003 -- Unless you have about $100,000 and a lot of patience, owning an olive orchard may not be for you.

While olive trees can be traced back at least 23 centuries ago in other parts of the world, they are a new crop to Texas ... much less, a successful one.

"The oldest recorded picking of fruit is close to 2,300 years ago, and it's on a tree in the Garden of the Trinity Church in Jerusalem," said Jack Dougherty of the Bella Vista Ranch in Wimberley. "Olive trees, unlike other fruit trees, once they begin to produce, will produce virtually every year of their life."

While many people have enjoyed the benefits of olive oil for a number of years, there has been a real surge toward its use in the past few years. The oil is also attracting younger consumers.

According to Dougherty, several producers have tried to grow olive trees in Texas, but none have met with the success he has achieved since planting the trees in 1998.

Dougherty initially had plans to plant a vineyard after moving to Texas from California in the mid-1990s; but after taking a course from Texas A&M University Extension Service, he changed his mind. But while researching his ideas, he read about olive trees and Texas. Having grown up around orchards all his life, looking at the area and studying the soil made him realize olive trees just might stand a chance in the Hill Country, too.

While many assume that land for any crop needs to contain rich soil, olive trees thrive in harsh soil. A high pH is necessary, but rocky, dry, soil works just great.

"The worse the soil, the better they (olive trees) do!" laughed Dougherty. "It's a drought-oriented tree. It's a tree that grows in the desert and up the sides of mountains."

Although Dougherty found that between 45 to 50 attempts to grow olive trees had been made in Texas, from the Red River to Laredo, most had failed.

Yet after much study and preparation, he purchased trees and planted his orchard in 1998.

He said that while many producers want to look toward the produce first, he felt he needed to learn how to grow the trees.

"We need to learn how to grow the trees, first, and not worry about the end results. We'll get a good result, but we'll never be able to produce a really fine, world-class olive oil until we know how to grow the trees," explained Dougherty.

The biggest hurtle to overcome has been the rapid changes in Texas weather.

While many other parts of the world witness temperature changes, Texas has more rapid, severe changes in temperature, and later in the spring. Cold spells in late February through mid-March are capable of damaging the trees and ruining the promise of a good crop of olives.

"If you go too far south in the state, you don't get any fruit because it's not cold enough in the winter time. If you go too far north, it's too cold all of the time," Dougherty noted.

The ideal climate would include a fall which starts in late October, where a daytime temperature drops below 70 degrees and nights stay above 32 degrees.

"In the winter, nighttime temperatures should range in the 35 to 40 degree range and a high of 50 degrees. In the spring, it warms up, slowly, so that by about March 15, it gets up to around 75 degrees during the daytime, and nighttime temperatures get about 40 degrees. Preferably, you want it to be on the high side in the spring time," Dougherty continued.

It's not that the trees can't withstand cold temperatures, but if the temperatures drop too quickly and/or the freeze hangs on too long, damage to the trees can result.

After recent freezing temperatures, late in the season, Dougherty is not sure how it will affect this year's crop of olives. He said although he had a good crop in 2001, he has had three years when the trees had freeze damage.

"The good news is olive trees grow very good in Texas, and the bad news is the trees grow well in Texas," said Dougherty.

Since they are a sub-tropical, evergreen tree, the sap is always running and vulnerable to freezing temperatures.

Dougherty has seven varieties of olive trees, but said that most of them are Mission plants, because they are cold tolerant and produce a fairly good crop on a consistent basis.

He said there are two things you can do with olives: press them into olive oil, or can the fruit.

The processing equipment, alone, is enough to deter many from producing the products.

"We process olives right here. In the Italian language, there's a word called 'frantoio.' That has three meanings and it defines the most predominate variety of tree actually growing in Tuscany, which is considered the best olive oil producer," said Dougherty.

The second meaning of the word means the building and all components where the olive oil is actually produced. Finally, the third meaning of the word is actually a description of the olive oil press.

Dougherty owns the first equipment purchased in the United States, and said it was delivered straight from Tuscany, shortly before 9-11. Since then, he and partners have added a smaller press to a ranch in Phoenix, and five others have been purchased across the United States.

At Bella Vista Ranch, the olives are processed, tested, placed in bottles or cans, labeled and are ready for sale. Most olive oils available in retail stores are not really fresh, according to Dougherty, since "fresh" is considered to come from the most recent year's crop of olives.

Along with the olive orchard, Dougherty and his wife, Pat, raise a small herd of Red Brangus cattle, along with 1,000 blackberry bushes, 300 raspberry plants, a wide variety of other fruits and vegetables "usually not grown in this region" which includes cherries, almonds, apricots, artichokes and French and English lavender. He claims to be an "amateur chef," and has jams, jellies and sauces to prove it. Visitors are welcome in the orchard and frantoio on tours, and to hand-pick berries in season.

After a hard day of work on the ranch, Dougherty says he finds satisfaction in that he is doing what he's always wanted to be doing.

"If you're going to be happy, you've got to be satisfied," he added.