From Stone Fruit to Olive Oil: How a California Farm Reinvented Itself

A fourth-generation California farming family made a major decision nearly two decades ago: move away from thousands of acres of stone fruit and bet on a crop that could offer a different future. On the latest AgNet News Hour, Vincent Ricchiuti shares how that decision ultimately led to Enzo Olive Oil and a California olive oil operation now competing on the world stage.

Ricchiuti's family has deep roots in Central Valley agriculture. His great-grandfather came to the United States from Italy in 1914, and subsequent generations built the operation around crops including peaches, plums, nectarines and almonds.

But by 2008, the economics of stone fruit were changing.

Ricchiuti said declining consumption, increasing competition from year-round imported produce and the labor-intensive nature of stone fruit led the family to reconsider its crop mix. Ultimately, they removed roughly 2,500 acres of stone fruit, expanded their almond acreage and dedicated several hundred acres to something new: olives for olive oil.

"We were able to rechart the course of the business," Ricchiuti said. "You don't get a lot of opportunities to be able to do that."

The family didn't enter the olive oil business casually. Ricchiuti traveled to Italy with his grandfather to study olive mills, equipment and production methods before the operation's first harvest in 2011.

Today, Enzo uses a distinctly California approach. Instead of the widely spaced, traditionally hand-harvested orchards common in Europe, its olives are planted densely and mechanically harvested, allowing fruit to move quickly from the tree to the mill.

The results have gained international recognition. Ricchiuti said Enzo has earned more than 500 awards for taste and quality since 2012, including honors in Italy.

Yet Ricchiuti sees an enormous opportunity still ahead. He said roughly 96 percent of olive oil consumed in the United States is imported, making one of the industry's biggest challenges convincing American consumers to reach for California-grown oil instead.

From changing crops to studying production in Italy and building a vertically integrated brand, Ricchiuti's story offers a fascinating example of how a multigenerational California farm can adapt without walking away from agriculture.

Listen to Part 1 of the full interview with Vincent Ricchiuti on the AgNet News Hour.