الجمعة، 20 نوفمبر 2015

An Article On Central Coast California Olive Farm

By Brenda Warner


There are many forms of economic activities all round the world farming being one of them. A number of people actually live on farming. They do it for to meet their basic needs. In addition to provision of income, farming is beneficial for provision of food. This leads to healthy living. Various cash crops are grown at various places. This is to feed both the local and worldwide market. A good example is the central coast California olive farm.

The source of olive is the its tree. This tree has been growing in the coast of California for a long period of time. The product of this plant is olive oil. The oil is known worldwide and has many applications. The tree is short, squatted and always green. They bore long, thin fleshed and small fruits. An indication of ripe fruits is when they turn purple or green. Managing the crops can be described to be both easy and at the same time difficult.

The ability of the olive plant to grow in sunny and temperate environments is what has made it survive the climatic conditions of the coast. It is able to thrive in many types of soils by its ability to retain its leaves without them falling off. The plant can also bear fruits almost all year round. Harvesting of the fruits is not a difficult task. With the fact that the tree does not grow high, reaching the fruits is not a difficult job.

In this century, most cash crops have a mechanized way of harvest. This does not work with olives. This is because mechanization does not favor this crops. As a matter of fact, the increased level of mechanization used the more the depreciating the value of oil. For a higher quality oil therefore, you should ensure that you use limited mechanization during harvesting. This involves hand picking.

There are two methods of harvesting by hand. The first one involves use of a basket. Here, the workers pick the fruits by hand and placing them into the baskets. It is the best method but less effective and more costly. The second method is by picking with a net. In this method, fruits are picked using long sticks and plastic rakes and collected into the net. It is more efficient compared to the first method.

Mechanization has not really evolved in olive harvesting. This is because the use of the machines can lead to leave and branch damages. The mostly used method involves the machine being used to shake the plant to drop the fruits. Secondly, the machine envelopes the plant and sucks the oil from it. Correct weather conditions ensures a good harvest.

For those farmers with experience, they will not face any challenge establishing the correct season for harvest. The right weather conditions being during no rains and strong cold with fog that will interfere with the process of harvesting. Presence of these conditions will hinder the process including climbing of trees and other activities in the field.

For farmers with few number of trees, harvesting is usually a family affair. Those with large scale plantations need to hire labor though this has been a challenge as many young people do not like agricultural or farming activities.




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