Land Usage - Musco Family Olive Co.

“Modern acreage is a great fit for California agriculture. Table olives are a hearty tree which provide attractive diversification versus other crops.”

~ Dennis Burreson, VP of Field Operations and Industry Affairs, Musco Family Olive Co.

Land Application

Trees live much longer than other crops–literally hundreds of years–with maximum productivity between 5-50+ years old
Harvest is later than other crops
Olives do well in marginal soil; plenty of vacant land exists that would be ideal for olive orchard cultivation
Modern acreage plantings are much higher profit for growers because they are denser and higher yield: 200-250 trees per acre vs. traditional 80)

Higher Density Maximizes Land Use and Profit

Modern High-Density Orchard
(200–250 Trees/Acre)

Traditional Orchard
(80 Trees/Acre)

Musco is committed to California and we are spearheading the industry’s transition to modern acreage via the model orchard at one of our contracted growers.

California Orchards

The Burreson Ranch 100+ acre model orchard pictured above is 18 x 12 feet—these trees are now 12 years old and have been successfully mechanically harvested for the past 5 years
Ideal is no closer than 10 feet between trees in order to accommodate mechanical harvesters: trunk-shaking equipment
Land preparation is essentially the same for mechanical as it is for traditional plantings
Several major growing regions across California (shown yellow) are ideal for olives

Building California’s
Crop of the Future
In Partnership with the
UC Davis Olive Center

Table Olives 2.0

Land Application

Musco is committed to California and we are spearheading the industry’s transition to modern acreage via the model orchard at one of our contracted growers.

California Orchards