California’s Musco Family Olive Company was recognized for its ongoing efforts to increase domestic supply while being handed a victory from unfair foreign competition.

The International Trade Commission gave U.S. processors of ripe olives, including Musco, a victory recently by extending antidumping and countervailing duties on Spanish ripe olives. Within that decision was the recognition of Musco Family Olive Company for its effort to increase its domestic supply.

Within the 227-page ITC report outlining its unanimous decision to continue with antidumping and countervailing duty charges on Spanish ripe olives is the recognition of Musco’s efforts to increase its domestic supply of table olives.

The ITC’s 227-page report includes recognition of Musco to boost domestic production and reduce its need to buy imported fruit. Musco argues that the California-grown olives are preferred by food service buyers because of their improved quality over imported olives.

“Going forward, Musco expects to reduce its reliance on imported raw materials because, in its view, the domestic crop outlook for the next few years appears strong,” according to the ITC report.

Felix Musco, president and CEO of Musco Family Olive Company applauded the ITC for recognizing his company’s modern acreage initiative, which will help the company achieve this goal.

Related:Musco ready to deliver on 'million tree' promise

New nursery stock

Musco began working several years ago with Agromillora USA to breed nursery stock for new table olive acreage in California. Those trees can handle the rigors of mechanical harvesting by shaking fruit from the trees onto a catch frame harvester like that used to harvest prunes and pistachios. This compares to the longstanding cultural practice of hand harvesting table olives, which has become growingly more expensive due to added labor costs.

Musco’s Modern Acreage Initiative seeks to provide trees at no cost to farmers willing to sell olives to Musco Family Olive Company.

According to Dennis Burreson, vice president of field operations and industry affairs for Musco Family Olive Company, the modern table olive orchards will increase tree counts to almost 250 trees per acre on a planting density of 18 feet by 10 feet. This compares to 80 trees per acre in established orchards that require hand harvesting.

A study by the University of California suggests that the denser plantings of trees and mechanical harvesting will make growing table olives profitable again for California farmers. The study assumed a hypothetical orchard of 40 acres farmed by the owner.

Related:Musco Family Olive Company optimistic of industry's future

Burrison said the new field dimensions and practices could double yields to about eight tons per acre while reducing harvesting costs to about one-third of hand-harvested orchards.

Musco’s CEO remains optimistic that, as the rate of inflation slows in consumer packaged goods, demand for ripe olives should return to pre-pandemic levels and improve sales of their branded products.

“The added California supply will enable Musco to sell again to the enormous U.S. foodservice market, which we have lost over the years due to unfair foreign prices,” he said.