Farming is an economic activity done in many parts of the world. As a matter of fact, many people depend on farming for their daily needs. Apart from providing income, the activity also leads to provision of food feeding the population. This sustains a healthy, wealthy life. There are many types of cash crops grown both locally and globally. Central coast California olive farm is among the largest farms of cash crop olive farming in the world.
Olive, which grows as olive tree is one of the major crop grown in coastal California. It is the source of olive oil which has variety of uses. It is a short and an evergreen tree squat in shape. It produces a long, thinner fleshed and usually smaller fruits. These fruits are harvested once they turn green or purple. Planting, cultivation, harvesting though seemingly easy can also be challenging.
These plants can survive in almost all the climatic conditions making them able to grow at the coast. They can grow at both sunny and moderate environs. They also adapt by retaining or not dropping their leaves surviving in almost all the types of soils. With fruit bearing, they can have fruits for almost the entire season. Since they are not tall, harvesting is a simple task.
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 experienced farmers, they will not find any difficulty in identifying the season. One should harvest before onset of rains and cold or fog as this will faced with a lot of difficulties of climbing trees among others. A group of up to three people work on one tree during harvesting.
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.
Olive, which grows as olive tree is one of the major crop grown in coastal California. It is the source of olive oil which has variety of uses. It is a short and an evergreen tree squat in shape. It produces a long, thinner fleshed and usually smaller fruits. These fruits are harvested once they turn green or purple. Planting, cultivation, harvesting though seemingly easy can also be challenging.
These plants can survive in almost all the climatic conditions making them able to grow at the coast. They can grow at both sunny and moderate environs. They also adapt by retaining or not dropping their leaves surviving in almost all the types of soils. With fruit bearing, they can have fruits for almost the entire season. Since they are not tall, harvesting is a simple task.
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 experienced farmers, they will not find any difficulty in identifying the season. One should harvest before onset of rains and cold or fog as this will faced with a lot of difficulties of climbing trees among others. A group of up to three people work on one tree during harvesting.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment