Apr 7, 2007

Willamette Valley Couple Thinks It’ll Work

The experts told David Lett he couldn’t grow Pinot Noir winegrapes in Oregon’s cold, soggy Willamette Valley.

But Lett, considered by many the father of Oregon’s modern wine industry, proved them wrong.

Now, four decades later, Larry and Dawn Monagon of Keizer hope to have the same success Lett had, only this time with a totally different crop: olives.

Unlike Lett and other Oregon winegrape pioneers who planted mostly French-origin Burgundian grapes, the Monagons are letting the dice roll with close to 40 olive varieties – many of them numbered experimental cultivars yet to prove themselves commercially – from eight countries.

“We’re trying to see which ones are more tolerant of our kind of climate here,” Larry said.

If anything, the Monagons, who have named Oregon’s first commercial olive orchard Victory Estates after the agricultural triumph they hope to achieve, are persistent.

Not only have they traveled all the way to the University of California at Davis to take courses in growing and processing olives, they’ve weathered naysayers in California who tell them there’s no way the Mediterranean crop can be grown in the Willamette Valley.

What’s more, the Monagons have gotten little if any advice, or encouragement, at the local level, and any scraps of information they do pick up have emanated from research done in warmer, rain-free climes.

The Monagons are getting assistance with a business plan, however, from the Food Innovation Center in Portland, which is a joint venture between the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) and Oregon State University.

The Monagons are doing their experimenting on three acres of drip-irrigated ground beside their Keizer home, which lies just north of Salem.

The first planting, around 100 trees, went in on a 12-foot by 12-foot spacing in 2002. Later, 1,200 trees, all of the Spanish Arbequina variety, were planted in a high-density format directly behind the house.

The third block has about 40 trees, many of them replicates of cultivars found in the first planting.

The Monagons went heavy into the Arbequinas because they were told that it’s the variety that would do best in Oregon.

Most of the planting stock, which is on its own roots, came from North America Plants in Lafayette, Ore.

Some trees have come out of California, but there are concerns about that source because of fears that olive fly, which has ruined a lot of trees in that state, could be hitching a ride on nursery stock headed out of state.

“They’re (California growers) really hurting because it’s spread just like our filbert blight here,” said Dawn.

All California stock on the Monagon farm was inspected by ODA for various pests and diseases, including Sudden Oak Death.

Larry Monagon said that the couple planted olives for two reasons.

“It’s a niche crop no one else is trying,” he said.

The couple also likes the health aspects of olives, which have been highly touted in the press.

The Monagons originally planted many of their trees, especially the Arbequinas, intending to convert all the fruit into olive oil. But since then, they’ve put in some table varieties and are considering harvesting some of the Arbequinas, which produce a smaller berry, for table use as well. Eventually, they plan to brine some of the fruit.

The 2005 crop, all of which was made into olive oil, was considerably larger than their first harvest last year, which yielded only about a gallon of oil. Olives processed for oil are pressed, or milled, in the green state.

The Monagons’ little olive trees have curious neighbors and passersby knocking on their door.

“We get a lot of people who stop by and say, ‘Those are weird looking apple trees,’” Larry said.

Encouraged by what they’ve experienced so far, the Monagons are looking into leasing land to expand their operation.

“It’s a pretty delicate balance,” Dawn said. “They do fine here, but we don’t know if we went over to, say, Dallas (about 20 miles west), where it’s a little bit colder, if they’d do OK.”

The Monagons would like to see olives grow in the valley and a number of growers get involved.

“I think the more people we have trying it, the more we all can learn,” Larry said.

“I’ve lived in the valley all my life and you see crops come and go,” Dawn said. “I think that olives, hopefully, are going to be one that will stay around for a long time.”