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CapitalPress.com
Friday, August 12, 2022
OREGON OLIVE TREES
It’s a most unusual nursery
By GAIL OBERST
For the Capital Press
DALLAS, Ore. — Big
ideas can grow on small
nurseries.
Bryan Brown and Bar-
bara Porter’s Oregon Olive
Trees, situated on less than
20 acres, is home to two
unique crops: cold-tolerant
olive trees and genetically
improved Christmas tree
seed.
The husband and wife
team now own the farm
where Bryan’s dad, Ken
Brown, a retired Oregon
State University Extension
agent, 25 years ago began
developing Christmas trees
for seed, operating as West-
winds Farm. One of those
trees, a Nordmann species,
in 2021 was donated as the
official Christmas tree for
the OSU College of Forestry.
About six acres of Bar-
bara and Bryan’s farm still
feature the seed trees devel-
oped by Ken, but most of
that seed crop has been pur-
chased by a local conifer
tree nursery. Bryan said that
when his dad left the farm
two years ago, he and Bar-
bara decided to try some-
thing new.
“We decided on a new
path,” Bryan said.
That new path is lined
with olive trees. Bryan,
who’d hung around exten-
sion agents all his life, had
picked up a flyer from Javier
Fernandez-Salvador, who
headed up the OSU’s Olea
project and established the
Oregon Olive Growers
Association. Fernandez-Sal-
vador now leads a similar
project through the Univer-
sity of California-Davis.
The Olea project aims
to determine which culti-
vars are best-suited to Ore-
gon’s climates, enlisting
growers and spreading the
word about local olive prod-
ucts. Although the associa-
tion was left without staff,
the couple are determined to
continue the experiment on
their own.
Growers in Oregon have
been slowed by drought and
the pandemic — today there
are about a dozen significant
growers on less than 1,000
acres statewide.
But Brown is hopeful.
“This is the future. It’s
happening,” he said of olive
trees.
The small farm at the east
end of the Van Duzer Cor-
ridor has soils and climates
typical of the Willamette
Valley. Beginning in 2018,
the couple began planting
olive trees in their demon-
stration orchard. Today, the
orchard has 30 cultivars —
a handful of the approx-
imately 1,000 types that
grow worldwide. Oregon
Olive’s trees have survived
cold and heat — the survi-
vors dictate which species
the couple will sell to Ore-
gon buyers.
In 2019, the couple built
a greenhouse to focus on
growing small cold-tolerant
olive plants.
While most of the other
olive tree growers aim to
harvest for fruit and oil, Bar-
bara and Bryan’s operation
grows trees to sell.
Some customers pur-
chase enough trees to pro-
duce olives and oil. The pro-
duction goal in an average
year is about 20 pounds per
a mature tree. Many more
buyers have sentimental or
aesthetic reasons to plant.
Oregon homeowners and
landscapers have recently
discovered the beauty and
durability of the evergreen
olive trees.
Gail Oberst/For the Capital Press
Barbara Porter and Bryan Brown are experimenting
with olive trees suitable for growing in the Northwest.
They sell the trees from their nursery near Dallas, Ore.
Locals who have moved
here from southern climes
love the olive trees for the
memories of home the plant
recalls.
Many Oregon wineries
are planting olive orchards,
and processing the fruit to
serve to their visitors.
Selected Olea
Europaea Varieties
for Northwest Growers
•Container
•Landscape
•Orchard
Order Now for
Spring Planting
A trip to the Oregon Olive
Trees orchard — appoint-
ments recommended — will
include a tour and informa-
tion about trees suitable for
specific growing conditions.
To see the selection of trees,
visit https://oregonolivetree.
com/
Selected Olea
Europaea Varieties
for Northwest Growers
• Container
• Landscape
• Orchard
503-364-5486
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