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The Lone Star State is about to get its first con­fer­ence for a bur­geon­ing olive indus­try.

The day­long con­fer­ence, sched­uled for June 16, 2017, at the Freeman Coliseum Expo Hall A, in San Antonio, is aimed at both aspir­ing and estab­lished grow­ers.
See Also: Texas Olive Growers Stake Their Claim

The event, the first of its kind in Texas, is hosted by the Texas Association of Olive Oil (TXAOO), and directed by Texas A&M; University’s AgriLife Extension pro­gram and the Texas Department of Agriculture.

The con­fer­ence, like much of the olive oil indus­try in Texas, is brand new. TXAOO was founded just last year, and olive oil pro­duc­tion is still quite small in the sec­ond-largest U.S. State.

Fellow olive grow­ers from nearby California are sup­port­ive of the Texan indus­try, and some will be speak­ers at the June 16 event are from California, includ­ing Adam Engelhardt, pres­i­dent of U.S. Operations of Boundary Bend Olives, who will dis­cuss how to estab­lish an orchard; and Mary Bolton, direc­tor of tech­ni­cal ser­vices for California Olive Ranch, who will explain the reg­u­la­tory envi­ron­ment for olives.

The con­fer­ence con­cludes with an olive oil tast­ing and cock­tail recep­tion at the Hyatt Riverwalk Downtown.

Texan pro­duc­ers are invited to dis­play bot­tles of their prod­ucts at the con­fer­ence. The full agenda and speak­ers list can be found on the asso­ci­a­tion’s web­site.

Tickets for the con­fer­ence are $50 for TXAOO mem­bers and $150 for non-mem­bers.

TXAOO describes its mis­sion as help­ing ​“bridge the gap between grow­ers, pro­duc­ers, mar­ket­ing and con­sumers,” and says it strives ​“to estab­lish mar­ket­ing prac­tices that inform the con­sumer as to exactly what they are pur­chas­ing.”

• Texas Association of Olive Oil (TXAOO), press release