Olives make a comeback in Sacramento Valley

With the Sutter Buttes arching out in the southwest skyline, symmetrical rows of olive trees line the 15 acres of land which serves as both home and office for Mark Renfree and his family.

Overrun with blackberry thorns when the family purchased the land more than a decade ago, Renfree’s “diamond in the rough” now serves as the headquarters of the family-owned Triple Play Renfree Farms in Live Oak.

Specializing in extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar products, the small business is among a handful of orchards growing olives in the Sacramento Valley. Rooted in the resurgence of the crop after decades led by foreign competitors, Triple Play is like many other operations in that it is based on a sustainable model dependent on the support of local retailers and rooted in the organic movement.

“If I can get them to taste our products, they become repeat customers,” Renfree said. “But people also like to know where their food comes from and talk to the person who grows what they feed their family. We are little, so we are all about quality. If a fruit touches the ground, it stays on the ground. We are very fussy, because all we have is quality and our customers depend on that.”

Initially serving as a supplier to several companies, a drop in olive oil prices a number of years back led the Renfree family to decide to strike out on their own.

Seeking to stand out amongst the competition, Renfree drew from a baseball career that included stints at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, a Sacramento-based independent league and years of coaching the sport at the Little League and high school levels.

The farm’s name, which refers to the blending of Arbequina, Koroneiki, and Arbosana varieties of olives, also refers to one of the rarest defensive feats in baseball, the triple play.

“Twenty-five years of coaching and playing before that, so baseball is kind of in my blood,” Renfree said. “I find myself on these spring days drifting by the baseball field because I did it for so long. Baseball is pretty much ingrained in me.”

Much like baseball, agriculture has been ingrained in Renfree, whose childhood was spent on the farm in the Auburn area. At Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Renfree graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture Business Management and proceeded to work 13 years for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Agency in Ukiah, Colusa and then in Yuba City.

As his family began to sprout, his children grew up with a strong agriculture upbringing and participated in 4-H and FFA clubs.

So, it became inevitable that when Renfree and his family decided to plant orchards of olive trees, every member of the family naturally began to mold the business.

“It’s a family operation,” Renfree said. “I have three boys and my wife and everyone helps at one time or another. Whether it is mowing or pruning or at harvest time. It is a one-day event that takes up the entire day. They also lend a hand at trade shows and such. It really is a family business and we enjoy that, it really does bring us all closer together.”