Progress 09/01/16 to 01/31/18
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audiences for this project can be defined in two ways, those olive oil industry stakeholders thatprovided input for or participated in the two-day national strategic planning session at UC Davis Olive Center and the larger American olive oil industry, which benefit from the development of the national strategic plan. All of these individuals will be impacted by one or more of the future NIFA SCRI grants resulting from this plan. During the preparation for the national strategic planning session, 31 stakeholders were either personally interviewed or asked to complete an online survey reflecting their opinions, findings, and experiences, specific to the US olive oil industry. Five states were represented - Arizona, California, Georgia, Florida, and Texas in this stakeholder pool, which included researchers, industry-leaders, growers, economists, nutritionists, and consultants. On September 18 and 19, 2016, 21 stakeholders including farmers, processors, economists, sensory scientist, food scientists, industry experts, researchers and extension agents participated in a two-day strategic planning meeting. The national strategic planning report that resulted from this effort was subsequently shared with participants, olive oil state associations, the American Olive Oil Producers Association (AOOPA) Board of Directors. Summary findings of this report were shared with AOOPA members and key stakeholders at the AOOPA's national conference on February 25, 2017, as well as a subsequent grower meeting in March and June of 2017. AOOPA also updated the association's website to add a "Resources" page and a newsletter sign-up function for olive oil producers throughout the US. These updates will provide a vehicle to increase communication and allow all US olive oil stakeholders the opportunity to access and download the "American Olive Oil Producers Association Multi-Disciplinary US Olive Oil Stakeholders Strategic Session Final Report," which identifies research needs and priorities that can be used as the basis for one or more future specialty crop grant projects. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Professional Development: Throughout the two-day strategic planning session, there was a tremendous exchange of ideas and information about the olive oil sector from multi-discipline US olive oil stakeholders. This process provided an opportunity for all stakeholders, from researchers to industry experts, to gain better understanding of challenges and opportunities for the American olive oil industry from multiple perspectives. In addition to an increased knowledge of the US olive oil industry, new relationships were established throughout the scientific community across multiple US academic institutions which will lead to greater information exchange and collaboration on future projects. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The report that resulted from the two-day strategic planning session on September 18 and 19, 2016 at UC Davis, was shared with participants, olive oil state associations, and the American Olive Oil Producers Association (AOOPA) Board of Directors. Summary findings of this report were shared with AOOPA members and key stakeholders at the AOOPA's national conference on February 25, 2017, as well as a subsequent grower meetings March 2017 and June 2017 in producing states. The "American Olive Oil Producers Association Multi-Disciplinary US Olive Oil Stakeholders Strategy Session Final Report," is also available on the "Resources" page of the AOOPA website. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Domestic olive oil production has grown from 1.2m gallons in 2010 to more than 3m gallons in 2016, more than doubling in the past five years; the problem is this rapid growth is outpacing the industry's ability to collect and disseminate research in an organized manner, which has resulted in duplication of efforts and sometimes an inefficient use of integration of activities within the industry. AOOPA, the only national olive oil organization founded in 2012, recognized the vital need to address this challenge to help advance the domestic olive oil industry and provide consumers with high quality domestic olive oil. As a young organization and nascent industry with limited resources, AOOPA understood that NIFA SCRI funding for a planning grant would leverage strong stakeholder involvement to execute a nationwide multi-day strategic planning meeting that could help develop a more collaborative approach to industry challenges and a strategic plan to be used as the basis for future grant projects. The goal of this planning grant was the development of a trans-disciplinary national strategic plan to support the exchange of information and the development of resources to accelerate needed scientific discovery and technology. This directly supports the sustainability and growth of the domestic olive oil sector, providing consumers with an increasing supply of trusted, high quality domestic olive oil for their culinary enjoyment and the numerous health benefits associated with consumption of fresh extra virgin olive oil. Major goals of the project: 1) Identifying and prioritizing the research needs of the American olive oil industry AOOPA worked with a professional consultant to develop a set of questions to gather information from key industry stakeholders prior to the two-day national strategic planning session. 31 stakeholders were either personally interviewed or asked to complete an online survey reflecting their opinions, findings, research priorities and experiences, specific to the US olive oil industry. These stakeholders from five states (Arizona, California, Georgia, Florida, and Texas) included researchers, industry-leaders, growers, economists, nutritionists, and consultants, all being interviewed or provided a survey with the same set of questions. Specifically, the interview and survey asked participants to identify the top two research areas amongst the five legislatively mandated SCRI focus areas. The information resulting from the interviews and surveys was themed and shared with the 21 participants in September 2016 and used as a basis for a larger discussion regarding national research priorities. 2) Hosting a strategic planning session facilitated by a professional consultant with experience developing successful SCRI grant projects The purpose of the two-day strategic planning session was to bring biological, physical, and socio-economic scientists and olive oil industry stakeholders from across the United States together to identify research and/or extension opportunities, update information, and advance understanding of issues and problems impacting this specialty crop industry, specific to olive oil. By bringing together this diverse group of stakeholders and building on the themed survey and interview information, it changed the knowledge of the key stakeholders by creating an exchange of ideas that lead to better understanding of the various challenges in different growing regions throughout the United States and knowledge of existing, ongoing or planned research projects. The professional facilitator also provided the expertise to lead the diverse group of stakeholders through a series of exercises to identify the current state, the future state, and the barriers to the future state in a manner that assisted the participants in identifying potential solutions to overcoming the barriers to industry success, including one or more future SCRI grant projects. In addition to identifying ways to address industry barriers, the facilitated session helped build bridges between industry leaders and researchers, as well as between researchers from multiple disciplines and multiple academic institutions across the United States in a manner that will create a change is action and lead to greater collaboration and information sharing, reducing or eliminating duplication of research. 3) Developing a strategic plan that can be put into place immediately to generate a unified and singular approach to research and its distribution in order to benefit all the stakeholders of the American olive oil industry AND 4) A strategic plan that can be used as a basis for one or more future SCRI grant applications As a result of the two-day professionally facilitated strategic planning session, the olive oil industry stakeholders were able to identify numerous research needs and industry challenges that are reflective of the variations in olive oil growing and milling experience, as well as the different climatic challenges throughout the United States. This intensive planning session helped identify near term and regional needs for the American olive oil industry that will result in increased collaboration, in addition to one or more future SCRI projects of national significance. The stakeholders developed a Logic Model out of the two-day strategy session that was included in the final strategic planning report. Through a series of facilitated exercises, the group formed a unified "situation" (i.e., current state) and then determined important short-term, medium-term, and long-term outcomes needed most for the US olive oil industry to continue growing and gaining greater profitability (i.e., future state outcomes). The second day was predominantly focused upon the industry's inputs and what the various entities are willing and capable of committing to and what activities need to be conducted (outputs and external factors/barriers). As the session closed, the participants developed a communication plan in order to effectively disseminate the information gained from this session together and ongoing as the future SCRI project identified, "Growing Extra Virgin Quality: Understanding and improving the consistent supply of high quality US olive oil" is developed. Subsequent to the completion of the "American Olive Oil Producers Association Multi-Disciplinary US Olive Oil Stakeholders Strategy Session Final Report," AOOPA worked with key stakeholders to develop a SREP SCRI grant application for FY 2018. The SREP Project is entitled "Growing Extra Virgin Quality: Understanding and improving the consistent supply of high quality US olive oil." This SREP seeks to promote and foster a consistent supply of high quality olive oil through: the development of a more affordable, faster, scientifically-proven methodology for quality testing of domestic olive oil (research); the development of a national web-based database documenting olive oil quality nationwide; and an online grower toolkit promoting production practices that increase olive oil quality (Extension). This project was developed as a direct result of the stakeholder input during the two-day strategic planning session and subsequent report in 2016. The American Olive Oil Producers Association's application for this project brings together University of California, Texas A&M University, College Station, University of Georgia, and University of Florida as co-project directors to support the American olive oil industry in providing consumers with a consistent supply of domestically produced high quality extra virgin olive oil.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences for this project can be defined in two ways, those that participated in preparation for and then during the national strategic planning session and the American olive oil industry as a whole, which benefit from the development of the national strategic plan. All of these individuals will be impacted by one or more of the future NIFA grants resulting from this plan. During the preparation for the national strategic planning session, 31 stakeholders were either personally interviewed or asked to complete an online survey reflecting their opinions, findings, and experiences, specific to the US olive oil industry. Five states were represented - Arizona, California, Georgia, Florida, and Texas in this stakeholder pool, which included researchers, industry-leaders, growers, economists, nutritionists, and consultants. On September 18 and 19, 2016, 21 stakeholders including farmers, processors, economists, sensory scientist, food scientists, industry experts, researchers and extension agents participated in a two-day strategic planning meeting. The national strategic planning report that resulted from this effort was subsequently shared with participants, olive oil state associations, the American Olive Oil Producers Association (AOOPA) Board of Directors. Summary findings of this report were shared with AOOPA members and key stakeholders at the AOOPA's national conference on February 25, 2017, as well as a subsequent grower meeting. Changes/Problems:The AOOPA received a SCRI planning grant award with a performance period beginning September 1, 2016, but due to additional information requested by the agency, funds were not authorized to be released until October 13, 2016. AOOPA continued to pursue access to the awarded funds but the ASAP enrollment process was not completed by the agency until May 3, 2017, with no access to funds for an additional 20 business days for account verification to be completed. With the RFA for the 2017 SCRI released September 27, 2016 and due November 15, 2016, the financial uncertainty that was created by our inability to access funds until the eighth month of our period of performance, made it challenging to move forward with additional expenditures related to the development and completion of our project with our co-project directors and contractor and to adequately prepare a future SCRI grant project. Therefore AOOPA sought a brief four-month extension to enable AOOPA and our research partners to specifically respond to the RFA released fall 2017 and utilize the awarded funds in the most responsible manner to design a SCRI grant for the American olive oil industry that has the best opportunity to be successful. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Professional Development: Througout the two-day strategic planning session, there was a tremendous exchange of ideas and information about the olive oil sector from multi-discipline US olive oil stakeholders. This process provided an opportunity for all stakeholders, from reserachers to industry experts, to gain better understanding of challenges and opportunities for the American olive oil industry from multiple perspectives. In addition to an increased knowledge of the US olive oil industry, new relationships were established throughout the scientific community across multuiple US academic insitutions which will lead to greater information exchange and collaboration on future projects. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The report that resulted from the two-day strategic planning session on September 18 and 19, 2016 at UC Davis, was shared with participants, olive oil state associations, and the American Olive Oil Producers Association (AOOPA) Board of Directors. Summary findings of this report were shared with AOOPA members and key stakeholders at the AOOPA's national conference on February 25, 2017, as well as a subsequent grower meetings March 2017 and June 2017 in producing states. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, the American Olive Oil Producers Association will update the AOOPA website to establish a "Resources" page and a newsletter sign-up function for olive oil producers throughout the US. The "Resources" page will provide a platform for the American Olive Oil Producers Association Multi-Disciplinary US Olive Oil Stakeholders Strategic Session Final Report to be uploaded to so that all US olive oil stakeholders are able to access and download the report. The "Resources" page will also have enough capacity to upload additional research documents and information to support the exchange of additional information in a web-based format that is accessible to all US olive oil industry stakeholders. Additionally, the future project "Growing Extra Virgin Quality: Understanding and improving the consistent supply of high quality US olive oil" will also be developed into a SCRI grant project for an application for the FY 2018 cycle in accordance with the national strategic plan.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Domestic olive oil production has grown from 1.2m gallons in 2010 to more than 3m gallons in 2016, more than doubling in the past five years; the problem is this rapid growth is outpacing the industry's ability to collect and disseminate research in an organized manner, which has resulted in duplication of efforts and sometimes an inefficient use of integration of activities within the industry. AOOPA, the only national olive oil organization founded in 2012, recognized the vital need to address this challenge to help advance the domestic olive oil industry and provide consumers with high quality domestic olive oil. As a young organization and nascent industry with limited resources, AOOPA understood that NIFA SCRI funding for a planning grant would leverage strong stakeholder involvement to execute a nationwide multi-day strategic planning meeting that could help develop a more collaborative approach to industry challenges and a strategic plan to be used as the basis for future grant projects. On September 18 and 19, 2016, 21 participants, including olive oil farmers, processors, industry experts, extension agents, researchers, food and sensory scientists, and economists from four states and six universities gathered at UC Davis Olive Center for a national two-day strategic planning session. In preparation for this strategic planning, 31 stakeholders were either personally interviewed or asked to complete an online survey reflecting their opinions, findings, research priorities and experiences, specific to the US olive oil industry. This information was themed and shared with the 21 participants in September 2016, as a basis for a discussion regarding current and future state of the industry, and the national research needs and priorities. The goal of this planning grant was the development of a trans-disciplinary national strategic plan to support the exchange of information and the development of resources to accelerate needed scientific discovery and technology. This directly supports the sustainability and growth of the domestic olive oil sector, providing consumers with an increasing supply of trusted, high quality domestic olive oil for their culinary enjoyment and the numerous health benefits associated with consumption of fresh extra virgin olive oil. Major goals of the project: 1) Identifying and prioritizing the research needs of the American olive oil industry AOOPA worked with a professional consultant to develop a set of questions to gather information from key industry stakeholders prior to the two-day national strategic planning session. 31 stakeholders were either personally interviewed or asked to complete an online survey reflecting their opinions, findings, research priorities and experiences, specific to the US olive oil industry. These stakeholders from five states (Arizona, California, Georgia, Florida, and Texas) included researchers, industry-leaders, growers, economists, nutritionists, and consultants, all being interviewed or provided a survey with the same set of questions. Specifically, the interview and survey asked participants to identify the top two research areas amongst the five legislatively mandated SCRI focus areas. The information resulting from the interviews and surveys was themed and shared with the 21 participants in September 2016 and used as a basis for a larger discussion regarding national research priorities. 2) Hosting a strategic planning session facilitated by a professional consultant with experience developing successful SCRI grant projects The purpose of the two-day strategic planning session was to bring biological, physical, and socio-economic scientists and olive oil industry stakeholders from across the United States together to identify research and/or extension opportunities, update information, and advance understanding of issues and problems impacting this specialty crop industry, specific to olive oil. By bringing together this diverse group of stakeholders and building on the themed survey and interview information, it changed the knowledge of the key stakeholders by creating an exchange of ideas that lead to better understanding of the various challenges in different growing regions throughout the United States and knowledge of existing, ongoing or planned research projects. The professional facilitator also provided the expertise to lead the diverse group of stakeholders through a series of excercises to identify the current state, the future state, and the barriers to the future state in a manner that assisted the participants in identifying potential solutions to overcoming the barriers to industry success, including one or more future SCRI grant projects. In addition to identifying ways to address industry barriers, the facilitated session helped build bridges between industry leaders and researchers, as well as between researchers from multiple disciplines and multiple academic institutions across the United States in a manner that will create a change is action and lead to greater collaboration and information sharing, reducing or eliminating duplication of research. 3) Developing a strategic plan that can be put into place immediately to generate a unified and singular approach to research and its distribution in order to benefit all the stakeholders of the American olive oil industry AND 4) A strategic plan that can be used as a basis for one or more future SCRI grant applications As a result of the two-day professionally facilitated strategic planning session, the olive oil industry stakeholders were able to identify numerous research needs and industry challenges that are reflective of the variations in olive oil growing and milling experience, as well as the differenct climatic challenges throughout the United States. This intensive planning session helped identify near term and regional needs for the American olive oil industry that will result in increased collaboration, in addition to one or more future SCRI projects of national significance. The stakeholders developed the a Logic Model out of the two day strategy session that was included in the final strategic planning report. Through a series of facilitated exercises, the group formed a unified "situation" (i.e., current state) and then determined important short- term, medium-term, and long-term outcomes needed most for the US olive oil industry to continue growing and gaining greater profitability (i.e., future state outcomes). The second day was predominantly focused upon the industry's inputs and what the various entities are willing and capable of committing to and what activities need to be conducted (outputs and external factors/barriers). As the session closed, the participants developed a communication plan in order to effectively disseminate the information gained from this session together and ongoing as the future SCRI project identified, "Growing Extra Virgin Quality: Understanding and improving the consistent supply of high quality US olive oil is developed.
Publications
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