Two new olive-oil production courses will be offered May 10 and 11 at the University of California, Davis, coordinated by the UC Davis Olive Center.

The courses are open to the public, with a registration of $285 per person for each. More information and registration are available online at: http://olivecenter.ucdavis.edu/.

The first course will focus on the Business of Olive Oil Production. It will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:50 p.m. Tuesday, May 10, at the UC Davis Conference Center. The second course, titled Quality Olive Oil Production, will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 5:20 p.m. Wednesday, May 11, also at the UC Davis Conference Center.

The Business of Olive Oil Production course will guide participants through the business hurdles of olive-oil production, including the key expenses and revenues involved and the steps that should be taken to maximize business efficiency. The course also will cover development of business plans, money-saving tips for orchard establishment and maintenance, the cost options in processing and bottling, ideas for marketing and selling the product, and profitability strategies.

The course will be taught by Caroline Beck and Adam Englehardt. Beck is a food-and-wine writer and business consultant who also has operated an olive ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley and a thriving business in olive oil and specialty foods. She headed up entrepreneurial ventures for Sony Pictures after working in strategic marketing for Apple and Microsoft. She continues to advise entrepreneurial companies on best practices for new business growth.

Englehardt, a fifth-generation California farmer and rancher, is vice president of orchard operations at California Olive Ranch, the largest olive-oil producer in North America. His department manages the operation of several thousand acres of company-owned orchards and the orchards under contract with partner growers. He also has experience as a small-scale olive oil producer.

The Quality Olive Oil Production course is designed to provide current producers, as well as those who are exploring olive-oil production, with detailed information on establishing and maintaining an orchard, handling and processing the fruit, and storing and blending the oil. Olive-oil tasting will supplement the discussions to demonstrate how producers can influence olive-oil quality through their operations.

Englehardt will return to teach this class along with Lamberto Baccioni, chief executive officer of Agrivision, an olive-oil consulting firm based in Italy that he founded in 2010 to provide custom solutions for olive-oil millers.

Baccioni spent 30 years as manager of the olive oil division of Alfa Laval, an international processing equipment manufacturer, where he led research and development for olive-oil processing and pioneered the olive pitting machine as an alternative to traditional olive crushing. He holds a doctorate in food science and technology from the University of Milan, and his work has been published in numerous scientific and technical journals.