Texans Discover Oil Grows on Olive Trees as Crude Drops

By Lauren Etter Dec 29, 2014 12:01 AM ET

As crude prices tumble, landowners across Texas are accelerating production of a different kind of oil -- olive oil.

“I love the trees, and I love watching them grow,” Steve Coffman Jr. said of his 40 acres (16 hectares) of budding olive trees, which he planted two years ago on his red dirt ranch just outside Cotulla, Texas, the epicenter of the state’s Eagle Ford shale-oil boom.

Nowadays he doesn’t have the same affection for his oil wells, which sit just down the road from his olive trees.

“I can’t look, it’s depressing,” Coffman said as he pulled out his smartphone to check the latest energy prices. He shook his head. West Texas Intermediate crude had fallen again.

Five years after one of the biggest oil booms in decades boosted royalty checks, a steep decline in oil prices has Texans seeking new ways to stay ahead. About 70 farmers across the state -- up from 24 in 2008 -- are hoping to cash in on America’s growing appetite for olive oil, a small part of the latest effort to diversify the economy of the second most-populous U.S. state.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-29/texans-discover-oil-growing-on-olive-trees-as-crude-drop-deepens.html