One of the ways that farmers in the Southeast are becoming more resilient to changing markets and changing weather conditions is to add new crops that can take advantage of these trends. This story from the Atlanta Journal Constitution describes how one farmer in southern Georgia started growing olives for oil. One thing I learned in the article is that even though olives like warm and dry climates, they do need a certain number of chill hours to produce good crops of olives. Another is that olive production started in around 2000 after a devastating drought. Blueberry producers are also interested because they can use their harvesters to pick a fall crop in addition to their summer blueberry crop.

Source: Commons WIkimedia