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<pre>> Andrew
> The best analogy I can use is our local Hunter Valley wine industry.
> Individual 'hands on' growers do well, I can think of one in particular
> who is picking up many awards and has presold most of his product after
> years of struggle. These growers hand pick the fruit and process
> carefully, another grower inspects each bunch prior to pressing. They
> are not threatened by cask wine or supermaket lines and there is a
> growing demand for their product. It is this obvious personal attention
> to detail that gives them the edge, something that is appreciated by the
> consumer and cannot be duplicated by the large concerns. I dont think
> that small growers producing their own product have anything to fear
> from the large producers unless they are contracted as suppliers to
> those businesses. This could mean that there will be a proliferation of
> small mills with plenty of variety of product to interest the consumer.

Roger,

To take your analogy one step further, ask yourself who produces the top
wines in Australia. I doubt that many would argue that wines such as
Penforld's Grange, Rosemount Roxburgh Chardonnay, etc ate the top of the
line, and produced by the biggest companies.

With a huge operation, there is bound to be more resources to draw on, more
potential to produce excellence. It doesn't automatically mean that big
means bland.

Smaller growers may only have one batch of fruit to process, so their
eventual oil quality may well not be reliable.

Mike Wilson.
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