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<pre>--- In OliveOil@yahoogroups.com, Lambros Karavis <lkaravis@k...>
wrote:
> Hi to all,
>
> You've seen Roger's suggestion that you read the AOA Draft
Strategic
> Plan. I suspect that many of you cannot be bothered, especially at
> Easter time and so close to harvest time. It is very interesting
and
> will affect most growers and processors. So, with my apologies and
> your permission, I've prepared a critical but hopefully
constructive
> overview of the plan.

Lambros makes a lot of VERY salient points here, and I think warning
bells should be ringing through every Australian olive grower at the
information contained in the AOA draft.

For me, there are several questions that this document raises,
including but not limited to:

*Who will collect and enforce a compulsory and voluntary levy on
fruit delivered to processors? Who decides where said money will be
spent and on what parameters are such decisions based ?

*Where are the R&D targets? Who will decides what aspects of our
industry receive R&D funding and what aspects don't?

*In the absence of any mention of industry data analysis, how can we
make plans for an industry when even such basic data as tree numbers
seem to be unquantified?

*What are the "import replacement" strategies?

*Why do we need new membership classes?

*Precisely what is happening with the QA program?

And on a more general level........

*What is happening with the recent negotiations for selling off The
Olive Press to commercial interests?

*Why are the minutes of our elected board representative's meetings
being withheld from members? (N.B. full minutes have not been posted
for over a year, and in fact the redactions of the board minutes have
recently been further and purposefully abbreviated).

*What has happened to the AUD$350,000 the "large growers group" has
pledged to the AOA at last year's conference in Adelaide?

Lots of questions, but really, if we don't ask these sorts of
questions and discuss these sorts of issues, we only have ourselves
to blame for the consequences. I thank and applaud Lambros, Roger &
Sil for raising some crucial points for our consideration.

Postively yours,
Sodium!


p.s. To those who constantly demonstrate their willingness to
criticise and stifle a frank and honest debate on this subject, may I
offer a small suggestion? If you don't like the topic, do us all a
favour and don't respond. If you do feel the need to respond, please
do us the courtesy of addressing the issues raised rather than making
more of the usual personal attacks on the persons who post the
questions.
</pre>
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