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<pre>Having returned from France and Spain I have to say that I'm about as
confused as one can get re. machinery to buy for our grove -or do I get
involved with a small local coop? erc. etc. etc.

Is it possible to get a survey underway to see what members are using, and
what members are planning buying in say the next 2 - 3 years? It seems to
me from reading the mail that there are a lot of smaller growers who will
be coming on stream in the next 2 - 3 years.

I realise a lot will be forming local co-ops and that is fine however I
have to say that in horticulture here in NZ, for every successful coop
there are 2 or 3 that aren't. That also applies to olives in Spain and
France - there are some very good ones and there are some shockers! The
difference in quality control, quality management and attitude to the
product was amazing.

Perhaps break it down into say 1 - 499 trees, 500 - 999, 1000 - 1499, 1500
- 1999 and perhaps 2000 plus trees.

Hopefully by everyone responding with what machinery they use and any
comments us guys who are struggling with a plethora of often conflicting
advice may be able to sort the matter out?

I'm sorry if this should have been sent to the survey list but I'm a very
new to the Net so please bear with me.

Kind regards
John Bishop
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