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<pre>Mr Stewart, in reply to your recent message [which I cannot get my server
directly to reply to for some reason] the unemloyment in Australia may be 7
percent nationally, but this is emphatically not he case in your aboriginal
population where it is, what, 65 percent or more? This is 'chronic' by any
definition I know, and a new agricultural industry could and should usefully
take advantage of that labour pool, even at full rates.

The apparent gaderene rush in Australia to mechanical picking, which you think
is such 'good sense', means you think that you can take on the lower cost/
quality imported product which dominates your market. Short of a huge revolution
in technology, this will not ever happen, but lots of money will be lost in the
process.

Yours is a nascent production industry [controlling a minute part of the total
domestic olive oil market] for which quality not quantity should be the key. The
relatively lower quality/lower yield mechanical production route you favour puts
the domestic producer in a poor position to enter effectively the market he
needs to claim as his own - the small but potentially important premium market -
both in Oz and the natural export markets in the Near North.

Educating a hitherto untapped domestic workforce, however novel it might seem
to some, gives a sound basis for such a long term survival strategy. In this
regard, Australia is in a stronger position than, for example, California which
does not enjoy access to a potentially ample agricultural labour pool as it
too seeks to stave off the effects of cheap imports.
Edward Faridany
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