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<pre>I thought it would interest olive growers to know that olives are being
grown on a 1000 acre patch in the Egyptian desert.

According to the UK magazine The Economist:

...Khalil Nasrallah, now an olive farmer. In 1992, he and his
partner, Musa Freiji, sometimes known as the chicken king of
the Middle East, bought 1,000 acres 0f desert at $150 an acre
in order to breed day-old chicks in disease-free and tax-free
conditions. There was no cetainity of water-an earlier
would-be purchaser had reluctantly given up because he had
found none-but the partners took the risk, bought the land and
started digging. They struck lucky at just over 100 metres.
Since Egyptian law insists that something must be grown on
newly reclaimed land, they planted 160,000 thousand olive
trees. They chose olives largely because they require less
care than say, apples, bananas or peaches: the fruit is
bitter, so does not get pecked by birds. But they also fiitted
neatly with the chickens, who feed on olive pulp and in turn
provide manure to feed the trees.
Seven years after the land was bought, the olive farm has
taken off on its own. It produces and sells both olive oil and
table olives.
...Mr Nasrallah's main problems? Just two. Egyptians do not
consume much olive oil; and EU subsidies shut him out of
export markets.
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I would for one be very interested to know what olive
varieties are being grown in such a harsh and hot environment.
Would anyone have an idea?
Cheers!
Maz
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