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<pre>Dear Mr. Adin Hester

Welcome to the OliveOil email community. I am very glad that you joined
this list. You will bring a lot of value to this group. I hope you
remember me when we met in California a few years ago and back in 1987.
Please be generous in your article contributions to this list. To those of
you who don't know Adin, he is the president of the Olive Growers Council in
Visalia, California.

I have heard the sad news about Musco Olive Products. According to their
attorney Jay Jory, the main reason
Musco is shutting down the plant is because of stiff competition from
overseas olive interests. "The foreign olives, particularly out of Spain,
are government-subsidized so they can deliver olives to the United States
cheaper than we can put them on the shelves," he said.

How is this closing going to impact the olive growers in California? Where
do you see the industry going in the next few years?

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely
Jamal Sadoun
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<pre>June 7, 1999

Dear Jamal:
Nice surprise to hear from you. The other day I came across the business
card you left with me when we last met in California and | wondered if you
were still in country.
In answer to your questions about the California olive industry; we are in
a consolidation phase that is not good for the olive growers. Too much
power in too few hands. Growers get seriously abused (cheap olive prices
that has put some out of business with others to follow). Now with two
major processors (Musco & Bell Carter) and one cooperative (Oberti ) there
is no buyer competition for growers olives. Grower prices dropped over 30 %
last year with all growers losing money.

With the loss of Early California Foods, Musco is consolidating their
operations at their Tracy, CA plant which is close to the Bay Area. They
also have told growers they will not purchase olives from any farm that has
less than 20 acres. This has caused numerous farmers to have no home for
their olives. The only option is olive oil which does not pay the farmer
enough money to survive. Needless to say, the olive industry is in trouble
at the grower level.

Canners will continue to buy a cheaply as they can. Bell Carter is
developing a major relationship with olive growers in Mexico. This is not
good for California farmers.

Hopefully, we can make some sense out of all these changes and try to
adjust for survival. If we don't, foreign olive producers will continue to
enjoy a larger portion of our market. Thanks to U.S. trade policy that
trades away agriculture, California's olive growers are not doing well.

Hope this message gets to you Jamal.
Sincerely
Adin A. Hester
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<pre>Interesting turn in events...
Observing from a far in the last week...
the US have been protecting its meager Sheep farming industry from non
subsidized, efficient high quality producers of lamb from Australia and New
Zealand by imposing tariff restriction on the imports....

yet their own Olive industry which I would guess as being more substantial
than its sheep industry are left to flounder against the European subsidized
products which range from high quality to inferior blended, aged oils which
are dumped below cost on the unsuspecting developing market....

Hard work for the honest quality olive farmers...

my thoughts of support are with you in California...


Paul & Di
Organic Olives of New Zealand Co. Ltd



-----Original Message-----
From: Sadoun <ASadoun@worldnet.att.net>
To: OliveOil@onelist.com <OliveOil@onelist.com>
Date: Monday, 7 June 1999 10:10
Subject: [OliveOil] Musco Olive Products


>From: "Sadoun" <ASadoun@worldnet.att.net>
>
>Dear Mr. Adin Hester
>
>Welcome to the OliveOil email community. I am very glad that you joined
>this list. You will bring a lot of value to this group. I hope you
>remember me when we met in California a few years ago and back in 1987.
>Please be generous in your article contributions to this list. To those of
>you who don't know Adin, he is the president of the Olive Growers Council
in
>Visalia, California.
>
>I have heard the sad news about Musco Olive Products. According to their
>attorney Jay Jory, the main reason
>Musco is shutting down the plant is because of stiff competition from
>overseas olive interests. "The foreign olives, particularly out of Spain,
>are government-subsidized so they can deliver olives to the United States
>cheaper than we can put them on the shelves," he said.
>
>How is this closing going to impact the olive growers in California? Where
>do you see the industry going in the next few years?
>
>I am looking forward to hearing from you.
>
>Sincerely
>Jamal Sadoun
>
>
>
>
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>http://www.onelist.com
>How has ONElist changed your life? Please share your story.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
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http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/OliveOil
>------------------
>
</pre>
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<pre>On 10 Jun 99, at 8:16, OliveOil@onelist.com wrote:

> I recommend also listing the following olives and olive oil related
> newsgroups:
>
> alt.food.olives-or-olive-oil
> it.food.olives-or-olive-oil
The last newsgroup doesn't exist in it.* hierarchy. Maybe your news
server has a different internal hierarchy.

Massimo.
--
No unsolicited e-mail offer.
</pre>
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