ALEX K.W. SCHULTZ
(Porterville Recorder) Life as a California olive farmer isn’t exactly easy these days.
The number of olives harvested across the state this season is expected to shrivel by about 86 percent from last year. The price schedule for growers is the same as last season despite the dried-up supply. Some growers don’t even know if picking their fruit will be worth it.
And now, adding insult to injury, many olive farmers say their own government is working against them.
In an effort to reduce poverty and stimulate economic growth in Morocco, the U.S. government has promised to give $301 million to the North African country to help farmers there rehabilitate existing olive trees and expand production of olive, almond and fig trees.
Morocco is one of California’s largest foreign competitors. Moroccan farmers, because of the subsidies they receive from the U.S. government, are able to send lower-priced fruit here and undercut domestic prices.
“It’s ludicrous,” said Rod Burkett, a local grower who farms 29 acres of Manzanilla olives and one acre of Sevillano olives. “We’re a small industry. We have less than 24,000 acres (of olive trees) in the state. [Morocco] has more than 1 million acres. That gives them a real advantage. Now [the U.S. government] is taking my tax money and giving it to those people so they can make their trees more productive.”
Created by Congress in 2004, the Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) is a foreign-aid agency that, according to its website, “is helping lead the fight against global poverty.”
MCC awards five-year grants and smaller grants to “some of the world’s poorest countries” that meet certain eligibility requirements.
Since its inception, MCC has doled out $7.5 billion in assistance money to 38 different countries.
In 2007, MCC signed a five-year, $697.5 million compact with Morocco in the hopes of improving employment in sectors such as fruit-tree productivity, small-scale fisheries and artisan crafts. A large chunk of the money — $301 million — is devoted to the Fruit Tree Productivity Project.
“You can’t tie both my hands and one leg and tell me we’re going to have a fight,” Burkett said. “I’ll go head to head with anybody as long as it’s going to be the same kind of fight, but you can’t handicap me and expect me to survive and prosper.”
The MCC grant aside, domestic olive farmers are limping this year as it is.
The Olive Growers Council of California is projecting 23,000 tons of olives to be harvested across the state this season. That number is down from last year’s record-breaking harvest of 164,900 tons.
Burkett said his grove produced 11.2 tons per acre last year. This year, he said he’ll be lucky to glean a ton and a half of fruit per acre.
“At least I’ve got that much,” Burkett said. “A lot of guys don’t even have half a ton per acre.”
Some farmers may forgo harvesting their fruit to save on picking costs. It would be a tough pill to swallow considering that it costs, on average, $1,400 each season to maintain an acre of olive trees, according to the University of California Cooperative Extension.
According to an SFGate.com article, Patrick Fine, MCC’s vice president of compact operations, said he doesn’t believe California olive growers will be adversely affected by the hundreds of millions of dollars that are being given to Morocco.
“If [Fine] doesn’t think that’s going to hurt my market, ask him, if he went over there and gave money to Toyota, and they brought over 60 more shiploads of Toyotas, if that would bother Chevy or Ford,” Burkett said. “It’s just not right. We can’t compete.”
Mike Armstrong, owner of Armstrong Olives on Road 232, didn’t exactly smile when the subject of the Morocco compact came up.
“[Subsidies given to foreign countries] have been hurting us for a long time,” Armstrong said. “They’re hurting all of us. As olive growers, we don’t get anything from the government.”
According to the SFGate.com article, 93 percent of California crops, including olives, are ineligible for subsidies.
The 50 employees at Armstrong’s 25,000-square-foot facility receive, process and package olives that are shipped throughout the country. Many of the employees hand stuff the olives with garlic, jalapenos, pimientos, anchovies and more. There are about 55 different flavors in all.
Armstrong, like Burkett, said it is hard to compete when subsidized olives are inundating the domestic market.
“It makes you madder than hell,” Armstrong said.
But Armstrong, since he is in the business of processing olives, said he could, if he had to, purchase imported olives to package and sell if the domestic supply does not meet his demand.
“There’s room for guys like me,” Armstrong said.
There’s also room for plenty of foreign competitors.
“Every time I go into the store, I see items from Morocco, Italy and Egypt,” Armstrong said. “They’re cutting into everything, but we’re still going.”
Olive growers decry foreign subsidies
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