To ease poverty and stimulate economic growth, the U.S. government has pledged $301 million to help Morrocon farmers rehabilitate existing olive trees and expand olive, almond and fig production. However, San Joaquin farmers say the move undercuts the struggling local industry, according to an article in the Porterville Recorder.
“It’s ludicrous,” said farmer Rod Burkett. “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.”
Recorder staff writer Alex Schultz used UC Cooperative Extension figures to illustrate the hardships California olive growers are facing this year. Production is so low - down 86 percent from last year - that harvesting any fruit may not be worth it. Meanwhile, it costs $1,400 each season to maintain an acre of olive trees.
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