California Olive Producer Tells Politicians to Oppose Tariffs on EU Olives
The chief executive of the largest domestic table olive producer told a Corning, California, city council meeting that tariffs on bulk olives from the European Union would threaten his company's 500 jobs in Corning and $10 million in plant upgrades.…
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Tim Carter, whose family founded Bell-Carter in 1912, said that Bell-Carter does grow olives in California, but that all the state's olives only could fulfill 35 percent of domestic demand. "This staggering reality is further compounded by the fact that California acreage continues to decrease, with harvests falling by 11 percent annually," the company said in an Aug. 29 press release. He said that Europe can harvest olives with more automation, and that California production is more expensive for that reason, and because of water shortages, labor costs and environmental challenges. He said the company is asking local, state and federal legislators to speak out against targeting European olives for retaliation in the Airbus-Boeing case. The Olive Oil Times reported March 14 that Bell-Carter had canceled many of its contracts with California olive growers for the 2019 harvest, citing the increasing costs of production of California olives.