Glenn Vandervoort, Bard Valley Medjool Date Growers Association.

MR. VANDERVOORT: Thank you. Good afternoon, and Buenos tardes.

My name is Glenn Vandervoort and I'm the president of the Bard Valley Medjool Date Growers Association. We were incorporated in March of 1987 as a growers marketing cooperative formed to help ourselves collectively market our product. We grow and pack only Medjool Dates. Bard Valley Medjool Date Growers Association is made up of nine growers packing through seven different packing houses, each selling their own fruit using the Brand name of Bard Valley Medjool Date Growers as the selling label. Bard Valley Medjool Date Growers ship over 60 percent of the Medjool Dates grown in the United States. And of that amount, we export 55 percent. Of the export sales, approximately 50 percent goes to European markets. Export sales also tend to be of higher price and quality than our domestic sales.

Our competition in the world market is mostly Israel with South Africa and Morocco soon to be in the marketplace. Israel enjoys a location advantage being closer to Europe, thus the transportation costs are much lower and transit times are shorter.

The reason for our being here today is that when we sell into the European markets, our product faces import duties ranging anywhere from nine to fourteen percent. On a very high-value item, this can be anywhere from 27 to 52 cents a pound depending upon the grades and qualities. Israel, on the other hand, enjoys a free trade type status with the European markets. We would like to be able to sell into Europe on the same basis of no duties.

We are no threat to any European country, as they do not grow nor do they have the climate to grow Medjool Dates, thus we would never be in conflict with their agriculture community. The ones most hurt are the retail consumers who have to pay more and have fewer choices. As you know, a nine to fourteen percent increase in the wholesale price translates into roughly double that in the retail price.

Europe is a very important market for us and a large part of our marketing mix. Our volume will increase somewhere around 100 percent within the next ten years and Europe will become an even more important part of our marketing mix to absorb the increase.

Currently, the Bard Valley Medjool Date Growers are a $15 million industry for the local economy. We collectively employ over 700 people seasonally in an area with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, Yuma County, Arizona. Loss of markets, because of issues like trade tariffs and import duties, could potentially lead to the loss of jobs and income in our industry.

We realize the trade negotiations are a long and slow process, but we are of no economic threat to any of the European countries. To the contrary, we'd be able to sell our product to the consumers at a lower cost and provide increased choices.

All we ask is a level playing field. We appreciate any considerations you might be able to give to our situation and thank you for your time today.