Greek Olive Grower Squeezed Dry By Crisis

[xchrom]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,772260,00.html

If you ask Athens residents about their country's economic woes, many will say that if all else fails and the country goes bankrupt, at least they can still go and work as a farmer.

They wouldn't say that if they had met Georgios Nikolaou.

With his full beard and chiselled features, Nikolaou, a farmer from the town of Stylida northwest of Athens, looks like a mixture of Charlton Heston and Santa Claus. He wanders through his olive grove as if it were paradise on Earth. He touches the trees, reaches for the thin branches and praises the "healthy and delicious" olives, describing them as the perfect fruit. Then Nikolaou sighs deeply and begins to tell his story.

Crisis Time

For Greeks, olives are much more than just an agricultural product. The country produces nearly two million tons of the fruit annually and it is the nation's most important export. Olives are to the Greeks what beer is to the Germans: a national culinary treasure which inspires pride and forms part of the national identity. The olive is something that unites Greeks -- but it too is undergoing a serious crisis.

[Alameda]

1. Amazing! Look at the market, olives are not cheap.

Where does the money go? This is disgusting. I buy local California extra virgin olive oil here, but it's very pricey.

[Chan790]

2. Same as everything else.

Middlemen and corporations cornering markets to bottom the market-price while inflating retail.

[xchrom]

3. +1 & this has the added bonus in that a lot of really beautiful greek land

is about to become available for pennies on the dollar -- just won't be greeks buying it.

[Alameda]

4. Tragic....really really tragic!