Last year, the cooperative’s great return was in part due
to unusual challenges experienced by competitors. We
said that if we exclude the unusual market conditions,
Blue Diamond
performance was responsible for
achieving a $.10 beat. For the 2016 crop year, pricing
was remarkably stable, so returns better reflected the
performance of the cooperative. For this reason, the
$.11 advantage may represent
Blue Diamond’s
best-ever
performance, and our stretch goal of $.10 competitive
beat is now becoming our expectation. For this
accomplishment, we should thank the employees of
Blue
Diamond
. We will continue to raise the bar. Each year,
it is our intention to increase this competitive advantage
by another $.01 per pound.
California almond crops are getting larger and new
plantings can be seen throughout the state. Yield will
also improve with normal rainfall and bloom conditions.
By 2020, our existing
Blue Diamond
growers will
deliver an additional 120 million pounds. To put this
in context, it is like adding the second largest almond
handler on top of our existing co-op business. For this
reason, in addition to return, we are chanting, “Growth,
growth, growth.” Preparing
Blue Diamond
for profitable
growth is our key strategic imperative.
The massive price increases at the end of the drought
were good for growers’ balance sheets, but bad for
market demand. Last year, with the return to historical
pricing, we committed to reinvigorating almond sales
growth and we delivered in a big way with growth
of 8 percent. The business press is reporting that most
food companies are struggling to grow.
Blue Diamond
will continue to defy this trend. By investing in our
brands, opening new global markets and innovating
new almond products, we are working toward an
annual growth rate of 10 percent.
Every year, I ask our grower-owners to rise together and
take positive action on behalf of
Blue Diamond
. Last
year, we successfully persuaded Costco that Spanish
almondmilk was not a substitute for locally owned,
grown and produced
Almond Breeze
. Thanks to our
grower-owners, we are back on the shelf in Northern
California and selling very well! With 3,000 farm
families and 1,500 employees we are powerful
when we stand together.
Last year we took on Costco, this year I ask that
we take on Congress. Our voice is needed in the
political arena. We come from all ethnic, economic
and political backgrounds, but we are all united by
one mission: maximizing the returns for each grower
who entrusts their almonds to
Blue Diamond
. Any
benefit to the cooperative is ultimately passed down
to our grower-owners.
Tax reform started out as a noble effort. The original
proposal to reduce taxes on U.S. manufacturers and
exporters, like
Blue Diamond Growers
, was to encourage
job creation and growth. This was to be funded by a
border adjustment tax on importers, who in many cases,
were taking U.S. jobs overseas. We thought it was a
sound proposal that enhanced the economic health of
the farm families that own this co-op.
Unfortunately, special interests in Washington are
speaking louder than us. The current House tax bill
will increase taxes on
Blue Diamond
farm families.
Instead of taxing imports to fund reductions elsewhere,
tax incentives on exporters – including agriculture –
are being eliminated. The benefits received from
Blue Diamond’s
manufacturing incentives, like DPAD,
would be eliminated. The benefits from
Blue Diamond’s
export incentives, like IC-DISC, would be eliminated.
Most of us agree that taxes in California are already
too high and the elimination of the deduction on state
and local tax, or SALT, means that you will get taxed
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