FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- Feeling the squeeze of foreign imports, California olive growers are being pushed to modernize or turn their crops into premium cooking oils to survive in a marketplace they once ruled.

The state's 1,200 growers, who alone produce nearly all the nation's olives for commercial sale, once supplied 100 percent of the black ripe sliced variety to the U.S. food service industry.But Spain and Morocco now have more than 50 percent of that business, taking a firmer hold over the past few years by selling their shipments at costs California growers can't compete with.

"They're going after the black ripe sliced market, and they're doing a very good job of it," said Adin Hester, president of the Olive Growers Council. "They're doing it with cheap prices. And it's really hurting us in California. Big time."

It costs the average state grower about $23 to produce a case of six gallon-sized cans of black ripe sliced olives, and Moroccan imports were recently selling for about $18 a case, he said.

"Their prices are currently less than what it takes us to manufacture a case of canned sliced black olives," Hester said.

Olives, a cyclical crop that performs better every other year, are grown on about 37,000 acres in California and generated $110 million in receipts in 1997.

California olive farmers currently sell half their black spitted sliced olives to the food service market. While the domestic retail market for pitted olives has not been hit significantly by imports, farmers worry that a similar trend will follow. And while Spain and Morocco are the main threats, with millions more acres dedicated to olives, Portugal also is gaining market share.

With foreigners muscling in on their territory, California growers want a tariff imposed on imports to help them survive while they modernize and find other ways to cut production costs or diversify their products.

"That would be a good start to save the industry," said Gary Oberti of Oberti Olives, which owns several groves in the Central Valley. "You can't compete with somebody if they're that much cheaper. We can't lower prices. They're as low as they can get right now."

Discussions about lobbying the government for help have been limited to informal talks among growers, but he and Hester agreed the idea warrants more serious consideration.

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"Eventually, we're going to have to go to our federal government and ask for some relief because this is just going to kill the industry in California," Hester said.

In the meantime, a few olive growers in the state's northern wine regions have begun forays into the niche market for premium olive oils, with more than 1,000 new plantings in the past few years.

But industry representatives doubt California's olive oil market will be able to support many growers even though sales reached $7 million last year and are expected to climb.

Survival may depend on how fast the olive growers, most of whom still pick their crop by hand, can convert to mechanical harvesting.

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