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Mike leads his small, dedicated team of five people who toil in a tinylaboratory in back the bowels of our Sacramento processing facility. InJanuary, they will move into our new Almond Innovation Center. This buildingwill contain prototyping equipment that allows Blue Diamond to increasethe speed of innovation and lower the cost of creating new products. Inparticular, Mike and his team will be able to create small batches of AlmondBreeze or small quantities of almond cans without shutting down our highspeed manufacturing lines. Increasingly, our global ingredient and foodservice customers want to visit Blue Diamond to jointly develop new products.Just imagine what is possible when our R&D team is able to partner with ourcustomers in this cutting edge facility.Envisioning Our FutureTwo years ago we established our vision, “delivering the benefits of almondsto the world!” Over the next 15 years, our envisioned future communicatesour shared inspiration for what we hoped to achieve. We will achieve thisvision by accelerating our transformation into a global branded food company.First, Blue Diamond will create dominant market positions in consumer brands,foodservice and ingredients. Good growth creates opportunity for employeesand value for our grower-owners.Second, Blue Diamond employees view themselves as partners because they are respected, challenged, appreciated, and areworking in a values-rich environment. Blue Diamond is already a great place to work. Today I am committing us to takingappropriate steps to ensure our employees say Blue Diamond is one of the best places to work. That is only appropriate as itis the people of Blue Diamond who will make our future vision possible.Third, Blue Diamond will deliver economic value to its growers that so far exceeds that of other handlers that superiorreturns are taken for granted. In this way, we will be able to define oursuccess with even higher standards. My wish is that, like me, you willsee these goals as realistic and inspiring.Together we can accomplish these goals and invest withconfidence. We have developed a track record ofincreasing grower returns and revenues per acre.We have created a superior business model thatallows us to deliver the most competitive returns.We have seen early positive returns in ourinvestments in advertising and people. Wehave the future promise of our new Turlockfacility months away from opening. We haveexperienced global demand forour consumer products. We haveseen the extraordinary potentialfor investing in this co-op. In a worldwhere bank accounts, CDs and bondsreturn almost nothing on your dollar, Ihope you share my confidence that BlueDiamond is one of the highest returningand safest investments.Remember, when youstart something good, it only gets better.And the best is yet to come!NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2012 Almond Facts 9