The decline in sales reflects the unusually high sales in the first quarter of fiscal year 2000, resulting from Y2K-related purchases by consumers, according to Del Monte. The Nut Grower magazine Harvest Show is Wednesday at the Stanislaus County Agricultural Center.
Lunch is available and there is no admission charge.
The economy shifted into a much lower gear during the summer, growing at its slowest pace in more than a year, reflecting a drop in government spending and weaker business investment. The latest reading on the economy's pulse showed the gross domestic product grew at a dramatically slower 2.7 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday. The trade group said coach ticket prices were up 3.7 percent compared with September 1999, and first-class fares increased 5.9 percent. Shares in Alaska Air Group rose nearly 10 percent Friday after it was revealed that Microsoft chairman Bill Gates owns 1.4 million shares of the group, the parent company of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air. Some lawmakers are considering inserting language in still-unfinished spending bills that would push back the Federal Communications Commission's Dec. 12 auction of the licenses.