Kona Coffee Farmers Association Board of Directors meeting February 16, 2016
CALL TO ORDER—3:00pm
Bruce Corker, president Present : Colehaur Bondera, Sally Brown, Chris Coleman,Bruce Corker, Randy Phillips, Judy Schuman, Kurt Schweickhard, Suzanne Shriner, Karen Zulkowski
Absent: Kay Dixon and Allan Wang
Coffee For March Meeting--Colehour Bondera
CONSENT AGENDA
Approval of Minutes of January 2016
- Approval of membership applications
- Acclamation of committee reports.
Karen moved to accept and Randy seconds Motion carried
Treasurer’s Report—Kurt
Report submitted prior to board meeting. Discussion of inventory and missing bale of bags. Kurt is trying to locate where they have been stored. Kurt moved to accept and Karen seconds. Motion carried
Volunteer for Board Opening Terri Sparks
Terri introduced herself and gave a brief presentation about her interest in the board. Approved. She will Co-chair events and fundraising committee with Judy
OLD BUSINESS
EXPO report—Nancy and Colehour
Colehour brought flyer for expo. Nancy unable to attend this meeting.
Discussion: Need volunteers and coordinators for different areas. A sign-up sheet was passed around for the board. We need to encourage people to prepay before the event. Kurt would like a committee meeting so any issues are addressed now. The website needs corrected to 10:00 start time
- The sound equipment taken care of. But we still need an MC. Several people were suggested that Colehour will contact.
- Food -Island Naturals will provide food and will ask to be sponsor in future Is no charge this year per history of event
- Some confusion on what was budgeted and where is it on sheet. Needs to be fixed so is clear for next year
- In the past was “give away” bags when people signed in. Some bags are still left. Kurt will take charge of the bags.
- Pursing -Miss Kona coffee and princesses for opening[divider]
HDOA Bb Grant Update—Colehour
Only one person asked for another education session. May put some info in give away bag to get information out[divider]
KCFA 2016 Committee Chair Appointments STANDING COMMITTEES
- Branding Committee—Co-Chairs: Cecelia Smith, Bruce Corker
- Education Committee—Co-Chairs: Colehour Bondera, Sally Brown
- Estate Committee—Chair: Christine Coleman
- Finance Committee—Chair: Kurt Schweickhart
- Origin Protection Committee—Chair: Colehour Bondera
- Kamehameha Schools Liaison Committee—Co-Chairs Suzanne Shriner, Chris Coleman
- Legislative Committee—Chair: Bruce Corker
- Membership Committee—Donna Meiners
- New Members- Ad Hoc Committee - Allan Wong
- PR/Marketing—Co-Chairs: Kay Dixon, Anita Kelleher
- Pest & Disease—Chair: Bob Smith
- --Task Force Representative—Kurt Schweickhart
- Social/Fund Raising—Co-Chairs: Judy Schuman,Tari Sparks
- Website—Co-Chairs: Cecelia Smith, Karen Zulkowski
- Ad Hoc Committees
- HDOA Grant Committee—Chair: Colehour Bondera
- EXPO—Ginter-Miller; Bondera; Colman; Corker
Green standards
Program ends in 2017 and reverts back to before CCB. HCA is trying to rewrite standards to extend timeline or to potentially completely overhaul them If they are going to be redrafted KCFA should be there. First meeting is in Honolulu but later ones will move around Should have someone there. Bob Smith or Bruce are unable to attend so Suzanne will go on Friday.
Bruce suggests that we have ad hoc committee to work on this issue. Four years ago it was suggested that we look at Vermont standards for 2 step approach for Kona coffee.
Kurt move to authorize Suanne to go to Honolulu Randy second Motion approved
PR marketing
Brochures- KCFA is paying Big Island brochures for flyers. The company should put them out every month. There should be a contract on how many places to put out. Anita should have the contract and Kurt requests a copy. In March we should re-evaluate and Anita recommends we continue for 2 more months.
Other business Feb 5 USDA representatives Tim Gannon out of DC from risk management division and state of Hawaii staff met with KCFA members. Had 24 people present. We had a good turnout that looked very favorable for KCFA.
Website
The committee met ad decided to do more with Facebook. Karen will work on this and have calendar of what we will do.
Meeting Adjourned 4:40pm[divider]
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Education—Colehour/Suzanne
On January 22nd, KCFA hosted the Pruning workshop at Lehu'ula Farms. Bob Smith and Bob Nelson gave the presentation. At least 32 people signed in, with 7 new/renewing members paying their dues on entry. Two farmers traveled all the way from Honoka'a/Paauilo to take part in our program. Andrea Kawabata of UH CTAHR was also in attendance to discuss soil and leaf sampling protocols.
Next up on February 18 at 3pm is a Talk Story with Kamehameha Schools Land Manager Jeri Hall to discuss the new leases they have begun extending to South Kona residents. We will need board volunteers to help with chair setup at CTAHR as well as at sign-in.
Mahalo, Suzanne[divider]
Finance—Kurt
Burlap Bag Inventory discrepancy- As part of Januaries P&L you will notice an expense entry of $887.43 under the heading ”Inventory Adjustment”. This expense resulted due to the semi-annual physical inventory (January 22nd) coming up short 400+ KCFA Burlap Bags. The previous inventory was taken January 2015 at MaryLou`s residence (keeper of all inventories for the last several years) and resulted in minor general adjustments of -$63.(Minor adjustments +/- are not uncommon)
Due to MaryLou leaving the Island Randy Phillips volunteered (huge help) to be the next keeper of KCFA`s inventory and he and MaryLou made arrangements transferring all inventories. (I was not involved in the transfer and no inventory was taken at the time as far as I know).
It is important to point out that receiving orders from the manufacturer of Burlap Bags involves 4 large bales of 400 ea. bags (hard to handle and bulky). In the past there have been 2nd locations for storage, one of which I know of was Hula Daddy. Discovering the shortage, I immediately contacted MaryLou (now in Seattle) and asked her to check with Hula Daddy or anybody else if they had additional inventory. So far the answer has been negative. I have rechecked our records and I am unable to come up with a logical and satisfactory explanation for this discrepancy.
To put all this in perspective I have added some additional information so that there is understanding on how KCFA`s system works.
At the beginning of fiscal year July 2012 I volunteered to take over the bookkeeping responsibilities for KCFA. Initially we created a financial committee with Louise Hanna and Cea Smith participating and decided on creating some basic financial control functions:
- Revitalizing/correcting existing financial software “Quickbooks” and creating a new starting point.
- Implementing “Internal Financial Controls”
One of the key results was the establishment of a “Perpetual Inventory” incorporated in Quickbooks and the protocol of semi-annual physical inventories. KCFA has been and is still maintaining an inventory of $10,000 average and tracking about 15 to 25 different items.
90%+ of all sales transactions originate on KCFA`s webpage. Sales proceeds are directly transferred into KCFA`s bank account and treasurer has to reconcile monthly. Sales other than via webpage (events, etc., are recorded on triplicate receipts, monitored by treasurer and are part of end of event and monthly reconciliations.
This process makes it highly unlikely that major mistakes can occur and transactions/inventory is tightly controlled. It is still my hope that somehow a second storage with inventory is discovered, but for the time being I felt it necessary to make the Board aware.
Mahalo, Kurt[divider]
Fundraising/Social Events—BOARD
Kona Heritage—Colehour
Branding—Bruce/Cea
In response to the complaint of KCFA member Kim Schneider, the Public Affairs Manager of the Aulani Disney Resort on Oahu has written:
“I hope you understand that this oversight [deceptively and illegally labeled “Kona” blend coffee in guest rooms] was not meant in harm, and we are working to rectify the issue you have presented immediately. It is our wish to work with the local Hawaii community to help support the stories of our land, and, people and culture so they can continue to be respected and shared for years to come” The Branding Committee will follow up with the Aulani.[divider]
Legislative—Bruce
Senate Bill 2519—Coffee Labeling
On January 22 at the request of KCFA, Big Island Senator Russell Ruderman introduced SB2519. This Senate measure would put in place the two changes to Hawaii’s damaging and antiquated 10% coffee blend law that were unanimously requested by the Hawaii County Council in Resolution No. 501-14. Those changes are: (1) a minimum of 51% genuine content for “Hawaii Coffee Blends”; and (2) Identification on the label of the origin of the foreign-grown coffee in those blends.
Please take a minute and send a thank you email to Sen. Ruderman for his support of Hawaii County farmers: [email protected][divider]
Membership—Donna Meiners
Total number of members is 308: 250 Active Voting, 23 Supporting Business and 35 Associate members
New Active Voting members:
- Bob Cooper, orchards of Kahalu’u, Kailua Kona, [email protected] (808) 322-0990
- Randy Goolsby, Lehman Farm, Kailua Kona, [email protected]
- Jack Miller, Captain Cook, [email protected],(808) 756-1500, 1/2 acre farm; no website
- Christy and John Ogg, Ogg Farm, Captain Cook, [email protected], (808)443-8805, 2.25 acres; 50 trees
- Juliette Magoon Costa, 73-4115 Mamalahoa Hwy, [email protected], (808) 325-1104
- Also, Tina Shahroody expired 4/15/15 renewed at pruning workshop
New Supporting Business
Bonnie Lind, Coffeecropinsurance.com, [email protected] upgraded from Associate member upon renewal
New Associate members:
- Avery Kramer,Kona, [email protected]
- Cara Larsen, Aloha Piha Farm, Kamuela, HI [email protected]
(Applied for membership at pruning workshop. Does not have coffee farm in Kona. No response to e-mail. Made Associate member with membership dates extended to cover $$ paid)
Michael Gomes, Holualoa, Honalo farm[divider]
PR/Marketing—Anita
Aloha all, Since I will not be attending the meeting I would like to give input on the Big Island brochure.
In January I confirmed and discussed with Bruce and notified Kurt that there were 1 1/2 cases of brochures left from the 5,000. I suggested we go another two months and then the remainder would be stored for upcoming events. We pay $182 a month to them to distribute the brochures. We have it in our budget through June so we would be under budget on this item. We also had 10,000 brochures budgeted and I only printed 5,000 so we will be under budget with that as well. I am not sure of the impact of the brochures as it is difficult to determine. One thing is for sure that no one is “taking” them and throwing them away. They are leaving the racks in a normal process.
I have also not done the next Keola Ad which is bi-monthly. Another item which is budgeted for three more ads that we will be under on. If you wish to continue I would help Kay create the next ad. The Board can determine and the PR Chair going forward how the wish to proceed with this.
Aloha, Anita [divider]
Pest& Disease—Bob Smith
The Pest and Disease committee is the front line in reacting to and responding to threats to our Kona Coffee trees. The committee is comprised of Suzanne Shriner, Randy Phillips, Andrew Yamane and me.
Currently, CBB is receiving all of the attention and research dollars. What we know after 5 years of trying to manage this pest is that following the recommended control protocols has resulted in successfully reducing damage to tolerable levels for most farms. Coffee Cherry buyers have also started to be much more strict in what they are accepting in damage when the buy the cherry. This is a good and necessary development as it will force reluctant farmers to do a better job on their farms if they want to stay in business.
Another serious pest that is receiving only scant attention is the Black Twig Borer. This insect is causing major crop loss, especially in the Honaunau area. Rob Curtis is working on developing management strategies but so far no workable recommendations are available. Starting this year Rob has designed an experiment(to be conducted on three farms) of quantifying crop loss in real numbers. This experiment will be 3 years in duration. Perhaps once we get real percentage yield loss data and not just estimates off the top of our heads, we can then convince researchers (UH and PBARC) to focus some of their time to combat this pest.
On the disease front we are blessed so far with no problems to report. However, there is a devastating disease lurking over the horizon and that is Coffee Rust. We need to be vigilant in observation as there is no reason not to believe that it will show up here.
Bob Smith-Chair, Pest and Disease Committee[divider]
Website—Cea
- Posted to website-Pruning Workshop/CTAHR’s Workshops, UH CBB Survey 2015 vs. 2014, Coffee Labeling Bill article from Hawaii Tribune Herald, February 2016 “The Independent Voice”, USDA Meeting notices, and from HFUU- “Learn How to Air Layer”
- Emailed via MailChimp: Pruning Workshop/CTAHR’s CBB Workshop, CBB Survey document, Diane Ley/USDA Meeting, February 2015 –“The Independent Voice”, USDA Meeting update, and KCFA Bb Voucher Availability
- Answered various requests sent to [email protected]: forgotten Login info, Request for Bb Workshop, Grant Applications, computer assistance, etc.
Aloha, Cea[divider]
AD HOC COMMITTEES
Board Development—Executive Committee
HDOA Grant--Colehour
