Kona Coffee Farmers Association
Monthly Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
August 15, 2007, CTAHR Conference Room, Kainaliu
Board of Directors Meeting Called to Order at 4:00 pm by President Ken Sheppard
Board Members Present:
Ken Sheppard-President, John McClure-Vice President, Joanie Rowe-Treasurer, Sandra Scarr, Nancy Griffith, Mary Lou Moss, Bruce Corker and Colehour Bondera. Suzanne Kustusch-Secretary absent with apologies (too contagious to attend!)
Mary Lou Moss introduced Richard Buffington, the winner of our Lanihau “Coffee for a Year” drawing. Richard lives in Kona and entered his winning ticket at Longs Drugs.
Review Minutes of July 18, 2007 Board of Directors Meeting
Acceptance of the July Minutes was postponed to the next meeting as several Board members had not had the opportunity to read the corrected version.
Treasurer’s Report:
Treasurer reported a Bank Balance of $9398, and described the major activities for the month which included income from Lanihau and Alii Drive booths, and outgoings for goods to sell and advertising. A motion was made by Ken Sheppard to accept the Report, seconded by Sandra Scarrr, approved unanimously. The Treasurer requested leave of absence from the September and December meetings as she will be off island.
Committee Reports:
Legislative Committee Report: Chairperson Bruce Corker
The legislative committee has made contacts with various organizations which are seeking to strengthen the “Geographical Indications” of specialty agricultural products. Geographical Indications (or “GIs”), are receiving increased attention world wide. Geographical Indications are generally more specific than the “country of origin labeling” requirements currently being considered by the US Congress. The classic example of a “Geographical Indication” is Champagne. In Europe, if a bottle of sparkling white wine is labeled as Champagne, that bottle must contain sparkling wine from grapes grown not just in France, but from grapes grown only in the Champagne region.
KCFA members are encouraged to post and/or display KCFA flyers designed to alert visitors and consumers that packages labeled as “10% Kona blends” are not REAL KONA COFFEE. Please post and display these flyers on bulletin boards, at coffee vending locations, farmers’ markets, and other locations to help educate the coffee buying public. Contact Bruce Corker (322-1740) if you would like copies of the flyers.
Website Committee Report: Mark Shultise
Chairperson reports that the website is up and operational. Burlap bags are available online. He fixed an issue with Associate Members creating an account.
Grants Committee Report: Chairperson Sandra Scarr
Chairperson reported that the DVD project is progressing, and that first invoices have been submitted for reimbursement. The invoices were submitted a few days past the deadline as Sandra was in the process of moving, but she has not heard that that will be a problem so is assuming all is well. A suggestion was made that a version of the DVD be made with Japanese captions or voice-over, and Chairperson will check on the cost of that, and whether it can be included in the grant funding. A request was made that DVD’s can be personalized for individual farms, and Sandra also will check on what it would cost each farm for that to be done.
Promotions Committee Report: Chairperson Cea Smith
KCFA monthly ads:
Have been running about 6 weeks
First 2 weeks of month in Big Island Weekly
4th week of the month in WHT Personals
KCFA BURLAP BAGS:
Total bags sold, as far as Chairperson knows, are 620. KCFA needs to sell 580 more. Please hustle 🙂 Burlap bags can be paid for now.
Update from Cindy Boots – Cindy said that the bags shipped out of India on July 15th and should be here in September as originally planned.
Education Committee Report: John McClure
The Green Coffee Defects Seminar is now planned for Saturday, August 18. Commodities Inspector for the Hawaii Dept of Agriculture, Richard Dinker, will discuss what causes the defects, how to identify them and how to prevent them.
Two future workshops are in the planning stages. One on roasting techniques, and another on processing which would potentially visit mills of different sizes to see how methods and operations change with the size.
PR Committee Report: Chairperson Christine Sheppard
This month we published the August newsletter, and circulated it to our media and politicians list. Bruce requested that the Newsletter be sent to the Keei Café and to Kona Gold, both of whom were featured. Chairperson issued a Press release on the Peoples Choice Tasting results which was printed in several publications, including Badgetts coffee journal, and the Hawaii Advertiser.
Chairperson finalized the ad for the Festival Brochure.
Printed, stuffed, and mailed 114 packages to potential Auction donors for our first annual dinner and auction benefit
Collected and shipped 22 bags and labels from our farmers to Marie Kelley for use in our DVD.
Purchased and shipped 10% Kona coffee blends, and our KCFA coffee for use in our DVD.
Produced invoicing to initiate our grant process.
Chairperson warned that her regular job goes to full time starting September, so it may put a crimp in her time available.
Fund Raising Committee Report: Chairperson Mary Lou Moss
Four days of having the booth at Alii drive KCFA made $1340. Chairperson plans to go down there on the 24th (there are 2 cruise ships in on that day). If anyone would like to donate green and/or parchment she would really appreciate it. Chairperson will have a little work party to help apply labels, pack the coffee, etc. on Aug. 22.
The new seals are in. A request was made that clear seals be also bought, and the Board approved this.
It's time to start thinking about the Cultural Festival. KCFA has 2 parades to participate in. The KCFA Banquet is set for Sunday, Nov. 4th at the King Kam Hotel. Please SAVE THE DATE. Tickets will be $32.00. An Hawaiian Buffet will be served. Kawuila (who played the guitar and sang at the Kona Coffee Fair) is the entertainment. He is talented and enjoyable. KCFA will be having a silent auction, letters are being sent out. Members were asked for contacts. Please let Chairperson or Christine Sheppard know. Hopefully KCFA will have the same FedEx discount deal as KCC.
A proposal was made and approved by the Board that the owner of the Alii Drive space be presented with two dinner tickets for our Annual Dinner, and leis.
A question was asked as to whether KCFA Farmer’s Coffee at Table at Cultural Festival was discussed at the Fundraising Committee meeting, and it has not yet been discussed.
Mary Lou asked all Board members to undertake to sell 0 tickets each, and the Board agreed. Christine will try and have tickets available for the September meeting.
A suggestion was made that we do a Lanihau-style fair with Tasting competition at the Kings Shops. Mary Lou said she would look into it for next year.
Estate Committee Report: Chairperson Joanie Rowe
Cherry Hill Estate, owners Tom and Jacque Belcastro.
Submitted by Joanie Rowe Membership and Estate Chairperson.
Membership Committee Report: Chairperson Joanie Rowe
Chairperson reports total membership of 140, 114 farmers and 26 associates.
There are still a few members we could never really pin down as to who owned
the farm, what is your TMK etc.
Joanie presented four proposals formulated by the membership committee for a membership campaign. These included changes to the website structure, taking the Supporting Member to Business Associate Member with a fee of $30, a Membership Drive with a prize for whoever brings in the most members, and a promotion that will give new members who join anytime after Sept 1 a membership through to Dec 31 2008.
The Board discussed the proposals and approved them.
New Members: Since June 4th we have Jill McBride, Chris Archuleta, Michael
Boshes, Dennis Painter, and Julia Smith as Associates and Tom Belcastro, Graysen Gaines, William Shriner, Bob Trubell, and Dawn Barnes
as farmers.
Joanie stated that 9 members do not have email and do not get the Newsletter. She will work with Secretary to get the address to her so that Suzanne can send them a Newsletter by mail each month.
Tom Belcastro and Graysen Gaines, William Shriner, Bob Trubell, Dawn Barnes
are all farmers.
Old Business:
Green Imports and Labeling - Nancy Griffith
Regarding green coffee from India, Iseke has replied via email that she has no reportable news, investigation continuing. Had a phone conversation with her as well. Iseke has to consult the Attorney General to find out what information she can share with us.
Regarding labeling, Dr John Ryan, Quality Assurance Division, State of Hawaii Dept of Agriculture has not replied to my letter a month ago.
Mr. Bill Pierpont, Manager of Measurement Standards Branch, State of Hawaii has not replied to my letter of a month ago regarding illegal labels. Nancy spoke to him by phone and he told her he has no control over how people describe their roasted coffee, and suggested she talk with Jeri Kahana
There was illegally labeled coffee in the Keauhou KTA on Aug 10.
New Business:
Cherry Prices have been collected by Nancy, and Mark will put them up on the website. They will be updated weekly.
Nancy alerted the Board to Training for Festival Organizers program which has been customized for Hawaii. Mary Lou will look into it. Persons interested can get more information at 208-433-0950 ext 8
Ken announced that Craig Elevitch has received a grant to study shade tree planting in coffee orchards, and encouraged members to collaborate with Craig if requested, as the information produced will be useful to farms new and old.
Meeting Adjourned at 6:10pm
Next Board of Directors Meeting:
September 19, 2007 at CTAHR Conference Room in Kainaliu at 4:00pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Suzanne Kustusch,
KCFA Secretary 2007
