KONA COFFEE FARMERS ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING, December 15, 2015
CTAHR Conference Room, Kainaliu
Board Members Present: Tom Butler, Anita Kelleher, Bruce Corker, Kurt Schweickhard, Chris Coleman, Randy Phillips, Judy Schuman, Allan Wang.
100% Kona Coffee provided by Bruce Corker
Coffee for February 16. 2016 Meeting: Allan Wang
Call to Order at 3:00 pm by President Tom Butler.
GENERAL ITEMS
Consent Agenda—No questions were raised about the new members listed in the Membership Committee report or about the minutes of the Board meeting of November 17, 2015. Bruce requested that the “CBB Task Force” item be moved from the Consent Agenda and added to “Old Business”. With that change, Kurt moved, with a second from Anita, to accept the Consent Agenda (Minutes and Committee Reports). Motion passed.
Treasurer’s Report—Kurt reported on and reviewed the Profit and Loss for November 2015 and the Balance Sheet as of December 11, 2015. He also reviewed the conversion of 2 merchant services accounts to STRIPE and SQUARE. Allan moved, with a second from Chris, to accept the Treasurer’s Report. Motion passed.
OLD BUSINESS
EXPO—Tom reported that the Old Airport Park Pavilion will be the site for KCFA’s 2016 Coffee Exposition. Chris and Bruce reported on the meeting of the Ad Hoc EXPO committee (Chris, Colehour, Bruce) with Nancy Ginter-Miller on December 3. Bruce moved, with a second from Randy, to adopt the following recommendation from the Ad Hoc Committee:
“That the KCFA retain Nancy Ginter-Miller to organize and administer the 2016 KCFA Coffee Exposition; that up to $3,000 be allocated for EXPO expenses, including Nancy’s fee for services of up to $1,000; and that KCFA Board members commit to provide EXPO assistance at levels similar to that provided in the past.”
In the discussion Kurt emphasized the need for fiscal responsibility and suggested that the amounts be limited to Nancy’s high-side estimate of $750 for the fee and to last year’s EXPO expense level of approximately $800. The motion passed--6 in favor (Judy, Bruce, Chris, Allan, Anita, Randy); one opposed (Kurt).
Nominations Committee—Tom reported that the Nomination Committee has received interest from six members in having their names submitted as candidates for the KCFA Board: John Betlach, Sally Brown, Kay Dixon, John Koontz, Suzanne Shriner, Karen Zulkowski. Tom also indicated that that it will be the committee’s recommendation to the AGM that the Board continue with 13 members for 2016. Assuming the AGM adopts the recommendation, there will be six open positions for the AGM to fill at the January 8 meeting.
CBB Task Force—Kurt reported that a meeting of the CBB Task Force is scheduled for December 16.
NEW BUSINESS
Annual General Meeting—The 2016 AGM will be held on Friday, January 8 at Kahaluu Beach Park Pavilion, with a potluck lunch beginning at 11:00 am. There was discussion of the matters to be covered in the notice of the meeting to be sent to the membership. Chris volunteered to make arrangements for the main course for the potluck.
Farmer Input on CBB Recommendations—An invitation to a December 16 meeting in the CTAHR conference room to provide farmer input on CBB recommendations to Robbie Hollinsworth of PBARC and Ray Carruthers of CTAHR has been sent to KCFA members. Bruce encouraged Board members to attend the meeting.
Coffee Processors Not Paying—Tom raised the issue of late payments by processors to farmers. From the discussion it was agreed that KCFA members who complain of not having been timely paid for coffee deliveries should be encouraged to file formal complaints with the HDOA on the HDOA’s complaint form. If members report that the HDOA is not pursuing these complaints, KCFA should consider requesting a meeting with HDOA to discuss enforcement of state law.
Living History Farm—Crowdfunding Campaign—Bruce reported on a request from Kona Historical Society representative Carolyn Lucas-Zenk for KCFA to help publicize a crowdfunding campaign to benefit the Society’s Kona Coffee Living History Farm. The objective is to raise funds for pasture improvement and the purchase a second donkey for the farm. It was agreed that the Living History Farm is an important asset for the Kona coffee community and that KCFA should support this project by posting the request on the website and publicizing the request in an “Independent Voice” article.
KCFA Estate Coffee Program—Chris raised the question of whether the KCFA should re-establish its program for certifying estate coffees of KCFA members. In the discussion Chris was encouraged to consult with Joanie Rowe who set up and administered a certification program some years ago and to bring a proposal to the Board. There was also discussion of contributing to costs of the program with sales of “KCFA Certified Estate-Grown Coffee” seals for coffee packages.
Meeting adjourned at 4:30 pm.
Submitted by Bruce Corker, Secretary
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Committee Reports for Tuesday December 15, 2015
Website Report: Worked with Kurt on converting to Stripe Processing, Worked on Membership issues, responded to [email protected] emails, sent out KCFA general Member emails for 1)Lee Sugai's election, 2) December 2015-Independent Voice, 3)Farmer input towards CBB Mitigation and 4) Bilingual Dengue info, printed out 3 BB vouchers for those w/o computers and posted to KCFA website: 1)December 2015-Indepedent Voice, 2) Lee Sugai's Election and 3)Bilingual Dengue as well as noting under EVENTS, the March 18, 2016 EXPO timing.Aloha, Cea
Finance
We have completed the conversion of 2 Merchant Services accounts from ELAVON to:
KCFA WebPage store: STRIPE, (2.75% +30c fee per transaction)
Non-Webpage: SQUARE (2.75% fee per transaction)
Resulting in future savings eliminating minimum charges and reducing transaction fees.
Collected another invoice from Farm & Garden for October 2015 ($2047.25)
Remaining KCFA Grant Monies (Temp Restricted Assets) $13,682.10
Additional Grant funds are due from HDOA representing final installment of $16,665.00
after KCFA submitting final reports.
Mahalo, Kurt
(Kurt sent us all the P&L and Balance Sheet as attachments on Dec.11)
The Heritage Committee
continues to work extensively towards recognition and protection of the Geographical Identity of Kona coffee. The latest of the American Origin Products Association (AOPA) efforts to attain national acceptance of Kona being a geography like Napa wines, Vermont maple syrup, and Idaho potatoes continues forth! You can read about the AOPA panels that have been held around the country via: http://cast.uark.edu/home/research/eutrd.html <http://konacoffeefarmers.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=013d25e7b83fe65f2eb35d9a0&id=6d0849679d&e=71f46e6b9a> While not able to attend in person, the General Assembly of oriGIn meeting in Fortaleza, Brazil, from November 10-12, 2015, resulted in the continued recognition of Kona coffee by electing Colehour Bondera to continue as the oriGIn North American Vice President. This can be looked at via the weblink here: http://www.origin-gi.com/images/stories/PDFs/English/press_release_GA_fortaleza/06_-Election_oriGIn_bodies_Fortaleza_2015.pdf Also note that a new oriGIn President has been elected, who is Fatima Amehri of the Association of the Geographical Indication of Argan Oil. Further, the oriGIn Executive Committee includes several individuals who KCFA has worked with in the past, including Luis Fernando Samper of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (who served as the very first oriGIn President), and Pat Kole of Idaho Potatoes who continue to serve on the AOPA BOD as well, where the KCFA representative, Colehour Bondera now is BOD Secretary. Point is that KCFA is in very good company with our international recognition and actions to stand strong for the Kona coffee farming industry, which we are the leader of and serve as a well received spokesman for both within the US and worldwide. – Colehour-
*Legislative Committee Report* On November 25 three members of the Legislative Committee—Judy Schuman, Colehour Bondera, and Bruce Corker—met at the West Hawaii Civic Center with 5 members of the Big Island’s State House delegation: Representatives Richard Creagan, Nicole Lowen, Mark Nakashima, Richard Onishi and Joy San Buenaventura. The KCFA had been invited to review coffee issues for the upcoming 2016 Legislative session. Two matters were presented to the delegation members:
1—A request for the delegation’s assistance in seeking committee hearings and passage of HB387. This bill was introduced last session by West Hawaii Representatives Creagan, Lowen, Cindy Evans and others. As requested by Resolution No. 501-14 which was unanimously adopted by the Hawaii County Council on 10/15/14, this measure would raise the minimum "origin" content in Hawaii Coffee Blends to 51% and to require identification on labels of the origin of the foreign-grown coffee in a blend.
2—A request for an investigation of why the Legislature's mandate to the Hawaii Department of Agriculture to establish a Beauvaria bassiana subsidy program for combating CBB has not been implemented. In June of 2014, HB1514 was enacted into law. This new statute directed the HDOA to create and administer the subsidy program and appropriated $450,000 for subsidies of up to 75% of the cost of Beauvaria bassiana for the 5-year period from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2019. Now--almost a year and a half later--the subsidy program has not been put in place and not a single dollar of the $450,000 appropriation has been made available to coffee farmers.
Dec. 10, 2016 membership report New active voting members; Bill Edwards Kona True Painted church road [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> member #877 as of 11/27 Tanner Bailey Hi Hopes Kona Coffee farm Kealakekua [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> member#879 as of 12/10 New Associate member: Mike Boyd Farmers Ranch, Texas [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> member#878 as of 12/5 There are 282 Active voting members, 33 Supporting business members and 45 Associate members. Donna Meiners
PR Report Designed January/February Ad for Keola Magazine Sent out newsletter Worked on certificates and PR for Chef’s Choice Award being presented at 2:30 before Tuesday’s December Board meeting
