KCFA BOD Meeting
Feb. 18, 2014
CTAHR Office, Kainaliu
Call to Order by at 3:00 PM
Present: T. Butler, C. Smith, K. Schweickhard, C. Coleman, B. Corker, C. Bondera, Anita Kelleher, K. Goschke. S. Shriner and ML Moss
100% Kona coffee provided by Smith Farms. Thank you C. Smith
March coffee to be provided by Kally Goschke
Pres. Smith passed out new pages for 2014 Board Manual
Treasurer’s Report: Motion to approve report was made by B. Corker and seconded by ML Moss. Motion passed.
Dec. 2013 Minutes: Motion to approve minutes was made by ML. Moss and seconded by C. Bondera. Motion passed.
NEW BUSINESS
Kona Brew Festival: Motion for KCFA to participate with a booth at Festival and KCFA pay for insurance requirements made by B. Corker and seconded by K. Schweickhard. Motion passed.
Annual Fund Raiser Banquet: ML Moss will look into new environs for fund raising due to increased costs at usual hotel banquet room.
Fiscal Year July 1 to June 30 : Fiscal year does not match BOD formation time and may make it more difficult to set budget. No action taken.
Membership: 22 new member. Total membership 321. Did we do anything about M. Braun at the Feb. Mtg?)
CBB Task Force: There is a question as to whether KCFA should remain a member of this task Force because of perceived inefficiencies. There will be a email vote taken among the BOD and the result will be appended to this report or next months minutes.
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS
-Legislative- B.Corker
Labeling and Disclosure: Thank you to those KCFA members who sent requests to Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Clarence Nishihara requesting that he re-schedule a hearing on SB2354. This bill (introduced by Hawaii County Senator Russell Ruderman at KCFA’s request) would require express disclosure of the origin of the 90% foreign-grown coffee in packages of 10% blends—a modest but important step toward truth-in-labeling. The bill had been scheduled for a hearing before the Agriculture Committee on February 4, but was “deleted” from the hearing agenda with no explanation of a reason for the deletion.
And thank you also for submitting testimony in opposition to SB1327, the 10% Hawaiian Chocolate Blend Bill. This measure would create the same sort of deceptive “10% blend” labeling law for chocolate as currently applies to coffee labeling--a step in the wrong direction.
Hawaii State Association of Counties’ Origin Protection Bill: Hawaii County Council Member Karen Eoff has sent a letter to Rep. Jessica Wooley, Chair of the House Agriculture Committee, requesting that she schedule a hearing on HB213 and support its passage. This bill was part of the Hawaii State Association of Counties’ (HSAC) 2013 “Legislative Packet” and remains pending in the 2014 Session. It provides for origin protection and truth-in-labeling for all Hawaii-grown agricultural products, including coffee. To review the letter, click here: http://tinyurl.com/kc5cl6x. Thank you Karen Eoff for supporting farmers!
--Submitted by the Legislative Committee
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-Membership K. Goschke
Hello Board Members,
January 2014 membership is updated. We have 19 new members for January 2014, 10 of which are voting members. Please see attached .pdf for names to approve.
Total Voting Members 239
Total Associate Members 42
Total Business Members 36
Updated Total Members KCFA Jan 2014 end: 317
Issue for discussion:
New member Michael Braun wanted to become a voting member not a business member and asked if you would consider his request for policy change. He is a small farmer but buys more Kona coffee to sell than he grows. He would like the policy changed to include him and others like him. He stated he is fully behind KCFA priorities. It was suggested to bring this to the board's attention at this time to see if you all wanted to discuss this.
Thank you, Kally, Membership chair
( for NEW Business: new Member List will be circulated to the Board via email for review, prior to the Meeting)
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-Pest & Disease- B. Smith
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-PR - A. Kelleher
Aloha All, We had three Press Releases. One for Tulsi Gabbard's visit, the Annual Meeting and new Board members and one for the two new Bills.
I also placed an ad for Expo and "About Town" for the Expo. We are getting our Press Releases picked up by Coffee Talk and Kamaainas news.
I would like to try and work on getting a major news outlet like NY Times to think about getting our story out about the 10% Blends.
I intend to bring it to their attention in the coming months and see if I can get some interest.
Mahalo, Anita
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Newsletter-
Editor Clare Wilson solicited, collated, edited and published February’s Independent Voice.
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-Education/Coffee Talk– C.Bondera and S.Shriner
Education Committee, February 2014
On February 11, KCFA hosted the annual Pruning workshop taught by Bob Smith and Bob Nelson. Forty people signed it at Lehu’ula Farms. According to Mary Lou, we added four new members and one renewal.
A draft Coffee Talk schedule for the rest of the year is being developed. Feel free to provide input or suggestions on the list below.
KCFA Education
Month Date Topic Speakers Location Cosponsor Budget Comments
February 13 Pruning Smith, Nelson Lehuula CTAHR 0
March 16 CBB IPM Shriner, Kawabata CTAHR CTAHR organic/conventional combined
April 29 Soil Health/Fert Radovich CTAHR CTAHR
May 15 Vertical Selection Smith/Nelson farm tba CTAHR
June Taxes Michael Hall CTAHR CTAHR Date depends on Hall's schedule
July 24 Cupping CTAHR
August 21 Processing farm tba CTAHR
September 18 Roasting farm tba CTAHR
A conversation for the larger vision on Education has begun. Ideas include creation of Farmer Education documents (e.g. pruning) as well as videos that would available to members only. Also, for development of a Master Coffee program (similar to the Master Gardener certification) or mentorship program. These are ambitious long-term goals that could increase the quality of Kona coffee. All members are asked to consider what their vision is for a healthy farming community entails.
SHAC has been renewed for their federal CBB grant. A large component of their money hinges on farmer education. SHAC has approached Suzanne Shriner to put on IPM classes. SHAC is requiring all farmers who wish to participate in their new Botanigard/Mycotrol voucher program (50% off fungus) to attend training in CBB pest management. SHAC would like KCFA (as a CBB Task force member) to host the workshop. Discussions regarding this are still developing.
Respectfully submitted. Suzanne
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-Fundraising. M. Moss -Social Events – M.Moss and C. Coleman
Aloha All,
The Events committee, with the fabulous help of the Board had its annual EXPO on Jan. 31st. All board members stepped up to the plate and it was a true team-work effort. Thank you so much. Although we had about 100 less attendees than last year, I feel the EXPO was a success. We had more vendors than ever before – 52 to be exact. We had tremendous cooperation and enthusiasm from the Vendors with some of them even asking to be sponsors for next year. I think EXPO is a great community event and is always really great at attracting new members.
I have been checking out social events for KCFA. One of which is a boat trip, but the quote we got from Body Glove was too high, so I will check FairWinds. I will be contacting the Historical Society to see if we could combine a Jeep Trip up Hualalai with them.
I am checking a couple different venues for the banquet. We will not be having it this year at the King Kam on April 5. We need to research different donors and sponsors.
That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it. ml
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-Finance- K. Schweickhard
A detailed Financial Report including the P & L, Balance Sheet & Revised Expo 2014 results was circulated to the Board
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-Geographic Identities- C.Bondera
Geographic Identity Committee
During the past month we have taken some important steps in helping both national and state level recognition of Kona coffee as a agricultural product of designated geographical origin.
At the annual EXPO it was with this broad view that it was possible to get the endorsement, recognition and support of KCFA efforts from Governor Abercrombie as well as in the form of participation from HDOA Chair Scott Enright. Senator Brian Schatz and Mayor Billy Kenoi provided positive communications as well!
A trip to Washington, DC received collaborative effort from HDOA (they actually signed me up to attend), and participation at the annual National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) was attended in Virginia. Scott Enright also attended as the designated Hawaii representative.
At this NASDA meeting (on February 3), KCFA participated in morning presentations to (2) two of the four regional meetings where American Origin Products Association (AOPA) was given table time for a powerpoint and the AOPA BOD member from Vermont who is a NASDA former participant called in to introduce Beth Barham, AOPA Executive Director and Colehour Bondera.
The presentation was well received and questions were taken. Frankly the before and after and handouts and night before “dinner” time were the most obviously effective. However the newly appointed US Trade Representative (Darci Vetter formerly of Foreign Ag Services) gave an afternoon presentation about international trade negotiations later in the day, and it was possible to talk with her in the hallway about how AOPA should be involved in those negotiations and she agreed that it makes sense since the US does not have a system to recognize geographical identity like most other governmental systems around the world (including the European Union [EU] who is negotiating TTIPs [Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership] with the US and where the stopping point at this time is that the EU protects designated origin of eleven dairy products such as camembert cheese, which the US wants to genericize). Worth noting is that several state designees were in the hall and also were bringing up these issues from our morning presentation with Ms. Vetter, so clearly we had impacted their reflections to some degree.
As an aside, the current NASDA President, Chuck Ross from Vermont, briefly appeared unscheduled (at the invitation of Anne Alonzo, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service’s Administrator) at the National Organic Standards Board training which I attended in Washington, DC at the USDA. Mr. Ross indicated that in his opinion organic agriculture and NASDA are linked through a shared subject of food safety, and that we should work together. He also recognized that I had attended the NASDA meeting, and he may be a link for AOPA in the future.
Finally, note that Hawaii will serve as the 2015 host of the national NASDA annual meeting (pretty sure in September, though dates not yet set), and KCFA can work with the HDOA and get talking time at that event. The location is being finalized, but it will happen on Hawaii . Submitted by Committee Chair Colehour Bondera
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-HFUU Liaison- D. Case/-CBB Task Force Report- D. Case
Submitted 2013-2015 CBB Task Force Budget- attached (2 pages)
Submitted CBB Task Force Report and HFUU Report attached (1 Page)
Link to reports is here: https://konacoffeefarmers.org/members-only/meeting-minutes/hfuu-cbb-task-force-and-budget-report-february-18-2014-board-meeting/
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-website
Member emails Sent:
Coffee Talk tomorrow 2/12/124
Your Action Needed Once More 2/8/14
The Independent Voice 2/6/14
Your Help Needed Please 2/2/14
EXPO 1/30/14
Think It’s Only Kona 1/26/14
KCFA Press Releases 1/25/14
Newsbits 1/22/14
EXPO 1/19/14
Updated Membership so only paid-up for 2014 will be getting regular emails. Expired list will be contacted. All up to date. Distribute all lists to Board at Meeting.
Adjourned at 4:40 PM
Minutes recorded by Sec. T. Butler
