KCFA February 2012 MINUTES
Feb. 22, 2012 Yano Hall 4:05 PM call to Order
Present: Board members C. Bondera,T. Butler, ML.Moss, B. Corker,P.Uster, C. Smith, C. Carrico, C. Wilson and L. Hanna. Introduction of new Board Members and then board members read through their committee descriptions.
President: Cecelia Smith
Vice-President: Mary Lou Moss
Secretary: Thomas Butler
Treasurer: Christy Carrico
Coffee Supplied by Paradise Found Farm.
Annual Membership Minutes were reviewed. Motion by C. Bondera to approve minutes was seconded by P. Uster. Motion passed.
Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer report by C. Carrico . A motion to approve was made by P. Uster and seconded by M.Moss. Motion passed. A suggestion was made by B. Corker that since we have a healthy bank account we should endeavor to spend it. The Finance Committee will meet in March to prepare the annual budget.
Standing Committee Reports
Education - P. Uster
37 KCFA members and 1 person from the general public attended the Cupping Workshops. Education worked with Events on the 5th Annual Trade Expo.C. Bondera reported that there will be a Dept. of Labor sponsored "Work Force Development" Plan at the King Kamehameha Hotel, K.K. Hawaii, Tuesday from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. More information will be on the KCFA web site.Bruce Corker and Bob Smith will be developing an every-other-month CBBTalk Story. Time and venue to be announced when finalized.
Fundraising/Events/Social Report - M.Moss
The EXPO last month was a success, we signed up about 12 new farmers and took in roughly $4000. KCFA attended the 6th Annual Avocado Festival on Saturday, Feb. 18th.The event was fun, lots of people attended, but we didn't sell much logo merchandise. We did sign up one new member, got one renewal, sold one Coffee Label shirt and a few other miscellaneous items. Not much profit, but we did show a presence in the community. The next event will be the Banquet on April 28th at the King Kamehameha Hotel.The committee is working on who to solicit donations from and how to do the auction(s). Letters will go out by the beginning of March. We will need lots of volunteers. On the social scene, we are going to contact the Sea Horse farm for a tour and while we are down in that area, Clare Wilson's husband has offered to also give a tour of the lobster area where they import, hold and then sell Maine lobsters, Dungeness crabs, oysters, clams, and mussels. They also distribute some of the other seafood grown at NELHA like the Kampachi fish. Do you think this will be too fishy for coffee farmers??Geographic Identities - C. Bondera
Founders conference of American Origin Products Association, of which KCFA is one of three forming groups, is tentatively scheduled for October 13, 2012 in Fayetteville, NC. Intention is that Colehour, as the acting Vice President, will attend and participate! The Terra Madre gathering, associated with occurs Salone del gusto, is having the every two year gathering again October 25-29. Working with people in Italy and Switzerland (at oriGIn) regarding opportunities to attend event in celebration and support of the award we received from Parmigiano Reggiano (which is awarded each time to a Geographic Identity product such as Kona coffee) to pass that recognition onward!Guest Speaker: Glenn Martinez, Pres. Hawaii Farmers Union
The HFU is an offshoot of the Farmers Bureau in that it represents strictly farmers and farm issues from their prospective. He gave an example of how effective farmers can be when they have a strong voice. He explained the annual dues ranged from $10 to $30 and the different kinds of membership status.
Standing Committees continued -
Legislature - B. Corker
Legislative Committee member David Case provided invaluable assistance in Honolulu in late January and February with testimony and meetings with legislators and Abercrombie Administration representatives concerning coffee and agriculture-related issues. Thank you, David. Thanks also to the many KCFA members who responded to requests for emails and testimony on pending bills. Among the important bills on which KCFA and its members have provided input:
SB2097—Coffee Origin Disclosure: This KCFA bill was introduced by Sen. Josh Green on 1/19/12. The bill died in Committee on 2/17/12 when Sen. Rosalyn Baker refused to schedule a committee hearing.
HB1827— Blenders’ 1 cent tax & Warrantless Entry & Tree Destruction Bill: “Deferred” by the House Agriculture Committee on February 3, and died in Committee.
HB280—Blenders Bill to Abolish Coffee Inspection & Certification: Passed out of the House Agriculture Committee on February 16 and sent to the House Finance Committee.
SB2957—25% Blend Bill for Hawaii-grown Tea: After a hearing in Sen. Rosalyn Baker’s committee, the bill was “deferred” on February 24, and died.
SB2512—Increase HDOA Share of Barrel Tax from 15 to 45 Cents/Barrel: Passed through the first 3 Senate Committees on February 14, and referred to Senate Ways and Means Committee. 2012 is an election year. The Legislative Committee is looking for KCFA members interested assisting with KCFA’s Candidate Questionnaires and Candidate Forums on Ag
Membership/Volunteers - L. Hanna
Work continues to enter new members and farms in our data base and I am studying our data base. Missing data on our paper applications was a problem, but new members responded positively to phone calls to clarify their information and they were very complimentary about the Expo. Thank you, Mary Lou Moss and Paul Uster. I will attempt to write a script for volunteers handling new applications so that we are all on the same page concerning the vetting process and different member types. I look forward to calling all of our members sometime this year to provide the personal touch. From now on I will carry membership applications in my car, I could have used one on Friday at a “Friends of Volcano” event. Mary Lou Moss is correct; we are all ambassadors in search of members and volunteers.A suggestion was made by T. Butler that Estate Farm membership continue to be vetted.
Pest and Disease - B. Smith
On January 27th at our annual Expo, Suzanne Shriner, Andrea Kawabata and I gave an update on the latest IPM recommendations and also conducted a Q&A session. This was attended by a large group of farmers with many questions. On the CBB task force front, a request for funding from the legislature most notably for eradication of all non farmed coffee was deferred. I don't know what this means though it would appear to be dead. The questions on practicality and legality were too apparent for further consideration.The task force is now attempting to secure funding from the USDA through a fast track mechanism in cooperation with Rod Yonemura from the Synnergistic Hawaii Agriculture Council. Rod is proving to be a breath of fresh air pointing out the lack of Science backing any of the Task force goals. Until the task force becomes an entirely Kona centric group with projects that scientifically evaluate our mitigation efforts, it will continue to march down the road looking for money to fund questionable ideas. What farmers need now is help with doing the important things like field sanitation and spraying Beauvaria fungus.
PR/Newsletter - C. Wilson
For the EXPO event, a short press release and a display ad to encourage attendance was prepared and submitted.A press release about the election of 2012 officers and the new board members of KCFA was also prepared and submitted to a number of news media.The February edition of the KCFA newsletter, "The Independent Voice" was prepared.
Ad Hoc Website Committee - C. Smith
I would like to ask the Board to allow an expenditure of $800-$1200 and it might be less, for a website Upgrade. When we started the website almost 5 years ago, we had a lot less going on. I feel it would be beneficial to have a fresh and well-organized new KCFA site. It can look the same but will operate differently. WordPress would be a better software. We'd source it out to Valerie our KCFA programmer who is reasonable and gives us a non-profit discount, as well as being a highly efficient programmer. I will do as much as possible. A motion for the above expenditure was made by P. Uster and seconded by C. Carrico. Motion passed
New Business
P. Trygstad gave on report on a Puerto Rican Cooperation Concept. A motion was made by P. Uster and seconded by B. Corker that KCFA continue to work on this proposal. Motion passed.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:50 PM
Minutes by T. Butler, Sec'y
