Kona Coffee Farmers Association
Monthly Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
June 18, 2008, CTAHR Conference Room, Kainaliu
Board of Directors Meeting Called to Order by President – 4:05 pm
Board Members Present
Bruce Corker - President, John McClure - Vice President, Suzanne Kustusch - Secretary, Sandra Scarr, Joanie Rowe, Nancy Griffith, Kathy Wood and Mary Lou Moss. Deb Sims - Treasurer, Colehour Bondera and Sandy Masterson absent with apologies.
President asked for a moment of silence for Paul Sims. The Board extends its condolences and deep sympathy to Deb Sims for the loss of her husband and best friend. A moment of silence was observed.
Coffee Provided for Board of Directors Meeting
Coffee compliments of John McClure, McClure Farms. Thank you John. Next month’s coffee will be supplied by Joanie Rowe, Rowesview Farm.
Introduce New Members and Guests
None present.
Review Minutes of Board of Directors Meeting of May 21, 2008 as written by Secretary Suzanne Kustusch
Sandra Scarr moved to approve Minutes as written. Mary Lou Moss seconded the motion. 8 ayes, 0 nays, motion carried, Minutes approved.
Review Treasurer’s Report as written by Treasurer Deb Sims
Due to Deb’s loss, the Treasurer’s Reports will be deferred until next month.
Committee Reports
Fund Raising Committee Report:
Co-Chairpersons Mary Lou Moss and Kathy Wood
Kathy Wood reports that we have sold the first 1,000 Calendars in the first two weeks! The following businesses have he Calendars for sale:
Kona Stories, Nasturtium Café, Borders, Kona Coast Office Supply, Chefs, Eden, Copy Post Plus, Anuenue Gardens, Lavender Moon, Art Farm, Coffee & Epicurean, Patel’s, Bongs, Higashi and soon to be at Surfin’ Ass and Suzanne Kustusch sells the Calendars at her coffee shop in Ali’i Gardens Marketplace. Member’s price for Calendars will increase to $7.00 because the new batch of calendars will cost KCFA more to add a plastic cover.
Coffee Fest was June 6-8 at the Hilton Waikoloa. Mary Lou thanks all the volunteers that helped work the KCFA booth. Members’ coffee was not a big seller but we did sell quite a few "Naked Truth" calendars and a few logo merchandise items. We took in approximately $1400 during the 3 day event. We also signed up a new member. We were able to give out several calendar press releases and made some potential contacts for future articles about Kona coffee.
Inventory: We have new caps, more ladies coffee colored t-shirts and ladies tank tops. We also have a few of the Naked Truth t-shirts for sale.
Up Coming Events:
June 21st at Amy Greenwell’s - Seed Exchange. The Coffee Shack is going to make an appearance along with logo merchandise, coffee and the calendar.
July 4th – The Calendar Girls & Shack will be in the 4th of July Parade in Kailua-Kona. Parade starts at 5:30 p.m. Mary Lou will ask if we can sell calendars at the Banyan Tree yard at the parade.
Alii Drive – I need some volunteers to sell KCFA coffee in July on Alii Drive.
Lanihau Event – Kathy & I will meet with Lanihau Center on Friday at 2 pm. Margot is proposing Aug. 9th for our event.
Election volunteers – Sept 20 & Nov. 4 still need volunteers.
GEMS – Friday, Nov. 21. We’ve been asked again to serve coffee to the volunteers who work the GEMS workshop (Girls Exploring Math & Science). This year it will be at Amy Greenwell’s. What we are asked to do is serve Kona coffee to the 100 or so volunteers working the workshop. We need to be set up by 7 a.m. and stay until about noon. One person can do it. I did it last year and it was interesting and fun. Joanie Rowe volunteered.
UNFI on Friday, Nov. 14 Keauhou Sheraton. Franz Weber has invited KCFA to participate in the UNFI 2008 Food Show. Franz is offering us a complimentary booth. Franz works for a natural & organic distributor who has a show for their customers in Hawaii – which are almost all the health food stores, many super markets, etc. There are usually about 100 booths & is usually limited to vendors that distribute through their company. The show is from 11-3 p.m.
2nd Annual KCFA Banquet – Sunday November 16th, SAVE THE DATE.
Same place as last year. King Kam hotel. This date is the last day of the Cultural Festival. You can attend the free concert from 4-5 p.m. and come over to the King Kam for our banquet.
President thanked Mary Lou, Kathy Wood and Cea Smith for their work to help make Coffee Fest a success.
Website Committee Report: Chairperson Mark Shultise
All continues to work fine. I am working with Mary Lou to adjust prices, shipping and online items for sale.
Education Committee Report:
Co-Chairpersons John McClure and Ken Sheppard
Next workshop, Small Farm Coffee Processing, is July 5 at CTAHR and then will move to Bob Nelson‘s to see his demucilaging system.
Chamber of Commerce Report, Cherry Prices, Labeling: Nancy Griffith
Nancy will attend the Chamber of Commerce After Hours function this evening and asked if anyone else would like to attend. Joanie Rowe will go with her. Nancy asked the Chamber to put the information about the Calendar in their Newsletter.
Nancy will report on cherry and parchment prices again for this year and they will be posted once a week on the website, put in the paper and posted on bulletin boards in various locations in Kona. Kathy Wood volunteered to help post.
Nancy feels we need a labeling committee to keep watch on labeling misrepresentations. Kona Joe’s label still has the same problems brought to Bill Pierpont’s attention in 2006. Nancy will write to Bill again. Mac Farms label says Kona coffee but no Kona coffee is listed in the ingredients. Royal Miss canned coffee is called Kona Black yet no Kona coffee is identified in the ingredients. Bill Pierpont states that labeling roasted coffee as extra fancy is in line with labeling requirements. 2002 coffee law states that green beans must be Kona grade to carry the Kona name.
PR/Promotions Committee Report: Chairperson Cea Smith
Helped with Calendar- gave interviews etc…
Sent out many emails announcing Calendar to Politician List, Press List , 50 Magazines chosen at random from *2014* List etc.
Created Farmer Product List and Farm Tour List for Coffee Fest
Successful Burlap Bag move, thanks to Suzanne Kustusch, Darlene Freeman, Chuck Moss, Bruce Corker, Ken Sheppard and Bob Smith. Thanks to Nancy Sachs for taking them.
In April, Bruce asked for any website ideas, and Cea sent him the only suggestion. She believes we “serve 2 masters” and need to appeal to both- public and our members. She has been working on her proposal-including, each member gets their own small sale site on the KCFA site as a member benefit, make it as much visual as much as it is data, other interesting ideas and keeping all the things we currently have and need. Once the DB is done, maybe costing $1000-$2000, I will happily maintain it. More work needs to be done before she presents ideas to Board. Already received an anonymous $500 donation toward cost. President suggested Cea head up a Website Review Sub-Committee. Nancy Griffith moved that Cea Smith form a sub-committee to review the KCFA website. Suzanne Kustusch seconded the motion. 8 ayes, 0 nays, motion carried. Bruce Corker, Suzanne Kustusch, Mark Shultise and Sandra Scarr volunteered to be part of the Sub-Committee.
Christine Sheppard’s Report:
* Produced June newsletter featuring the Calendar launch
* Produced Press Packets for Coffee Fest
* Produced point of purchase displays for stores selling calendars
* Made a calendar advert to go on the booth backdrop to cover Joachim's offending photo. The advert is a laminated sign that can be used other places when we don’t use the booth backdrop.
* Produced and sent suitable calendar lady photos to various press outlets for their articles.
* Talked with a number of reporters for articles
* Delivered Press packets to Coffee Talk, Roast, and Fresh Cup magazines
* Resized to very small and sent the calendar pages to Hana Hou, the Hawaiian Airlines magazine, for a layout on the calendar they plan to do, calendar pages will be reprinted postage stamp size.
* Sent out calendars to Howard Dicus, Sherry Bracken, and Ken David.
* Produced a new brochure "Natural Aloha" focusing on Kona coffee's bird friendly, shade grown, and fair trade aspects, from superb text provided by Bryce Decker.
Membership Committee Report:
Co-Chairpersons Joanie Rowe and Colehour Bondera
Joanie reports that Membership is looking good with 221 members, including 2 Renews, 2 Supporting, 4 Farmers and 3 Associates. Susan Dabritz was given Associate membership as part of our thanks for taking the calendar pictures.
Legislative Committee Report: Chairperson Bruce Corker
1) In the past two weeks 6 monetary contributions to support the KCFA’s Legislative Committee’s Truth-in-Labeling efforts have been made through the KCFA website.
2) Copies of the minutes of the SCR102 Input/Collaboration Special Board Meeting have been forwarded to Jeri Kahana and Bill Pierpont of the HDOA--as they requested. [Thank you, Suzanne, for work in preparing the multi-page minutes.] The transmittal email requested updates from Jeri and Bill on HDOA’s assessment of the Hodgson and Bruhn study (sent to them by KCFA at their request)and HDOA’s plans for a coffee farmer survey (as described in the HDOA Interim Report to the Legislature).
3) Letters of appreciation have been sent to Chairs of the County and State Democratic Parties for the convention resolutions strongly supporting Truth-in-Labeling for Kona Coffee. Emailed copies of the resolutions were sent to selected legislators, along with requests for their advice and assistance in pursuing the objectives stated in the resolutions.
4) At Coffee Fest, KCC President Donna Woolley advised us that KCC is working with the Lt. Governor to seek federal legislation to extend Hawaii’s 10% Kona Coffee Blend law to the Mainland.
Bruce will prepare a set of questions for the Candidates in the upcoming election. He will post the results.
Grants Committee Report: Chairperson Sandra Scarr
To date, KCFA has not had a response to the letter the Board authorized the president to write to Hawaii Deputy Attorney General, in response to the proposed settlement agreement. The board did not agree to the language required in a new contract that accompanies the 2008 grant for trade shows. Bruce advised the Department that the offer was not accepted and we request to be “made whole” and we will not sign the gag order.
WUSATA has a grant program to help western region farmers to attain new market for their products. KCFA is eligible to apply for WUSATA funds, up to $250,000, to cover trade show attendance, advertising, promotional materials, etc. Sandra will register for the Webinar program to get information.
Social Committee Report: Chairperson Lisa Corker
Chairperson on Mainland, report given by Bruce Corker. Kathy Wood is putting together a tour of the Galaxy Garden and pupu party for later this summer. We will have an update at the next meeting.
Estate Committee Report: Chairperson Joanie Rowe
Chairperson reports that Jenine Boido applied for Estate status this week. Joanie has gotten “Illustrator” for her computer so she is working on producing the Estate Certificates herself, thanks to her sister in Florida.
Old Business:
Talmage Nakamoto- State Spelling Bee Champion, made it to the second round at the Nationals, and thanked everyone for their donations.
Ken Sheppard reports that at the recent Coffee Fest trade show on opening day there was an exhibitor who had many sample trays of green coffee laid out for people to examine and take away. The green beans included not just South American, but also African coffee from Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and others. The exhibitor said that these were not fumigated - he carried them in his suitcase. African coffees are not allowed into Hawaii even fumigated, as their pests and diseases cannot be eradicated with current fumigation protocols. The exhibitor had ignored the warnings on the plane’s Agriculture Form. We are disappointed that it took a KCFA member to report this. The green coffee was the main display in a prominent booth and clearly labeled by country. The KCFA had written to all the relevant authorities to request provisions to prevent this type of alarming breach. The HDoA even had a booth just a few yards away and yet apparently no-one from HDoA looked around the show hall to check for illegal imports. Hopefully the swift action taken by Ken Sheppard, and by Jim Wayman, President of the HCA and co-sponsor of Coffee Fest, has prevented any catastrophic problems. Jim secured the green beans in ziplock bags to turn these over to the HDoA representative, Jeri Kahana when she returned to the HDoA booth, to have the beans burnt. Perhaps it is time for Agricultural Inspections to scan INCOMING luggage from flights, instead of just outgoing, to help stop this type of danger.
New Business:
Bruce Corker reports that we have been contacted by a member of KCC’s Cream of the Crop committee with an invitation to Kona Coffee Farmers Association members to participate in the Cream of the Crop coffee tasting competition. The committee is apparently having difficulty filling the 21 slots available for contestants. Last year there were only two farms entered in the Organic Division--with five places left vacant. We are advised that non-KCC member farms will be permitted to enter the Organic and Open Divisions (but not the Estate Division). If members are interested, an application form can be found at www.kona-coffee-council.com/Files/CofC-App-2008.pdf. There is a $35 entry fee. Non-KCC members may leave the “KCC membership #” space blank, and use their farm’s TMK # instead. The event is scheduled for July 12. Applications are due by July 5.
Meeting Adjourned at 5:55pm
Next Regular Board of Directors Meeting:
July 16, 2008 at CTAHR Conference Room, Kainaliu, at 4:00pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Suzanne Kustusch
KCFA Secretary 2008
