KCFA BOARD MEETING MINUTES
March 17,2010 YANO HALL
4 PM call to Order
Present: C. Bondera, M. Lake, J. Rowe, T. Butler, Jason Stith., R. Anders, B. Corker, ML.Moss, D. Sims and K. Wood.
February, 2010 Minutes and Treasurer Report approved by Board. (do we want who motioned and seconded recorded and our financial status?)
Special report on Fire Ants by Ray Anders
The fire ant is an invasive species that was first reported in 1990. It is supposed to have arrived in Kona via Plant Nurseries and very little has been done about it. There is a Farm Bureau brochure and a web site, littlefireant.com
KCFA should have a representative on the Task Force. Several names have been suggested.
Report on American Origin Products by Colehour Bondera: Colehour was our KCFA representative In Washington D.C. His was a written report and is noteworthy in that we don’t stand alone in this global problem of not being recognized for the geographical product indigenous to a particular local.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
1. Chamber of Commerce: Written report sent in by Marcia Eckhert.
2. Social: Lisa Corker- Valentine Day cruise. 70+ attendants. Good time had by all. Special Pot Luck for the Sheppards. They were most pleased and were gifted with a calabash bowl to remember us by.
3.Newsletter: Christine Sheppard has agreed to continue with the newsletter from her new home in California on a quarterly basis.
4. Web Site and P.R.: Cea Smith is appreciative of ebay response to any improper listings for supposed 100% Kona Coffee that illustrate or highlight our KCFA logo. The listings were discontinued as being representative of KCFA.
5. Legislative: Bruce Corker reported on:
A.) the Feldman Report and the effect of Kona blends on the market and the ensuing rebuttals. It creates interesting questions on where all of this Kona Coffee is coming from and who benefits from blending.
B.) Lt, Governor nominee Brian Schatz and his interest and knowledge of the Kona coffee market.
C.) Non payment of cherry coffee to growers by certain processors and how this pertains to KCFA interests.
6. Events: the Kona Brewfest was crowded and appreciative.
Events continued: next years Expo is scheduled for January 28, 2011.
And the annual banquet for Nov. 14.
7. Members and Estates: Joanie Rowe reported 229 members. There was some question as to the illegibility of one new member due to his wife’s status.
Breakdown: Farmers- 189, Associates- 34, Business- 11. New members are
Stuart Wolpeff and Robert Wood.
8. Education: The next Coffee Talk will be April 7 at 3:30 in Yano Hall and will cover taxes. Very appropriate. Scheduled to come: May 5- Little Fire Ants and Twig Borer, June - Pests ( the agricultural ones) July - coffee cupping with Ken Davis.
Jason Stith submitted an essay on Island coffees by “The Coffee Review”. It gave a lot of print to Kona coffee but was somewhat negative overall except for the part played by individual farms and their need to succeed to protect the Kona coffee reputation.
OLD BUSINESS
Cea reported on the Ad Hoc Branding Committee that a seal have been
drafted, that dues for Business members had been determined to be
$35/year, and that in discussion within the Committee that it probably
makes sense for this to be turned into a permanent KCFA Committee.
--> Bruce on CTAHR Dean Candidates reported that Melanie Bondera will be
submitting a summary report from the three meetings which she attended
and all three of the potential candidates thereby made stops in Kainaliu
in a semi-formal context at the Kona CTAHR office building.
--> Bruce on Coffee Authentication mentioned that Chuck Moss is
researching this topic.
--> Kathy on Coffee Labels mentioned that people should back to her no later than March 31 with copies of their front and back coffee bag labels.
NEW BUSINESS
--> Bruce on Advisory Panel requested that 1-3 CTAHR folks be asked to serve in this capacity to get the thing going for HOFA. Discussion raised questions about how many people would serve for how long on this 'panel'. Bruce tabled the thought until further research and preparation could be accomplished.
5:30 PM Meeting Adjourned.
Submitted by T. Butler and C. Bondera
