KCFA BOD Meeting
Mar. 18, 2014
CTAHR Office, Kainaliu
Call to Order at 3:00 PM
Present: T. Butler, C. Smith, K. Schweickhard, B. Corker, C. Bondera, Anita Kelleher, K. Goschke. S. Shriner and ML Moss
100% Kona coffee provided by K. Goschke. Thank you Kally.
March coffee to be provided by MLM
NEW BUSINESS
David Case reported on:
1. HFUU
2013 Membership at 326, a 30% increase over 2012
Meeting held at Market Fresh Bistro and raised over $6000 We should find out what they did !!
HFUU testified on behalf of KCFA on SB111 that would shift commodity labeling to HDOA which was deferred along the lines suggested by HFUU. SB2913 ( Coffee Counterfeiting) was passed out of the House Ag Committee but Jessica Wooley advised that the Consumer Protection and Judiciary Committees to give consideration to the issues HFUU raised on behalf of KCFA.
David had the KCFA BOD review the language to be used for a report to the House Ag Committee to signify KCFA’s concerns re SB2913 to the follow up committees mentioned above.
2. CBB Task Force
David asked to relieved as the Task Force representative from KCFA to be replaced by a farmer and we discussed the Task Force Meeting in Hilo when the funds requested by Rep. Lowen were mentioned being reduced.
Feb. Minutes: A motion was made by C. Bondera and seconded by A. Kelleher to approve the Feb. Minutes. Motion passed.
Treasurer’s Report: a motion was made by C. Bondera and seconded by A. Kelleher to approve the Treasurer’s Report for Feb. Motion passed.
A motion was made by C. Bondera and approved by ML Moss that the email vote that was taken be ratified. The motion passed. The vote was to approve KCFA participation in the Task Force for another year. The vote was 7 to approve, 2 nays by B. Corker and C. Bondera and one abstained by A. Kelleher.
B. Corker nominated K. Schweickhard to serve as the KCFA representative to the Task Force. The nomination was seconded by ML Moss. The motion carried.
A recommendation was noted by C. Bondera and agreed upon, that the term be for one year.
Events : ML Moss- KCFA will host a function at the Peace Garden on June 8.
Membership: K. Goschke - Membership for Linda Adkins of Kona Kat Farm was approved.
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS
COMMITTEE REPORTS for March 18, 2014 Board Meeting
_________________________________________________________________________
B.Corker Legislative Committee Report—3/16/14
1—$3 Million Proposal for CBB Mitigation—HB1514: This bill was introduced by Kona Representative Nicole Lowen. As originally drafted, the bill provided for a $3 million appropriation to the Hawaii Department of Agriculture (HDOA) for control and mitigation of coffee berry borer (CBB). The KCFA has supported the bill—with a strong recommendation that the appropriation be used to subsidize farmer costs for purchasing Beauvaria bassiana, and that the HDOA directly administer the subsidy program—and not sub-contract out the program to private organizations. Unfortunately, after 4 legislative hearings, informal reports indicate that the Senate will cut the CBB subsidy amount by more than half to $1.3 million. A copy of the latest amendments to the bill have not yet been posted on the Legislative website, but review of written testimony to the Senate Agriculture and Energy Committees’ hearing of March 13 indicates the this major reduction in funding was supported by the Honolulu blenders and their allies—see the written testimony on the Legislative website of Jim Wayman (of Hawaii Coffee Association and Hawaii Coffee Co.) and David Batemen (KCC board member). HB1514 continues to progress through the Legislature. As indicated in the many written testimonies of KCFA members, if the Legislature is serious about saving Hawaii coffee as an economically viable crop, Rep. Lowen’s proposal of a $3 million appropriation is a minimal first step in the right direction.
2—10% Hawaiian Chocolate Blend Bill—SB1327: Testimony in opposition to this bill from cacao growers and from KCFA members seems to have killed the bill. Testimony presented to the Senate Agriculture Committee hearing from coffee growers asked that the system of 10% blends, which has for years damaged the reputation of Hawaii-grown coffee, not be extended to other crops like chocolate. Many Hawaii chocolate producers asked in their testimony that the bill not be passed unless at least 51% of a blend consist of Hawaiian-grown chocolate and that the origin of the non-Hawaiian-grown chocolate be stated on the label. On February 11 the committee deferred (killed) the bill.
3—Coffee and Origin Labeling: Three important labeling bills were presented for consideration in the 2014 Legislative Session. Two companions bills were introduced at the request of KCFA (HB1515 [Rep. Lowen] and SB2354 [Sen. Ruderman]) to require labeling of the origin and percentages of foreign-grown coffee in Hawaii coffee blends; and the proposal from the Hawaii State Association of Counties for broad Hawaii agricultural origin labeling protection (SB558 and HB213). It is an indication of the influence exercised over the Legislature by the Honolulu blenders and their allies that none of these bills was even given a hearing this session—even the origin labeling bills (SB558 and HB213) supported by all 4 Hawaii counties.
4—BILLS OF CONCERN FOR COFFEE FARMERS:
**SB111 (“Made-in Hawaii”/Origin Labeling)—This bill would have authorized wide-ranging changes to “Made-in-Hawaii” and origin labeling (including coffee) to be developed by the Board of Agriculture. The bill was of concern because it gave no policy directives, no restrictions and no limitations from the Legislature as to what regulations the Board of Agriculture might adopt. After a significant number of opposition testimonies from KCFA members and others to the House Agriculture Committee, the committee deferred/killed the bill on March 10.
**SB2913 (Roast Coffee Grades/Criminal Penalties)— This bill (and its companion HB2361) would--for the first time--extend as yet unwritten and/or undisclosed rules for grading and labeling of coffee roasted—with Class C Felony sanctions for any improper labeling. The bill, for example, would impose burdensome and unnecessary requirements (and potential criminal penalties) on KCFA members who roast their own coffee in Kona. Ironically, the bill totally fails to address deceptive and false labeling of foreign-grown coffee in packages using the names “Hawaii”, “Hawaiian”, “Kona” or other Hawaii place names. SB2913 will be given a hearing before the House Agriculture Committee on March 17. KCFA and its members have submitted opposition testimony to the committee.
*************************************************************
-Membership - K. Goschke
Member Report 02/18/2014 - 03/15/2014
New Member needing Board Approval:
New Voting Member:
Linda Adkins Kona Kat Farm
240 Active Members
37 Business Members
43 Associate Members
Respectfully Submitted by Kally Goschke Membership Chair
**********************************************************************************************
-Pest & Disease- B. Smith
The Pest & Disease Committee held an open meeting for the BOD on Renewal of Membership with the CBB Task Force. The Committee heartily encourages KCFA’s renewal. We need to be a part of anything to do with CBB. Suzanne Shriner just held a CBB Workshop attended by about 40 people. CBB IPM for 2014 is posted on the HOME page of the website.
*****************************************************************************************
-PR- A. Kelleher
Aloha, I sent the Independent Voice to the thousand or so folks on our mailing list. No Press Releases in February.
Anita
**************************************************
-Education/Coffee Talk– C.Bondera and S.Shriner
Education Committee , March 2014
On March 11, KCFA co-hosted a CBB Talk Story with CTAHR. Suzanne Shriner of KCFA and Ryan Tsutsui of CTAHR discussed IPM. It was well attended, with between 35-40 people in the room.
The next workshop will be on April 29 and will cover Soil Health. This will include microbial health from a conventional and organic approach as well as fertilizer and soil & water conservation. Planned speakers will include Dr Radovich of UH’s Sustainable and Organic Farming Lab and possibly others.
The Education co-chairs performed education activities at the Kona Brewfest. Six pots of coffee were shared with the crowd and much fun was had by all.
*******************************************************************************************
-Fundraising. M. Moss
Aloha Board,
The Events/Social committee report for March is as follows:
Arrangements are being made to have a Social Event at Paleaku Peace Gardens on June 8th. Kurt has gathered information from a few restaurants that might be interested in catering the event. Jon Lomberg has been contacted to speak to the group for 20 minutes or so and give a tour of his Galaxy Garden. He has strongly requested that we pay him in coffee (I guess he likes to give coffee as gifts – too bad he can’t talk to us “as a gift”) The committee has discussed giving a half pound of coffee per farm. This would be in addition to the cost of renting the grounds and the catering costs.
I was thinking of keeping this Social event fairly simple to see how it goes. Any discussion?
I sent out a couple website orders.
ML
**********************************************
-Finance- K. Schweickhard
Circulated Profit and Loss statements for February and the Balance Sheet to the Board
*******************************************
-Social Events – M.Moss and C. Coleman- On Agenda
************************************************************
-Geographic Identities- C.Bondera
Aloha All -- Geographical Identity Report March, 2014
Continuing efforts with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) following attendance/presentation at the February meeting, and potential involvement in the Northeast NASDA June meeting has been an area of emphasis.
Time has been focused on attracting new recruits to consider American Origin Product Association (AOPA) membership from across the country.
The European Union grant received by the University of Arkansas for Beth Barham to hold listening sessions on GI products around the country may be a venue for further membership development and has meant that while it does not designate resources to AOPA, that Ms. Barham has been less stressed due to insufficient funding at the personal level…
As pointed out last month, the fact that the next annual NASDA meeting will happen in Kona, Hawaii hosted by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture is of potential significance for Kona coffee, an AOPA product of focus and Hawaii's most well known! Opportunities abound for KCFA in this regard and we should intend to capitalize on this opportunity (September, 2015 at the Keauhou Sheraton).
*****************************************************************************
-HFUU Liaison- D. Case
*****************************************************************************************
-CBB Task Force Report- D. Case
CBB Task Force Report
March 11, 2014
Aloha KCFA Board Members--
I am glad to see that the KCFA Board is reviewing its CBB Task Force Board representation. We are waiting to hear back from the IRS on the Task Force 501(c)(5) tax exemption, and related determination of its state tax exemption.
We also just completed a day long strategy session with our PBARC and CTAHR scientific advisers. I'll report orally on the results of that meeting on the 18th.
At its next meeting (not yet scheduled) the Task Force has also agreed to reconsider seating the Kona County Farm Bureau on the Task Force Board.
Now that the organizational work for the Task Force is nearly completed I think that KCFA would be well-served if a KCFA Board member sat on the Task Force Board.
Assuming that KCFA wants to remain on the Task Force, please, consider this my request to be replaced as KCFA's Task Force Board representative as soon as it is appropriate to do so.
Mahalo nui loa,
A hui hou,
David Case
***********************************************************
-Newsletter-C. Wilson
Cajoled gently, compiled and edited another excellent Independent Voice- thanks Editor Clare Wilson!
*********************************************************
Adjourned at 4:40 PM
Minutes recorded by Sec. T. Butler
