May 19, 2015 - Board Meeting Minutes - Kona Coffee Farmers Association

3:00 Call to Order
Aloha Coffee Service- R. Phillips- Thank you!
June 16, 2015- C. Bondera

*******************************
General**Larry Nixon - MacFarms (10 minutes)
-Review and Approval of April 21, 2015 Meeting Minutes –B. Corker
-Treasurer’s report- Treasurer K. Schweickhard

New Business Final Budget Review-K.Schweickhard

Slow Food-Ark of Taste- Branding Committee- C. Smith
COSTCO-Branding-B. Corker
Board Development Committee- T. Butler

CBB TF Report- K. Schweickhard
HANO Workshop June 30-C. Smith
Kona Heritage/Guatemala Trip- C. Bondera

Old Business
KCFA Membership Chair- Donna Meiners

Brewfest

COMMITTEE REPORTS for May 19, 2015

Education – Bondera and Shriner

Executive Committee (Pres. V-Pres, Sec. Treas. and Past-Pres.)

Finance - K. Schweickhard

April Balance Sheet, April Profit and Loss and FR2015-2016 Budget Summary was circulated to the Board via email

Fundraising/Social Events - Coleman & Kelleher

Kona Heritage – C. Bondera Received May 17, 2015

For the Kona Heritage Department there is not yet coordination among the Geographical Identity, Estate and Branding Committees which are all within the same umbrella.

Nonetheless, there is at this time the need to raise an opportunity for your consideration. We should decide about this at the meeting on Tuesday, so please (Tom and Cea) add discussion and if needed voting time to the Agenda.

Through Partners of Americas' Farmer to Farmer Program, an offer has been made to myself to provide two weeks of exchange with coffee farmers in Guatemala regarding coffee processing (something which I have done at all stages from harvest to roasting for nearly ten years, and with stages besides roasting for 14 years).

That said, this offer is being considered. However it is a volunteer position which only covers air travel. Since the time with those involved would permit other discussions, there are several things to think about.

It is a learning experience for the recipients; but education can go both ways. Further, it is possible to add time to the trip before the airplane ticket is issued.

Specifically, there is opportunity to work directly with the cooperative extension staff and with the farmers to discuss and explore and prepare materials for sharing back in Hawaii regarding how the farmers in Guatemala effectively deal with CBB. Past contact with several individuals in Guatemala means that personal opportunities for connection will be significant on the ground (note that when I was employed with the Rodale Institute I travelled to Guatemala where that group had an education program that I was the manager of from Pennsylvania, that in Hawaii there were multiple exchanges with a researcher from a University who worked for many years with Guatemalan cooperative extension staff - even offered to send one to Hawaii regarding CBB, and finally when sent to Mexico to present about Kona coffee and our work with oriGIn one of the other main presenters was an agricultural professional from Guatemala; all of these contacts can be pursued with the desire to make the trip their much more useful for all and it would be easy to focus the request towards CBB links...)

There has been a little information from CBB experiences around the world brought to Hawaii, but realistically they are not generally hands-on and are not from actual farmer actions versus academic analysis. No matter what, another experience and perspective can and would be of use for Kona farmers to get more information in the form of both reporting and also collaborative education if others so engaged (such as The Kohala Center, and CTAHR and HDOA) choose to work together regarding farmer outreach and perspectives available.

KCFA can and should be focused not only experiences from people who grew up on farms (like myself), or people who have done research with farmers, but more-so with actual farmers who can talk about what they actually do and not what they "should" be doing. What solutions are realistic and what problems have been dealt with how would be the kinds of information that I can bring back from the trip. It can be put in the form of a report to the BOD and to the public, and then also into developed education materials based on the work which would show Kona farmers how farmers in Guatemala carry forth their CBB control techniques. If equipment is available to travel with (as was requested for the next fiscal year budget, but perhaps could be reimbursed after the fact of purchase), video could be taken of some or many of the sessions for the record and for others to review as well.

For those reasons, the money presently in the Geographical Identity Committee budget for the present fiscal year for travel could be allocated to cover per diem expenses of my trip so that my food and lodging and extra on-the-ground travel costs are covered along with any gifts that can be presented. My estimate is that $150 per day would be sufficient for said expenses. The trip is presently scheduled in June and the days are 14, so the total amount would be $2,100.

Given the timing at hand it is with all due respect that all BOD come prepared with questions and we can have a short and simple discussion about making this opportunity a reality to the benefit of not only the farmers in Guatemala but in Kona as well! Since the money is already allocated for this fiscal year it is my request that this travel cost be covered in a way that would benefit KCFA overall and we can better consider information from a range of sources when educating about CBB in Kona.

Yours, Colehour Bondera, Chair

*Branding –Corker and Smith
Membership request: Become a member of Slow Food USA and support the Ark of Taste at the national and international level. Slow Food Mission: “Conviviality is central to our mission. We are a global community, connecting people to the land and to each other through local projects, educational events, and shared meals. We become catalysts for change by sharing the joy of Slow Food and prioritizing wholesome living over convenience.”

Branding Committee would like Kona Coffee to be nominated to the “Ark of Taste” because Kona coffee fits the Bill: ”good, clean and fair food for all.”.

*Estate-Coleman

Legislative-Corker

Legislative Committee Report--for 5/19/15

1—HAWAII SENATE LEADERSHIP COUP

On May 5 at the end of the 2015 Legislative Session, there was a takeover of the Hawaii State Senate leadership by a faction of senators who are friendly to big business and big agriculture. Senate President Donna Mercado Kim was deposed and she was replaced by Sen. Ron Kouchi.

The most significant immediate impact for coffee farmers was the removal by the takeover faction of Hawaii County Senator Russell Ruderman as Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee. During the 2015 Session, Sen. Ruderman had taken strong stands in support of family farmers—including sponsorship of SB594 which would have put an end to the use of the words “Kona Blend” on packages of 90% foreign-grown coffee.

The new leadership faction has also diminished the importance of agriculture by abolishing the Agriculture Committee and consigning agriculture matters to a new Water, Land and Agriculture Committee. The Chair of this new committee is Sen. Mike Gabbard who has not been supportive of the interests of coffee farmers.

This Senate coup is a disappointing development.

2—HOUSE BILL 482--HDOA B. BASSIANA SUBSIDY PROGRAM

HB482 has been passed by the Legislature and sent to the Governor to sign or veto.

The background on the bill is as follows: Last year HB1514 was enacted into law. That 2014 law (1) mandated the HDOA to create and directly administer a B. bassiana subsidy program for coffee farmers; (2) appropriated $500,000 for the 2014-2015 fiscal year for the HDOA to implement the subsidy program; and (3) authorized the hiring of a temporary specialist for the program.

This year’s bill (HB482) bill makes a minor amendment to last year’s measure—but raises a host of questions. The amendment authorizes the hiring of a temporary “manager” to run the program (as contrasted with a “specialist”) and authorizes up to $50,000 in salary and $25,000 in fringe benefits for the manager position. The questions raised are:

**What has HDOA done in the past year to implement the Legislature’s mandate?

**How much, if any, of the $500,000 appropriation for FY2014-15 has HDOA used this year? Is the unspent portion lost for this subsidy program at the close of the fiscal year—6/30/15?

**Did the HDOA use the $50,000 allocated by the HB1514 to hire a “specialist” to implement the program during the past year? If so, who was that specialist?

**What funds have been allocated for this CBB subsidy program for the upcoming 2015-2016 fiscal year?

To review HB1514 go to http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2014/bills/HB1514_CD1_.htm

To Review HB482 go to http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2015/bills/HB482_CD1_.HTM

*HFUU-Bondera

Membership-Smith

Met with Donna Meiners who has agreed to become the KCFA Membership Chair . Lucky us! When I asked her formally- she replied with one word- “YES!!”

New Members: Active Voting: Bill Dwyer (Kona Mountain Coffee), Tek Deniz and Alex Shear from Workshop; and from website- Frederick Fox, Keith Briggs, and Bruce Craven. Supporting: Tony Savarese, Associate: Howard Stand- many renewals

Total Members: 364- (Active: 287, Supporting: 33 and Associate: 44)

PR/Marketing- Kelleher & Coleman

I sent the newsletter and put workshop in About Town.

Anita

Pest & Disease-B. Smith

*CBB Task Force-K. Schweickhard-will give oral report at the Board Meeting

Website-C. Smith

Posted: Board Access only Budget documents, US Ag. Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden’s Kona visit- photos and Op-Ed piece, posted Selecting Workshop and sent out 2 emails to Members, Updated with our Programmer- the Classified pages to something much better, Posted and emailed to Member, The May- The Independent Voice, answered emails of Members, including info LogIns. Helped 4 people by doing their Grant Application-

Ad hoc

Board Development- Executive Committee
HDOA Grant- C. Bondera

May 19, 2015 – Board Meeting Minutes

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