MAY MINUTES –Kona Coffee Farmers Association Board of Directors Meeting
May 21, 2013 CTHAR Conference Room, Kainaliu
Call to order at 4:00 pm
Board members present: Cea Smith , Colehour Bondera, Christine Coleman, Bruce Corker, Louise Hanna, Anita Kelleher, Mary Lou Moss, Kurt Schweickhard
Also present: Clare Wilson,Suzanne Shriner, David Case, Ryan Tsutsui of CTAHR
100% Kona Coffee provided by Blue Corner Coffee Farm/Anita Kelleher; Next Month—To Be Determined
Approval of the corrected April Minutes was deferred until the June meeting.
Motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report was made by Colehour Bondera and seconded by Mary Lou Moss. Motion passed.
OLD BUSINESS
Planning Session—Louise Hanna reported on the planning meeting held at the Moss’ farm on May 17 and the follow up meeting scheduled for June 3. The planning meetings are being chaired by Pam Burns. Motion was made by Colehour Bondera and seconded by Kurt Schweickhard to reimburse Pam Burns for air fare expenses up to $500 for two round trips from Oahu. Motion passed.
Scholarship—Louise Hanna proposed that KCFA offer an agriculture-related scholarship for a student or students from the Kona community. After discussion and an exchange of ideas, it was agreed that Louise will develop a proposal for consideration by the Board at the June meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
Origin Certificate –Suzanne Shriner circulated drafts of a “Grower’s Certificate of Origin” and an “Application” and explained the need for a certificate of origin for green coffee shipments in order to clear customs in China and certain other countries. The potential risks of liability if KCFA were to issue a certificate of origin were discussed. Motion made by Kurt Schweickhard and seconded by Louise Hanna that Suzanne Shriner and David Case revise the documents to minimize the risks to KCFA; that Bruce Corker and a lawyer recommended by Christine Coleman will review and discuss the revised drafts; and that Suzanne Shriner will contact HDOA to discuss why the Department will no longer certify origin and whether the certification of grades mandated by the current regulations (for example, “Kona Fancy”, “Kona Prime”) necessarily include origin. Motion passed.
Holualoa Village Association “Coffee & Art Stroll”—KCFA member and HVA Board member Clare Wilson reported that the HVA Board has favorably accepted the proposal of KCFA to be Co-Sponsor with the HVA of the “”Coffee & Art Stroll” on November 2, 2013. A motion was made by Colehour Bondera and seconded by Anita Kelleher to authorize a committee of Mary Lou Moss, Bruce Corker and Anita Kelleher to work out the details of the proposed Co-Sponsorship with representatives of the HVA and to present that proposal to the June Board meeting.
AOPA Legislative Agenda—Colehour Bondera. Deferred.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
CBB Task Force Report- D. Case
The CBB Task Force was awarded a $200,000 grant by the HDOA for CBB research and mitigation--and is negotiating an agency agreement with SHAC (Synergistic Hawaii Agricultural Council) to provide the grant services.
HFUU Liaison- D. Case
HFUU KONA CHAPTER GETS UP AND RUNNING
Following the April Kona Chapter Board meeting Chapter Treasurer, Kurt Schweickhard, spent a good deal of time—days really—tracking down our finances and membership and getting a clear picture of both as well as opening a Chapter bank account. Chapter Secretary, Diane Heinlein and Board Member, Franz Weber, have further developed the website and the Chapter facebook page. Chapter President, David Case and Vice-President, Steve Sakala joined the State Hawaii Farmers Union United President, Vincent Mina and Vice President, Simon Russell for a very productive legislative meet and greet in Honolulu as well as a meeting with high-level NFU representatives who were passing through on their way back from the World Farmers Organization meeting in Japan. Finally, the Hawaii Organic Farmers Association and the Kohala Center have asked us to collaborate to put on a conference in October to coincide with the meeting of the Hawaii Organic Farming Advisory Committee and planned HOFA and HFUU annual meetings. We are scoping out venues and prices and raising money for what we expect to be a significant conference to revitalize the organic farming industry on the Island of Hawaii. For more on what’s happening on the Big Island go to the HFUU Kona Chapter website: HFUUKona.webs.com.
David
Education/Grants
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Finance- K. Schweickhard
April’s P&L Report sent to all Board Members. And the Tax Seminar report Kurt attended on Oahu.
Pest & Disease- B.Smith
Little Fire Ant found on Bruner Road
PR/Newsletter- A. Kelleher
I emailed the newsletter to all groups on our list
Bruce, Cea and I met with John Stickler from Hawaii Magazine regarding an article about Kau Coffee verses Kona. We talked about CBB emergency and 100% Kona issues.
He is now writing a second article talking about the CBB emergency. Perhaps it should be mentioned in minutes that we had a meeting with Wayne Katayama from Kauai coffee as well.
Continue to work on expanding KCFA's email list.
Anita
Fundraising/Social Events – M.Moss
Aloha All, Below is my report for the May 2013 meeting:
Bruce Corker and I had a meeting with the Holualoa Village Association with the idea that KCFA would co-sponsor the Coffee And Art Stroll that is the kickoff event for the Cultural Festival in November. KCFA proposed that we would be happy with a co-sponsorship role and that we would like to see another judging of coffee, such as judge’s choice along with the people’s choice. The HVA board seemed to think that was a good idea and that they would take our idea and desire to be a co-sponsor back to their members for a vote. I have heard through the grapevine that half are okay with that and half do not want us to be a co-sponsor. Our interest was that we would get credit with the Cultural Festival as sponsoring an event and maybe brought into the fold.
I have sent out website orders this month and received shipment of replacement logo merchandise that was stolen from us at the EXPO. Shipment of burlap bags due in at the end of the May.
With regard to logo merchandise, I will be getting prices for a storage unit to house all of the KCFA “stuff” and report that information at the Tuesday meeting.
I would like to set a meeting with the board to discuss EXPO 2014.
Social Report- I would like to get feedback on setting a date for another BBQ either at Two Step or Kahaluu for the members.
ML
Geographic Identities- C.Bondera
May 19, 2013 KCFA Geographical Identity Committee Monthly Report
In order to continue our work to promote and protect Kona coffee, our annual membership ($350) in American Origin Products Association (AOPA) was received and is intended for being fully approved for payment.
AOPA is holding an informal legislative-focused gathering in Washington, DC in mid-June in order to focus on legislative efforts associated with the group mission, which will be spearheaded by the Governmental Affairs focused BOD members, including Pat Kole of Idaho Potatoes, who has significant professional experience working with legislative issues in DC. Other members will participate, though it seems that neither Bruce Corker nor Colehour Bondera will be able to be present.
The annual membership meeting of AOPA has been tentatively moved until September to be held in Washington, DC in collaboration with the European Union meeting there, as well as in association with a French Embassy sponsored trip to France to see operations of GI products, and potential future collaboration with the French who are international leaders in protection of GI products. Bruce is scheduled to participate in the trip to France, while both Bruce and Colehour are meant to be in the postponed meeting in DC, since this was already scheduled for June…
At this time (on May 20 and 21) the meeting of oriGIn is happening in Bordeaux, France. This is a celebratory meeting of the 10th anniversary of the organization as well! Due to unsettled scheduling (with the AOPA trip to France, especially), it was decided that Colehour, who intends to continuing serving as the North American Vice president of oriGIn, would not attend the meeting. Still, future meetings will likely involve KCFA, who is an important player to the very supportive international entity!
Legislative- B.Corker Legislative Committee Report—for May 22, 2013
1--HB353 (Emergency CBB Research & Funding): The final version of this bill (“CD1”) has been passed by the Legislature and sent to the Governor for signature or veto. The final version of the bill is disappointing. The bill’s reductions to the minimally adequate appropriations in the “Original HB353” (from $1.33 million to $800,000)–and the inclusion of mandatory “matching” requirements which make it uncertain that even the reduced amounts will actually be spent—indicate that after almost 3 years since CBB was discovered in Hawaii County, the Legislature, the HDOA, and the Abercrombie Administration are still not viewing CBB as an emergency which threatens the economic viability of Kona and other Hawaii-grown coffees. For more information on HB353’s tortured path through the Legislature, see the “Legislative Update” in the May 2013 “Independent Voice”.
2—Kona Town Meeting: The May 14 “Kona Town Meeting” at Old Airport Pavilion was attended by KCFA members Colehour Bondera, David Case, Bruce Corker, and Kurt Schweickhard who were able to discuss topics of interest to coffee farmers with the 5 Legislators who participated in the small group discussions at the meeting: Senators Josh Green and Malama Solomon; and Representatives Nicole Lowen, Denny Coffman, and Cindy Evans.
Membership/Volunteers- L.Hanna Membership Report May 2013 Board Meeting
Report of members who have renewed or joined KCFA
April 17, 2013 to May 19, 2013
| Name | City | Voting | Associate | Supporting business | N-New R-Renewal |
| Kelly Edwards | Monterey CA | X | N | ||
| Richard Bove | Tucson AZ | X | N | ||
| Catherine Croxson | Chicago IL | X | N | ||
| John Hoehn | Okemos, MI | X | N | ||
| Warren Chong | Kailua Kona, HI | X | N | ||
| 2 | 3 | 5N | |||
| Total Members | 245 | 48 | 37 |
Meeting adjourned at 5:37 pm.
Minutes submitted by Bruce Corker, Acting Secretary
