KCFA BOD Meeting
Dec.17, 2013
CTAHR Office, Kainaliu
Call to Order by at 3:00 PM
Present: T. Butler, C. Smith, K. Schweickhard, C. Coleman. L. Hanna, B. Corker, C. Bondera, Anita Kelleher and ML Moss
100% Kona coffee provided by KCFA. Thank you ML Moss.
Feb. coffee to be provided by T. Butler.
Presentation of Peoples Choice Awards- Bruce Corker
*Chefs’ Choice “Five Star Kona Coffee Awards”* –Mary Lou Moss, coordinator
of this year’s Holualoa Coffee & Art Stroll, presented certificates to each
of the five award winning farms: Alii Pride Farm (Louise and Steve Winn);
Java on the Rock (Andrea Pro); Konaloha Farms (Ruth and John Koontz);
Mokulele Farms (Debbie Donald and Paul Uster); Sugai Kona Coffee (Kay
Dixon). KCFA and the Holualoa Village Association co-hosted this year’s
event—and KCFA organized the Chefs’ Judging as a new feature of the Stroll.
Certificates of Appreciation have also been prepared for the Chef Judges: Chef
Morgan Starr of Mi’s Italian Bistro; Chef Lynn Sheehan of Holuakoa Gardens;
and Chef Giovanni Soffioti of Amici Bar & Grill. All of these restaurants
offer 100% Kona coffee to their guests.
*Guest/New Member Intoductions*:
KCFA Member Christine Mendes introduced guest Kai Lemmer. Kai is a native
of Sweden, a resident of Kona, and is interested in discussing ideas with
other Kona coffee farmers about developing a market for Kona coffee in
Sweden. Kai was encouraged to join the KCFA, place a KCFA classified ad and
perhaps submit a newsletter article with his ideas and his request for
input from other farmers.
KCFA members Ruth and John Koontz re-introduced themselves and thanked us
for organizing the Chefs’ Judging.
Minutes - Motion was made by C. Bondera to approve the Oct minutes was seconded by A. Kellerher. Motion passed.
Treasurer’s report - Motion by ML. Moss to approve the Nov. Financial Report was seconded by L. Hannah. Motion passed.
NEW BUSINESS
Annual Meeting - ML. Moss
Annual Meeting to be held at Kahalu Beach Park Pavilion on Sunday Jan. 12 from I - 4 PM
Formal meeting to be at 12:30 PM followed by lunch
Cultural Festival Ac - KCFA ad to be assigned to the PR category for bookkeeping
RFP ( request for proposal-) A motion was made by B. Corker to authorize C. Bondera to explore the possibility of a grant proposal for CBB management from the HDOA. ( Does this grant money go directly to KCFA ? ) Motion seconded by T. Butler. Motion passed.
GI- A motion was made by L. Hannah to appropriate a maximum of$500 with receipts thereof to be charged to the GI budget for C. Bondera to attend a AOPA meeting to be held in Washington DC . Seconded by K. Schweickhard. Motion passed.
OLD BUSINESS
EXPO 2014- ML. Moss. A motion was made by C. Bondera to appropriate up to $300 for pens and pencils and other advertising materials for EXPO. Seconded by L. Hannah. Motion passed.
Election Committee - B. Corker. The nominee slate for 2014 includes T. Butler, ML Moss, C. Smith and newcomer Kally Goschke and Suzanne Shriner.
HFUU/KCFA - B. Corker. B. Corker motioned that KCFA renew its associate HFUU membership and financial support for HFUU and the Kona Chapter with the 3 provisos. See below under
HFUU/KCFA Standing Committee report by B. Corker
Seconded by L. Hannah. Motion passed.
Branding - B. Corker. Bruce suggested members letters to Chef Allan Wong regarding his support of blending Kau coffee and an article of such support be printed in the KCFA newsletter.
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS
-Geographic Identities- C.Bondera
Aloha KCFA BOD,
At this time I would like to again request that we schedule, and discuss and decide about the request I made the day before our last meeting with travel costs to attend AOPA on a trip I am already going on to Washington, DC in February, 2014.
For the sake of updates, there is not anything to report, but it is worth sharing that AOPA is trying to put energy into finalization of the Trade Agreements that the US government is setting in stone, and the Geographical Identity parts are still up to some degree of debate before conclusions enter into international accords.
Below I have cut from that email and ask that we make a decision about the final part and budget consideration at the meeting on Tuesday.
"… is that as a member of American Origin Products Association (AOPA) it is worth noting that an annual membership was held on Nov 18, and discussions continued regarding working with the state departments of agriculture association (NASDA) and perhaps with states where there are numerous GI products, as well as potential collaboration between AOPA and some aspect of the French system of Gis, and finally that the efforts to hire an Executive Director for AOPA are still underway in an effort to turn the volunteer organization into one with paid staff as a means to grow and develop and have a recognized voice in political efforts…
… is that due to a logistical opportunity, the GI lead member (Colehour Bondera) will already be in Washington, DC at a training in early February, directly after the NASDA annual meeting. With support from KCFA he could attend the NASDA meeting. In order to change the airplane ticket and to stay in DC two extra days, along with associated transport and basic costs, it would be necessary to request $500 from KCFA to attend and participate."
Thank you, Colehour Bondera, Geographical Identity Committee
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-Legislative- B.Corker Legislative Committee--December 17, 2013
1—County Council GMO Limitation—Throughout the process of considering County Council Member Margaret Wille’s legislative proposal to limit future GMO introduction in Hawaii County, Board Member Colehour Bondera has communicated KCFA’s support for the Wille measure. The principal concern of coffee farmers has been to avoid the potential loss of Japanese and European markets if GMO contamination of Kona coffee were to occur. The Kona Chapter of the Hawaii Farmers Union United has also testified in support of Wille’s bill. On November 19, the Wille measure (Bill No. 113) was passed by the County Council in a 6-3 vote. On December 6 Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi signed Bill No. 113 into law.
1—Proposed Coffee Standards Amendments—Following the October 10 hearing in Kona at which KCFA members expressed concerns about adverse effects on coffee farmers from a number of the proposed amendments, the KCFA made an inquiry to the HDOA as to the status. The Department responded that it is working on a “post public hearing report” which “might” be presented to the State Board of Agriculture at its November 26 meeting in Honolulu. The hearing report was described by the Department as “a summary of the public hearing testimonies, comments and recommendations. If necessary, some changes may be made to the proposed rules based on the testimonies, comments and recommendations.” The Department gave no indication whether or not it will revise the initial proposal to address the adverse effects identified by KCFA. By the end of November, we had received no information as to when the “post public hearing report” will be completed or as to the report’s contents. As far as we have been able to determine, nothing on the Coffee Standards Amendments was submitted to the Board of Agriculture for consideration at a November 26 meeting.
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-Membership/Volunteers- L.Hanna
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-Pest & Disease- B.Smith
Nothing new to report on the CBB status, though it does appear that damage is lower this season than last. The PBARC experiment continues (2week spraying versus monthly spraying) and I believe that Lisa Keith will be sharing results at the Expo in late January.
I have been approached by many members voicing a concern for Black Twig Borer damage that is occurring on their farms. I share this concern and think that BTB needs much more attention than it is getting. With CBB getting all the attention, perhaps the KCFA should start advocating for CTAR and PBARC to develop potential control experiments or recommendations on what we farmers can do to reduce damage.
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-PR/Newsletter- A. Kelleher
Sent out Newsletter
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-HFUU Liaison- D. Case
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HFUU/KCFA- B. Corker
1—KCFA will contribute $500 to the HFUU for a 2014 associate membership—with encouragement to the HFUU to recruit other Hawaii agricultural producer groups to also join as associate members during 2014.
2—KCFA will commit to contribute $500 to the Kona Chapter/HFUU for a 2014 associate membership in the Chapter—with an ex officio position on the Chapter Board to be designated by the KCFA. At the request of the Kona Chapter, this contribution will be deferred until at least one other Hawaii Island agricultural producer group has committed to an associate membership on the same terms.
3—KCFA will contribute $1500 to the HFUU for support of legislation and legislative initiatives benefiting small-scale, family-farm agriculture in Hawaii. One-half of this amount ($750) will be reserved by HFUU to cover transportation and expenses of HFUU representatives in 2014 to travel to Honolulu, at the request of the KCFA, to support coffee farmer interests in legislative hearings and/or meetings. KCFA will support the HFUU legislative agenda outlined in the HFUU email of November 14. HFUU will support the KCFA legislative agenda which includes: coffee labeling legislation; HSAC-introduced SB558/HB213; restoration of HDOA budget to 2008 levels; continued funding of emergency CBB mitigation in Hawaii County; and defense of the GMO-related ordinances recently enacted by Hawaii and Kauai Counties.
4—KCFA will designate a representative on the HFUU Legislative Committee.
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-CBB Task Force Report- D. Case
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-Education/Coffee Talk– Colehour Bondera, Louise Hanna and Chris Coleman
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-Fundraising. M. Moss
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-Finance- K. Schweickhard
November Balance Sheet and P&L statement circulated to all Board Members. This was the month we had the Coffee Stroll event.
Mahalo, Kurt
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-Social Events – M.Moss and C. Coleman
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Merry Christmas and Wishing a most Wonderful 2014 to all!
MEMORANDUM
FROM: David Case
TO: KCFA Board
DATE: December 17, 2013
CBB TASK FORCE REPORT
The CBB Task Force Board last met on November 13, 2013. Among other things the Board approved a budget for expenditure of the $200,00 HDOA CBB Control Contract 13 pursuant to the Agency Agreement between the Task Force and SHAC and a preliminary 6-month progress report as required under the HDOA Contract. Except for $7,500 to be spent in December of this year all of the funds expended so far have been $242,000 under the Hawaii Coffee Association’s USDA TASC Grant administered through SHAC for which HCA has delegated supervision to the Task Force. A final, revised 6-month report was submitted to HDOA on or about December 1st and previously distributed to the KCFA Legislative Committee.
The bulk of the HDOA funds ($189,000) will be spent in 2014 for Beauveria bassiana to be distributed to farmers ($150,000) and most of the balance ($39,000) on CBB mitigation education programs. The big question for the Task Force at this point is how to expand the mitigation, education and research components to other areas in the Kona District with existing and potential future funds from both HDOA and USDA. The next Task Force meeting is scheduled for 9AM on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 at the CTAHR Kainaliu conference facility. The public will be invited to this and all future CBB Task Force meetings.
HAWAII FARMERS UNION UNITED REPORT
HFUU ANNUAL MEETING
HFUU held its third annual meeting on November 26, 2013 at the Haiku Community Center in Haiku, Maui. About 40 people attended the business meeting where Simon Russell (Maui) was elected to a two-year term as HFUU Vice-President and the membership adopted the proposed First Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. These documents are intended to clarify the relationship between HFUU and its affiliated Chapters as all being part of the same Hawaii nonprofit corporation. The Amended Articles also formally changed the name of the Union to “Hawaii Farmers Union United” and added language to enable HFUU to apply to the Internal Revenue Service for tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(5) “agricultural” organization.
KCFA ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP PROPOSAL
HFUU and KCFA representatives have also met and proposed to their respective Boards that KCFA renew its Associate membership in HFUU. KCFA proposed that: (1) KCFA pay HFUU $500 for an associate membership and that HFUU seek additional Associate members at the same funding level; (2) KCFA pay the HFUU Kona Chapter an additional $500 to become an associate member of the Chapter with an ex-officio seat on the Chapter Board to be deferred until at least one additional agricultural producer group committed to an associate membership on the same terms; (3) KCFA donate $1,500 to HFUU to defray the cost of HFUU’s legislative agenda on behalf of small-scale, family-farm agriculture in Hawaii, which KCFA will support; provided that $750 of that amount be reserved to cover the transportation and expenses of HFUU representatives to travel to Honolulu in 2014 at the request of KCFA to support KCFA’s legislative agenda, and (4) KCFA will designate a representative on the HFUU Legislative Committee.
HFUU AND KONA CHAPTER RESPONSES
The HFUU Board met yesterday (12/16) and approved elements (1), (3) and (4) of the KCFA proposal; provided that, either a member of the HFUU Board recommends a KCFA Legislative Committee representative or alternatively that the HFUU Legislative Committee shall have an opportunity to first meet the KCFA representative and accept them on the Committee.
The HFUU Kona Chapter Board concluded that element (2) of the KCFA proposal for a $500 associate membership was not within the existing Kona Chapter Bylaws, and that the Bylaws already provide ex-officio Board seats for KCFA, HOFA, HTFGA and CTAHR at no cost. The Chapter Board then adopted a motion authorizing the Chapter President to write each of those organizations offering them ex-officio Board seats as provided in the Bylaws. The Chapter Board also discussed their preference that if KCFA wished to provide support to the Kona Chapter that it be in the form of a sponsorship of a specific Kona Chapter event or initiative that would contribute to the Chapter’s mission.
Adjourned at 4:30 PM
Minutes recorded by Sec. T. Butler
