Kona Coffee Farmers Association
Monthly Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
September 19, 2007, CTAHR Conference Room, Kainaliu
Board of Directors Meeting Called to Order by President – 4:05 pm
Introduce New Members and Guests
Board Members Present
Ken Sheppard - President, John McClure - Vice President, Suzanne Kustusch - Secretary, Sandra Scarr, Colehour Bondera, Nancy Griffith, and Mary Lou Moss. Bruce Corker absent with apologies and Joanie Rowe - Treasurer, absent with apologies, on Mainland.
Review Minutes of July and August, 2007 Board of Directors Meetings
Mary Lou Moss moved to approve Minutes as written, Colehour Bondera seconded. 7 ayes, 0 nays, motion carried, Minutes approved
Treasurers Report by Christine Sheppard
Treasurers Report will wait until Treasurer is back next month. However the bank balance is healthy at $13649.37, which includes having paid out large checks for the DVD (and received the partial payment from the State and $5000 from Kona Gold), and $2000 for all the labels for our coffee bags.
Committee Reports:
Education Committee Report: Chairpersons John McClure
Where: CTAHR offices (opposite Aloha Theater in Kainaliu)
When: Saturday September 29th, registration and coffee at 8 am, workshop from 8:30 to noon
Register with: John McClure at at [email protected] 808-328-9290
Fee: Free to KCFA members, $10 for non-members.
(Note the $10 fee may be applied to the $25 KCFA membership if you wish, members who join after September 1 get membership through to the end of 2008, a bonus of four months.)
The workshop will be presented by Ken Sheppard, with assistance from knowledgeable Kona farmers - comprehensive handout is included.
UNDERSTANDING COFFEE DRYING AND COFFEE STORAGE - Theory and Practical Solutions to maintain/improve Coffee Quality
It will cover
1. An In- depth Look at the Principles and Theory of Drying
2. A Look At Mechanical Drying To Better Understand Sun Drying
3. Pros and Cons of Mechanical versus Sun Drying
4. Practical Low-cost Solutions for Drying
5. The Dehumidifier Dryer: A Case Study
6. Sun Deck Design For Efficient Drying
8. Modified Atmosphere In Storage Rooms - Design Guidelines
9. Introducing an Innovative New Low-cost Storage Method
Fund Raising Committee Report: Chairperson Mary Lou Moss
Chairperson reports planning for upcoming Kona Coffee Cultural Festival. Looking for volunteers to handle the booth and to walk in the parades. And to handle the booth on Alii when the ships are in.
PR Committee Report: Chairperson Christine Sheppard
This month we have
- published the September Newsletter with copies to Press & Politicians
- assembled and sent the KCFA official positions statement and testimony to Sen Menor, at his request
- DVD music from Kauwila - acquired permission to use, acquired the CD's, sent all to Marie Kelley for the DVD
- published information on our Roasting workshop
- conducted a roasting workshop
- solicited (with Mary Lou) donations for the Auction
- prepared and circulated notification for our Coffee Drying & Storage workshop
- solicited (with Mary Lou) donations for the Auction - ADD - recieved gifts worth nearly $4000 retail to date
On the Festival ad - the Festival rejected our ad (letter to be circulated). Their notification arrived too late to place a different ad even though they had been considering the ad for two weeks.
Our back-up position is to place it in West Hawaii Today.
There are two choices -
Do we want to run it twice at $606 in black/white (once in the festival section of both the WHT & Big Island Weekly in November, plus one in WHT in December)
or run it once in festival section of both the WHT & Big Island Weekly in November in color for $738....
Our original budget for the ad was $850 to place it in the Festival magazine.
Promotions Committee Report: Chairperson Cea Smith
I asked for an update on the arrival of the Burlap Bags which Cindy Boots assured me, last month, would be here at the end of September.
Here is what she wrote yesterday:
I checked this past week, and the container is scheduled for arrival at customs in port of LA Oct 1st.....once it's released, Sac Bag will take to our freight forwarder and the bags will be shipped out here....ETA the week of Oct 17th...Cindy
Website Committee Report: Mark Shultise
Chairperson reports that the website is running smoothly, no problems.
Grants Committee Report: Chairperson Sandra Scarr
Hawaii Department of Agriculture DVD Grant
Additional filming for the KCFA DVD was done on September 17; editing will take place soon. We expect the final cut to be done and DVDs produced for the early November Kona Coffee Cultural Festival. Dave Fassenden of Aloha Distillers sent his contribution of $5,000.00 to the DVD project. Some portion of this contribution will be needed for the additional work to produce the Kona Gold version, but some of the donation is a contribution to the KCFA DVD. Thank you, Dave.
Hawaii Department of Agriculture New Grant Applications
Request for Proposals for Matching Market Funds Program, FY 2008 was announced in early September, with a deadline of October 15, 2007. Total available funds are $160,000. The three project categories are:
- Distribution Systems -- system or process that allows small Hawaii companies access to local, domestic, and international markets to sell Hawaii agricultural products. (up to $20,000 matched by cash from private sources)
- Mainland or International Tradeshows -- Hawaii-themed exhibits at mainland or intenational tradeshows to sell Hawaii agricultural products. (up to $12,000 matched by cash from private sources).
- Industry Education and Promotion of Agriculture -- facilitating or enhancing entrepreneurship and knowledge of Hawaii's agricultural and food producers, and promoting the sale of local agricultural products in Hawaii (up to $7,000 matched by cash from private sources).
KCFA is elgible to apply for these grants, on behalf of its members.
State funds can be used for advertising, public relations, promotional activities, cost of agents to coordinate projects (including travel, salary and expenses), consumer research, and printing promotional materials.
State funds cannot be used for entertainment, salaries of KCFA members, product samples, office or membership expenses, or travel costs, except those that meet state guidelines.
We can apply for funds under the Industry Ed & Promotion initiative to help fund Kona Coffee Fairs, and we can apply for funds to take Kona coffee to mainland and international tradeshows. The Board may have other ideas of grant applications we can try. Remember that every grant application is a potential commitment of KCFA funds to match DoA grant funds.
I ask for Board approval of ideas that I can work into proposals by the deadline of October 15 (before our next meeting). Before submission, I will circulate proposals among a subset of Board members for their critique and approval.
Estate Committee Report: Chairperson Joanie Rowe
Chairperson is absent with apologies (on Mainland). No report this month.
Membership Committee Report: Chairperson Joanie Rowe
Chairperson is absent with apologies (on Mainland). No report this month.
Legislative Committee Report: Chairperson Bruce Corker
Report given by Ken Sheppard in Bruce’s absence
Legislative Committee Report--for September Board meeting:
1) As indicated in the September Independent Voice, KCFA joined other Kona ag organizations at a September 4 “talk story” with Senator Ron Menor at the Aloha Theatre to urge passage of HB1577. HB1577 would place a 5 year moratorium on planting of GMO coffee (including field trials) within the state. KCFA member Sandy Masterson presented Sen. Menor with a copy of KCFA’s policy statement opposing the introduction of GMO coffee. KCFA President Ken Sheppard and other KCFA members also spoke to emphasize the importance of passing HB1577 to the continued economic viability of Kona coffee. Sen. Menor gave assurances that he would work to provide Senate hearings for the bill in the ‘08 legislative session.
2) The Legislative Committee Chair proposes that the KCFA GMO policy statement be amended to broaden the Association’s position from a moratorium on the release of genetically modified coffee plants into “the island of Hawaii” to a moratorium on the release of genetically modified coffee plants into the “state of Hawaii”. This modification would provide for consistency with HB1577.
3) This past month Legislative Committee members met with a Hawaii County official to discuss strategies and to seek support for a call for legislative hearings in the ‘08 session on our two pending truth-in labeling bills (HB72 and SB661). We were pleased with the support and suggestions generated by the meeting.
4) The Legislative Chair, as KCFA representative, is attending a conference on September 19 concerning “Protecting Local Uniqueness and Identity” in Washington, DC. The conference is sponsored by law firm of Dewey Ballantine and the international agriculture trade organization, OriGIn. The emphasis of the conference will be the worldwide protection of geographical identities of specialty agricultural products.
Old Business:
Green Imports and Labeling - Nancy Griffith is following up with the green import issue and the illegal labeling that is still being done.
New Business:
None at this time.
Meeting Adjourned at 5:50 pm
Next Board of Directors Meeting:
October 17, 2007 at CTAHR Conference Room, Kainaliu, at 4:00pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Suzanne Kustusch, KCFA Secretary 2007
