Kona Coffee Farmers Association
Board of Directors meeting
KCFA BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING—MONDAY, November 18, 2019
Yano Hall, Kealakekua
The Kona Coffee Farmers Association’s mission is to promote and protect Kona farmers’ economic interests in 100% Kona coffee, to protect the Kona coffee heritage, and to seek greater legal protection of the Kona coffee name.
CALL TO ORDER— 2:30 pm
Arturo Ballar
Colehour Bondera x
Bruce Corker x
Kay Dixon x
Chet Gardiner
Jeanne Kapela
Jim Monk x
Armando Rodrequiz
Cecelia Smith x
Sandra Scarr x
Suzanne Shriner (phone) x
Karen Zulkowski x
GENERAL
Consent Agenda – (5 min)
Approval of September and October
Minutes
Approval of Membership Applications
Acceptance of Committee Reports
Motion to approve minutes by Bruce and second Cea. Motion approved.
Membership- Discussion of what we are doing with people not renewing. Chet will send out who isn’t renewing so they can be called.. Kay changed to associate member. Chet and Karen Motion approved.
Committee reports Chet motion to approve and second Colehour Motion approved
Treasurer Report – Jim Moved $3000 from savings to checking. Paid for burlap bags and website work. $2500 for lobbyist. Money received from sales and art stroll. KCFA keeps track of donations for our lobbying person. Our bank is updating their software and the data cannot be uploaded to quick books at this time. Colehour motion to accept and Kay second. Motion approved.
NEW BUSINESS
*Kona typica label Chet is going to work with graphic designer from HDOA. Bruce asks if there is a deadline for use of the time. Suzanne feels it just has to be by end of year. Bruce asks for the information to the expo committee.
*Discussion of cupping at Art stroll Agenda item asked for by Kay The cupping was not Kona typica. This issue needs a bigger discussion. Bruce offers to contact Jeanne to discuss our concerns as she is on the festival board
*Coffee Donations for Hooser (5 minutes) - Bruce
*Legislative committee met with our lobbyist. He would like to give the legislators a small bag of out coffee (50-75 bags). We would need 10 lbs. Suzanne will roast, grind and bag. Bruce asks for completion by weekend after thanksgiving
Social Media Push for Legislative Season (5 minutes) - SandraSandra is going to ask in next newsletter or in email to members for someone interested in promoting our work on social media. Sandra suggests we ask people to write letters to legislators about 51% issue.
*KCFA Printer (2 minutes) - Cea
Cea would like someone to take the KCFA laser printer.
OLD BUSINESS
*Hooser Update (10 minutes) – Bruce
See report. Had 2 conference calls with Hooser Next one is Nov 27. Maui coffee farmers are willing to accept and support 51%. Bruce sent in article about this to Hawaii Civil beat that will run next week.
*USDA/APHIS Regulation Info Requests (5 minutes) – Bruce / Sandra
Nothing from office of information support by HI Dept of AG . The law says they need to respond in 30 days. We will track and potentially write a letter to editor.
APHIS still says they are working on information but we haven’t gotten anywhere. FOIA office at the USDA was sent a letter requesting information and that we haven’t heard from anyone.
*Green Coffee Grade Standards (5 minutes) – Suzanne
The meeting was help in Honolulu by Roger Kaiwi Everyone else was on conference call. Very little notice given. HCC is now not including farmers - just processors. Very frustrating meeting. Roger spent time bashing the coffee farmers. 80% of the HCA supports the sunset. Nothing was set. Will be a long uphill battle.
*HDOA $2,000 Grant for Collateral/Design (3 Minutes) - Suzanne
See previous discussion.
*Expo Grant and Planning (5 Minutes) - Chet
Meet with Aesha and Ally (expo planners) at site. They have submitted a contract. They will receive $3000 and a percentage of the sponsorship.
*Next Meeting! (5 minutes) – Jim
Meeting at Jim’s house next time. 87-3599 Mamaloha Hwy. Mailbox says Monk.
Coffee Thank you to Karen for this month
Adjourned 4:00
Committee Reports
Treasurer’s Report
Set up "*For Legislative Effort" donation ability via credit card in Store. Keeping list and sending to Bruce and Jim as they come in.
Formatted current Farmer Member list w/email & tel #, for Nomination Committee.
Sent Member emails for 1)Stolen Coffee Alert from south Kona, 2)Help with Coffee & Art Stroll (congratulations), 3) November's Independent Voice, and 4) a correction link for donations, next day. Posted same to Face Book. Helped members with issues.
Legislative Report
Legislative Committee members (Sandra Scarr, Jim Monk, Deniz Tek and Bruce Corker) have met separately with the following State Legislators from West Hawaii to discuss KCFA’s legislative objectives for the 2020 Session: Rep Richard Creagan, Sen. Dru Kanuha, and Rep. Nichole Lowen. A meeting with Rep. David Tarnas is being scheduled. The legislative measures discussed have included: (1) 51% minimum and label disclosure of foreign coffee ingredients in blends; (2) fair labeling for ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee and hotel room packets; (3) extension and full funding of CBB fungus subsidies; and (4) a legislative mandate that the USDA ban on importation of unroasted coffee into Hawaii be applied by the State to unroasted coffee shipped from the Mainland into Hawaii.
Since the hiring of former State Senator Gary Hooser as a KCFA political consultant was approved at the October Board meeting, there have been conference calls with Sen. Hooser on October 30 and November 13 to develop strategies and coordinate efforts for the KCFA’s legislative objectives. Participating on one or more of the calls have been the Legislative Committee members, plus Suzanne Shriner and Colehour Bondera. Activities that have begun and are continuing: outreach and meeting with legislators, county council members, and others; outreach to other statewide coffee, agriculture organizations, and consumer advocacy groups; drafting and placement of op/ed articles and letters to the editor; outreach to KS/BS; research re laws in other states protecting their agricultural products from deceptive and false labeling; development of a supportive social media campaign.
The Legislative Committee’s lead article in the November “Independent Voice” calling for contributions in support of KCFA’s truth-in-labeling initiatives has resulted in a significant early response.
Efforts of the Legislative Committee generated an important October 8 article in Hawaii Civil Beat about Hawaii’s refusal to follow the USDA/APHIS ban on importation of unroasted coffee into Hawaii and the State’s refusal to heed the 2006 USDA finding that continued importation of fumigated green coffee into Hawaii would unreasonably risk the introduction of CBB and coffee rust. As we know, CBB was, in fact, discovered in Hawaii four years after the USDA warning—and we continue to be threatened with future introduction of coffee rust. See the article, “Hawaii Coffee Farmers: State Policy Is Putting State Crops At Risk”: https://www.civilbeat.org/2019/10/hawaii-coffee-farmers-state-policy-is-putting-crops-at-risk/
Web Committee Report
Membership:
Date: 11/16/19
Counts:
Active Voting Members 182 – Down 5
Associate Members 28 – Up 1
Supporting Business Members 17 – Down 1
Total Membership: 227 - Down 5
New Members:
Associate:
Sharona Lomberg
Renewals
Voting:
Carol Okamura, Una Greenaway, Kristine Valentine, Tim Valentine, Bill Ulstrom, Ronald Peters, James Tomlinson
Reported as Expired:
Tim Valentine, Kristine Valentine, Kickran Boranian, Joshua Boranian, Alan Wang, John Trowbridge, Ronald Peters, Mila Horak, Sue Fogel
