Super success! Mary Lou and her corps of volunteers pulled off the BEST ever! Messages from Governor Abercrombie, read by his West Hawaii Representative Barbara Dalton, proclaimed January 31, 2014 “KCFA Day”!  Mayor Kenoi’s warm greeting was joined by Sen Schatz’s message of encouragement to farmers.  Our new HDOA Chair Scott Enright came from Oahu and addressed “ The HDOA and Working with Kona Farmers”. Sen. Hirono’s thoughtful message was read just before the Keynote Speaker Lisa Keith’s presentation.  Sen. Hirono was responsible for getting 3M$ grant from the US Department of Ag with a substantial amount earmarked for PBARC. Dr.  Keith offered scientific assessments, with an accompanying powerpoint presentation from her yearlong study of 3 farms located at different elevations. Fascinating! Her new finds will help steer farmers in doing the right thing.  Our mini workshops were well-attended with professional and community members offering advice on subjects from “What’s Bugging Your Coffee” to “Processing and Storing my Coffee” , ”Roasting and Packing” and finally “Marketing my Coffee outside of the Box.”
It took lots of terrific energy but the effort equaled the success. BTW:  KLEI TV will show their video of EXPO at these times:  Sun-Feb.16 at 12pm, Tue-18th after 6pm News, Wed-19th at 7am, Thu-20th after 6pm News