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We need the written testimony of each of you in support of Senator Russell Ruderman’s Truth-In-Coffee-Labeling bill (SB594).Â
We need to have the voice of coffee farmers and their supporters heard in the Legislature. This bill would provide for an 80% minimum of Hawaii-Grown coffee in any “Hawaii Coffee Blend” and would require disclosure on the label of the origin and of the % of foreign-grown coffee in the package.Â
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The hearing on the bill is scheduled, before the Senate Agricultural Committee on Tuesday February 17 at 3:35 pm. Written testimony must be sent before Monday, February 16, at 3:35 pm through the State Legislature’s website.
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To provide testimony, please click and go to the Legislature’s website here: www.capitol.hawaii.gov and register with the website. After you have registered and have a username (your email address) and password, you may submit testimony in support of SB594 by following the instructions on the page.
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Your testimony does not need to be lengthy–stating that you are a Kona coffee farmer and strongly support SB594, is sufficient. If you want to expand your testimony, the list below may provide ideas.Â
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The economic interests of farmers and the reputations of Kona and other Hawaii-Grown coffees have been damaged for far too long by deceptively labeled 10% blends. Now is the time for change!
POINTS IN SUPPORT OF REFORMING THE HAWAII COFFEE LABELING LAW
1âAs a matter of economic theory, if supply goes down, prices go up. Removing from the supply side what is estimated to be 5 million pounds of fake Kona coffee sold annually in Hawaii (that is, 5 million pounds in packages consisting of 90% foreign coffee with the name âKonaâ prominently featured over and over again on the labelâmost of which is bought by visitors who believe they are buying âKona Coffeeâ) this will cause both retail demand and farmgate prices for available genuine 100% Kona Coffee to go upânot down. See the Feldman study.
2âIf deceptive marketing and labeling of blends were outlawed (as Jamaica has done for Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee; as Vermont has done for Vermont Maple Syrup; as Idaho has done for Idaho Potatoes)âand if only 2 out of 10 of the consumers who previously bought âKona Blendsâ believing they had purchased âKona Coffeeâ were to instead buy genuine 100% Kona Coffee, the amount of Kona Coffee sold to those consumers would be DOUBLE the amount of Kona Coffee sold as compared to the previous Blend sales. If 4 out of 10 did so, the amount of genuine Kona Coffee sold would QUADRUPLE. With a stable output of approximately 3 million pounds of Kona Coffee produced annuallyâand with the supply reduced by eliminating the blends, prices will rise, not drop. Almost every one of us can give instances of consumer outrage and indignation when they have learned that the âKona Coffeeâ they had bought is not âKona Coffee.â
3âKona Coffee Blends are the equivalent of fake RolexesââRolexâ/âKonaâ on the outside, something very different on the inside.
4âIf you take the juice from one orange and 9 lemons and call the product an âorange juice blendâ, the result is consumer fraud.
5âJamaica produces roughly the same amount of coffee annually as does Kona… For years the retail price of Jamaica Blue Mountain has been 25% to 30% higher than the price of 100% Kona. Why? It is not that Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is better tastingâit is not. The difference is that Jamaica prohibits blending, and takes those who deceptively use the name of their coffee (including counterfeiters in the US) to court. Without having the supply side inflated by deceptive blends, Jamaica Blue Mountain is able to sustain much higher prices.
6âBy selling what amounts to $5/lb coffee at a price of $15 to $25/lb by merely putting the word âKonaâ prominently and repeatedly on the label, the Blenders are able to send an estimated $14.4 million each year in âexcess profitsâ to their Mainland corporate owners. If blends were outlawed, this excess profit would go to farmers in the form of higher farmgate prices. $14.4 million divided by approximately 700 Kona coffee farmers indicates that the economic loss to the average Kona Coffee farm is more than $20,000 per year. See the Feldman study.
7âNowhere on the label do the Blenders disclose to consumers that 90% of what is in the package is the cheapest commodity coffee available (often from Vietnam and other low end coffee producing regions). When the sophisticated writers at Consumers Reports canât tell the difference between âKona Coffeeâ and â10% Kona Blendsâ, it is not surprising that ordinary buyers are also deceived as to what is in a Kona Blend.
8âWhen consumers who have purchased what they believe is âKona Coffeeâ, but is in fact 90% commodity coffee and are disappointed in the taste, the reputation of our heritage crop is damaged and farmers suffer economically.
9âRestaurants and hotels deceiving tourists into believing they are being offered âKona Coffeeâ when it is 90% something else is no way to earn the goodwill of Mainland and foreign visitors. People donât like to be cheated. This practice is bad for the tourism. Tourists like going places where they are treated fairly, not cheated.
10âThe only way that the Blenders/processors can come up with a figure that they ârepresentâ 700 Hawaii small coffee farmers is if they are taking the position that they ârepresentâ all farms that a some point in the past have sold coffee to them. In fact, when it comes to economics, the interests of the Blenders/processors are directly adverse to the economic interests of farmers. Farmers want the highest price possible for their crop; the Blenders/processors want to pay the lowest price possible. The Blenders/processors do not represent farmers.
11âEven if the Blenders argument were correct (which it is not), is profit an excuse for fraud and deception?
12âHawaii is the only region anywhere in the world that by law permits the use of the name of one of its premier agricultural products with only 10% genuine content.