From CTAHR:
Thank you all for your hard work and dedication to helping the coffee growers in Hawaii control CBB.

We understand that there is great work happening in the lab and fields with researchers and farmers trying to kill or deter CBB from coffee. As such, this pub is rather a living document and plans are to host another CBB Summit to capture and share new, improved, and updated information with growers.

We will be scheduling CBB IPM workshops for the Big Island soon.

Thank you for your patience!

Sincerely,
Andrea

As you can see in the photo below, it is nearly impossible to distinguish Axis Deer (the serious threat) from the Mouflon Sheep (not serious). The Axis Deer has the spots. Axis Deer are the real threat to coffee farmers. 

(click on photo below to enlarge)

If you see an Axis Deer, please report it immediately to:

Jake Muise
Axis Deer Coordinator
BIISC
808.936.2409
jakemuise@gmail.com

More info on Axis Deer is available  here

A lengthier article on Axis Deer written in 2011 with a brief paragraph describing agriculture impacts, including coffee 2011 Oh Deer Article-1

Legislative Update

Time to Fertilize Coffee

Coffee Talk – June 8

KCFA Donates Toward Scholarship

KCFA Board Meeting Minutes

Letter from oriGIn President

Kona Coffee Mochi Recipe

Editor:  Clare Wilson

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE – MAHALO TO MAZIE

USDA Funding For CBB Research and Funding:
On May 23 US Senator Mazie Hirono called and left a message of “Good News”
for Kona Coffee Farmers. In response to the Senator’s letter in April to Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack, the USDA advised her that it is making available $1 million for CBB research and mitigation—to begin “ASAP”. When the details from the USDA are made available, the Senator’s office will issue a press release on how this money will be spent. The Senator said her call was made to get advance information out to the KCFA and its members because of our group’s efforts.
The $1 million USDA funding is separate and apart from the proposed amendment to the Farm Bill introduced by Senator Hirono in the Senate in mid-May. That amendment calls for $2 million in each of the fiscal years 2014 through 2018 for CBB research and mitigation.
The Senators’ work on behalf of Hawaii agriculture at the federal level is very much appreciated.
Submitted by the Legislative Committee

FEED YOUR COFFEE
Attention Farmers! Now is the time to fertilize your coffee! A 50 pound bag of
12-5-25 can do about 50-60 trees. “Broadcast” to about 3 feet out and around from the base- that’s where the roots go. Organic farmers, you need significantly more organic fertilizer to get the same nutrition levels. Feed the trees that feed you!

COFFEE TALK – Saturday, JUNE 8 

VERTICAL SELECTION WORKSHOP WITH BOB SMITH

and, you only need 3 of them! (click on thumbnail to enlarge)

Coming up fast is our next Coffee Talk session. Saturday, June 8th, 2013, 9 am at Anita Kelleher’s “Blue Corner Coffee Farm” in Makalei Estates in north Kona, Bob Smith will demonstrate how to select vertical branches for future vigorous growth of your coffee trees.
Directions: Take Mamalahoa Highway north, one mile past Matsuyama’s Store (Kaiminani St.). On the mauka side is a new Fire House – directly makai is Makalei Estates. The gate will be unlocked from 8:30-9:30am only. On Makalei Drive, the first left is Awalua Place and Blue Corner Coffee Farm is at 72-4109 Awalua Place – on the corner with dirt driveway. Park and sign in.

Free to KCFA Members and all others $10, which can be applied to the annual KCFA dues of $25.For questions, call 808-937-8329 or 305-394-2248

KCFA Donates $750 to Kamehameha Schools
To further efforts toward supporting the community and our youth, Kona Coffee Farmers Association has given a $750 donation in support of a Scholarship for a graduating senior from Kamehameha Schools, West Hawaii region. The award will be made by the Kamehameha Schools Association of Parents and Teachers at the Senior Luau on June 9th.

KCFA Members Reminder:
If you would like to review the Board of Directors monthly meetings’ minutes, they are available in the Members Only section of the KCFA website. (They are posted as soon as they have been “approved” at the following month’s BOD meeting.) Go to www.KonaCoffeeFarmers.org and on the top right “Home” page and click on <Member Login>.  Next, in the far right column look for <Members Only> under <Topics>, click on it and a drop down menu appears. Only for Members! Don’t have your Login info- email:  info@KonaCoffeeFarmers.org and we’ll get back to you asap.

orIGIn PRESIDENT WELCOMES COLEHOUR BONDERA AND OTHER VPS

“Dear Vice-Presidents,

First of all, I would like to congratulate you on your appointment at our last General Assembly in Bordeaux, as well as for your commitment and support to oriGIn to protect and promote GI worldwide.

Undoubtedly, the role of oriGIn’ vice-presidencies is key in our international activities. As you are the ambassadors of oriGIn in the world, I would like to invite you to continue working together for the promotion of oriGIn and its values, seeking as well to expand the number of members of our network. In this respect, when you are invited to deliver a presentation at international conferences or other events on GIs, I invite you to get in touch with oriGIn so it can provide a few slides to add to your presentations on the Organization and the keys messages we could disseminate in each context.
Thank you very much for your attention.
With my best regards,
Ramón González Figueroa
President of oriGIn”

Kona Coffee Mochi Recipe

Vivian Leolani Ontai won first place in the Kona Coffee Festival with this great recipe for mochi made with 100% Kona coffee.

Kona Coffee Mochi
1/2 cup butter
1lb box mochiko (rice flour)
2 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
2 cups 100% Kona Coffee
1 cup half and half
4 eggs beaten
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter; cool. Combine mochiko, sugar and baking powder. Combine remaining ingredients and stir in the mochiko mixture; mix well. Pour into 13 x 9 x 2 pan. Bake for one hour and cool.

        The Independent Voice

                    Newsletter of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association                                             
May 2013

            PO Box 5436 Kailua Kona Hawaii 96745 USA                                                                                    www.konacoffeefarmers.org   info@konacoffeefarmers.org

Contents

Kona Coffee Blossom Banquet Wrap-up

Legislative Update HB353

What’s Kona Worth?

“Too Strong”

Editor- Clare Wilson

                                        Eat, Drink and be Merry

The Kona Coffee Blossom Banquet was a huge success.  Nearly 150 farmers and friends of Kona Coffee attended this year’s big fundraiser for Kona Coffee Farmers Association. The beautiful atmosphere of the newly renovated King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel, 3 of the Kona Coffee Queens, plenty talk story, awesome giveaways, good food, fabulous silent and live auction items (and don’t forget the cash bar!) made for a wonderfully fun evening. Our Live Auctioneer, David Rees-Thomas always makes the Live Auction fun.  Our surprise “Live Auction” this year was a black, male poodle puppy (ahhhhhh) who stole the hearts of several of our bidders.  An added fun item as opposed to our regularly featured items of farmer favorites “beer” and “dirt”.

This year the donations seemed to come in easier than in the past. Either KCFA is being recognized as a force within the community, the economy is getting better or they know we are thankful. Some of our new donors this year are BEI, Images of Hawaii/Charlene Meyers, Ace Hardware, Gallery of Great Things, Manila Extract Designs, The Spoon Shop, Mrs. Barry’s Cookies & Annie’s Island Fresh Burgers. When you patronize some of the local donors to our event, just mention a “Thank You”, I’m sure they would appreciate it. Also of interest this year several of our own farmer members used their resources and donated their talents to the silent auction.

The Banquet Committee started working in late January to plan this years’ event. We met about every two weeks and I would like to thank the committee for their dedication and commitment to this event. The committee members were Christine Coleman, Anita Kelleher, Lisa Corker, Cea Smith, Kurt Schweickhard, Kathy Wood, Carol Seel and Mary Lou Moss.

I’d also like to thank the volunteers who helped with the dinner. A big Mahalo go to the following volunteers – we had a great team!: Bruce & Lisa Corker, Christine Coleman & her two employees, Sarah & Carol, Cea & Bob Smith, Linda Baseman, Sandra Scarr, Bryce Decker, Susan Dursan, Louie Kona, Flora Paganelli, James Slusser, Karen Kemp, Anita Kelleher, Kurt Schweickhard, Nick Williams, Chuck Moss, Louis Hanna, Bob Kraus and Kathy Wood.

And finally, our deep appreciation to our co-sponsors:

and 

Submitted by Mary Lou Moss
Photos by Bob Kraus
(click on photos to enlarge) 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Legislative Update

HB353 (Emergency CBB Research & Funding)

HB353 has followed a tortured and disappointing path through the State Legislature.  That path has been:
(1) HB353 was sponsored by Kona Representative Nicole Lowen to provide $500,000 for emergency CBB research by the Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center (“PBARC”, a USDA agency based in Hilo) and $330,000 for CBB assistance to farmers in FY2013-14—and another $500,000 for emergency CBB research by PBARC in FY 2014-15.  In a meeting in January with Rep. Lowen, KCFA Legislative Committee members stated that while $1.33 million was not sufficient to address the severity of the CBB emergency, the KCFA would support the bill as a step in the right direction.
(2) However, on February 14, the House Finance Committee stripped out all emergency research funding and a significant part of farmer assistance funding.
(3) On March 12, the Senate Agriculture Committee—responding to a flood of testimony from Kona coffee farmers–restored the “Original HB353” with its appropriations of $1.33 million and sent the bill to the Senate Ways and Means Committee (“WAM”).
(4) On March 22, WAM ignored unanimous written testimony submitted to it by farmers, processors, blenders and others in support of the original bill’s provisions and passed a very different bill (“SD2”).  In “SD2” all appropriations were changed to blanks (for “discussion purposes”); research monies were taken from PBARC (the agency with the scientific expertise best suited to the task) and directed to the HDOA; the farmer assistance monies were taken from the CBB Task Force and directed to UH; and “SD2” provided that none of the emergency research monies would actually be spent unless “matched” from other sources. All of these changes were made by WAM without providing an opportunity for public comment or testimony on the changes. We do not know who met in the backroom with Ways and Means Committee members and influenced the language of “SD2”—but the interests of Kona’s coffee farmers were not represented in those discussions.
(5) On April 26, the Joint House/Senate Conference Committee made the following amendments to “SD2”:  an emergency research appropriation of $500,000 (rather than the $1 million in the original bill); a reduction of the farmer assistance appropriation from $330,000 to $300,000; and a change to the recipient of the farmer assistance appropriation from UH to HDOA.  Moreover, there continues to be no assurance that even these reduced amounts will actually be spent on CBB research and mitigation.  If no “matching funds” from other governmental or private sources are found, none of the appropriated amounts will be spent.
(6) On April 30, the Conference Committee bill was passed by the House and Senate. HB353 now goes to the Governor who can sign or veto it—or let it become law without his signature.
The Bottom Line:  The reductions to the minimally adequate appropriations in the “Original HB353”–and the inclusion of provisions which make it uncertain that even the reduced amounts will actually be spent—indicate that even after the passage of almost 3 years since CBB was discovered in Hawaii County, the Legislature, the HDOA, and the Abercrombie administration are still not viewing CBB as an emergency which threatens the economic viability of Kona and other Hawaii-grown coffees.
–Submitted by the Legislative Committee

What’s Kona Worth?

 $62.80 per pound!!
Go to http://www.coffeefool.com/?gclid=CKKKxpCQ4LYCFSjZQgod9EkAAQ#null  –  click on “Light/Medium Premium” on the left and then scroll down to find the price for “Hawaiian Kona”.  The price is 39.25 for 10 ounces—a per pound equivalent of $62.80.

Also note that Jamaica Blue Mountain is offered for a per pound equivalent of $65.90.  A 40% Kona Blend is $33.09 per pound equivalent.
Don’t under-price your coffee!
Thanks to KCFA member Mark Shultise for spotting this website.

”Too Strong”

Here is an anecdote sent by a KCFA member:
Last month a couple visiting Kona from the mainland took a bus tour to the Kilauea Volcano.  On the way back the bus stopped at a visitor center in South Kona featuring Kona coffee. As the bus pulled in, the driver announced that during the stop tour members would be able to buy Kona coffee for friends and family at home.  He then said that he found 100% Kona coffee “too strong” and recommended that his passengers buy the “milder” Kona blends. The couple (to their subsequent regret) and other members of the tour followed the suggestion of their friendly driver.

The Question:  When professional cuppers uniformly describe Kona as a smooth, floral and mild tasting coffee, where does this “Too Strong” line (which many of us have heard before) come from?

In many areas of the world tour bus drivers are given significant “gratuities” for making stops at particular establishments—and for touting products sold there.  Whether or not this practice occurs in Kona, the “Too Strong” line most likely comes from the owners of the visitor center—not from an original insight or taste preference of the driver.

Follow up Questions: But why would the visitor center owners want the driver to tout their $17/pound Kona Blend rather than the center’s $40/pound 100% Kona Coffee?  Wouldn’t they be better off steering visitors to their brand of the more expensive 100% Kona?

The answer is “no”.  The profit margin for roasters from marketing the Kona blends (essentially $5/pound coffee sold at $17/pound because the name “KONA” appears prominently in several places on the package) is much greater than from sales of real Kona coffee.

It is not that 100% Kona coffee is “Too Strong”—rather it is that this myth has been developed and spread by blenders to reap the incredibly high profit margins resulting from sales of deceptively labeled Kona blends.
–Submitted by the Branding Committee

Thurston Stip. to Dismiss

Click on thumbnails below to enlarge the photo

TWO pages of photos so be sure to click to the next page.

[Show as slideshow]

12►

For Active Farmer Voting Members use only

The Kona Coffee Farmers Association has established the Seal Program to guarantee the roasted 100% Kona Coffee you, the consumer purchase is 100% Kona Coffee and not a blend of Kona Coffee with foreign coffees.

The Certification Program is open to qualified members of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association, who sell roasted 100% Kona Coffee. Displaying and supporting the KCFA 100% Seals is our promise to consumers that they are buying 100% Kona Coffee.

All funds raised through this program help support programs within our Kona Coffee Farmers Association organization to promote 100% Kona Coffee.

For Supporting Business Members or Active Farmer Voting Members

1. All coffee must be grown within the borders of North and South Kona Districts, also known as the Kona Coffee Belt, Hawaii Island.
2. Said coffee must meet the State of Hawaii’s Green Coffee Grading Standards as adopted under Chapter 147, Hawaii Revised Statutes.
3. As a member of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association, the farmer guarantees that the KCFA Seal will only be displayed on packages containing roasted 100% Kona.
   …and we also offer the Parmigiano-Reggiano Stamp for sale at a nominal cost.
                                         
    The award signifies that 100% Kona Coffee won 1st prize in Italy for oriGIn’s International Recognition of Historical Origin. The Stamp was released at the 4th Annual EXPO on January 28, 2011. Available for sale in the Store.
                                         more information here

Supporting Business Members Seal Program here
To see if you qualify, please contact us by email: info@konacoffeefarmers.org

The Kona Coffee Farmers Association reserves the right to revoke the use of the KCFA 100% Seals to any member, if misuse occurs.