Category Archives: Eating Locally

Bananas, Eating Locally, Food Safety Certification

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

What is wrong with this picture?

Hamakua Springs bananas are Food Safety Certified.

Screen shot 2011-06-10 at 9.52.15 PM

We were also the first banana farm in the world to be certified ECO-OK by the Rainforest Alliance.

We, and other local banana growers, refuse to use insecticide-impregnated bags because we cannot stand the thought of our workers having to carry those bags in close contact with their skin.

Yet our bananas can only be sold in Chinatown, because they are not blemish-free enough.

I write this because a friend of mine from O‘ahu asked me yesterday: “Where can I find local bananas?” He told me his family prefers local bananas – because they taste better, not because they look better.

What is wrong with this picture?

Eating Locally

Eat Local; Everybody Else Is

We are noticing a strong trend here in Hawai‘i toward people preferring and supporting local food products.

A recent survey from the National Restaurant Association supports this trend nationwide. It’s from the national produce newspaper The Packer.

Local produce near the top of hot menu trends

05/24/2011 / Bruce Blythe

Attendance at the National Restaurant Association’s annual Chicago show May 21-24 appeared to be comparable, and possibly higher, than last year, association representatives say.

Local is the way to go in 2011, so say many of the nation’s chefs.

Based on the National Restaurant Association’s annual What’s Hot survey, locally sourced meats and seafood and locally grown produce ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, among the top 20 industry menu trends….

Read the rest

Eating Locally, Family of Farms, Food Security

Food Security & Feed the Hunger Foundation

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After I spoke in Honolulu on a panel about foodsecurity and eating local recently, someone came up to talk with me. It was Denise Albano, President of Feed The Hunger Foundation:

MISSION

Feed The Hunger Foundation strives to alleviate hunger and poverty by promoting microfinance as a platform for personal, familial, communal, and spiritual transformation.

The non-profit foundation is based in California, but Denise Albano and CEO Patti Chang are wanting to give back to Hawai‘i, where they are both from.

They’re pretty impressive people; both very well-educated, well-connected to government in California, and have been doing projects all over the world.

What they do is provide micro loans to people who don’t qualify through banks but who want to farm.

This fits in really well with what we’re trying to do. Maybe with college students – they qualify for a loan, and if they want to try farming, we’d give them a good deal for a year and then see if they want to continue. And if they do, we give them a good start. We’d lease some land, or growing houses, to them at pretty nominal rates, and the water and electricity would be free. And Denise and them would help them with the financing.

Some farmers already have eight of our houses under cultivation. If they had to go out and buy them, that would be $80,000. If they rent them from us, they’re in business immediately, and for nominal rent.

If they make money, we make money.

The next step is working with the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. They’re going to arrange to gather students and other interested people and we’ll give a presentation. “My name is, we have this farm, here are the possibilities, this is the situation. We’ll let you come in for a year, and here’s how much it will cost. You pay for the fertilizer and for growing the stuff, and we’ll do the distribution and the marketing.”

For us, it’s strengthening our Families of Farms concept.

You know what’s really interesting about what we do? We see things happening with energy and all, at two levels. At the farm level, and at the state level. This one is at the farm level. It’s just a missing link kind of thing.

Our whole thing about food security has to do with farmers making money. If the farmers make money, the farmers will farm. It’s all incremental; it’s the experience of a lot of little things.

This is just another piece of the puzzle that will help with food security.

Feed the Hunger Foundation Values:

  • We network with businesses and organizations to ensure the health and success of our borrowers;
  • We invest in strong women leaders who are building and reinventing their communities;
  • We provide loans in areas where microfinance is less available;
  • We create a space where donors and borrowers may come together to form change; and
  •  We strive to ensure food security for all.
Eating Locally, Food Security

Next Steps In Farm To Table

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Richard Ha writes:

Honolulu magazine wrote about a panel discussion called “The Next Steps in Farm to Table,” which I was part of last week:

Friday, February 18, 2011

Eat Local: Alan Wong, Chuck Furuya and Richard Ha

JOHN HECKATHORN

At its latest lunch meeting, the Hawaii Society of Business Professionals had three speakers with one message: It matters what you eat.

The speakers (pictured right to left, below) were chef Alan Wong, Hamakua Spring Country Farms’ Richard Ha and master sommelier Chuck Furuya, all of whom made the plea that small personal choices could add up to a major revolution in Hawaii.

Wong pointed out that since Hawaii imports 80 percent of its food, the state has only a two- to three-week food supply if a disaster closes the ports.  “The boat no come, you lose plenty weight,” said Ha.

According to state Department of Agriculture figures, if Hawaii replaced just 10 percent of foods we import with locally grown and manufactured foods, that would generate $94 million for farmers, an economy-wide impact of $188 million in sales, $47 million in earnings and $6 million in state taxes. Not to mention 2,300 jobs. Read the rest

Foodland’s President Jenai Walls spoke about how, many years ago, her Irish dad and Chinese grandma worked together at a small store that eventually came to be Foodland Supermarket, the only statewide, locally owned supermarket. She said that Foodland sells more locally grown produce than any other market.

The discussion was sponsored by the Hawaii Society of Business Professionals (HSBP) and the Hawaii Restaurant Association, and held at the Hawaii Prince Hotel.

The HSBP is a very influential group. Here is the group’s board.

Screen shot 2011-02-20 at 10.36.46 PM

From the event description:

The joy of eating wonderful local food in great surroundings forms the essence of the “farm-to-table” movement in Hawaii. At the forefront of this “locovore” movement that marries the importance of saving Hawaii’s agricultural lands, growing the best crops, buying fresh local produce and enjoying local foods at the finest restaurants in Hawaii are Alan Wong and Richard Ha. Alan Wong is the most famous of all of Hawaii’s chefs. Richard Ha and his farm, Hamakua Springs, continue his family tradition of farming on the Big Island. The moderator, Chuck Furuya, was the first sommelier in the State and understands the “locovore” concept pairing fresh local foods with great wines.

Biofuel, Community, Eating Locally, Food Security, Mauna Kea, Renewable Energy Sources, Schools, Science, Water

It Takes A Community

It’s been a busy few days.

Last Wednesday evening, Don Thomas, a geologist from UH Hilo, accompanied me to a meeting of the Keaukaha Community Association where he described two drilling projects. The first was a 3,000 ft. or so pilot hole sunk by the Hilo breakwater. It was a test to see if the concept of drilling to acquire a profile of the land was feasible. The second was a much deeper hole on the National Guard side of the Hilo airport. This was a part of a National Science Foundation-funded study. It was meant to gather information on the formation of the Big Island by studying the layers of lava as the hole was drilled deeper and deeper.

The background as I understand it: In eartlier days, only the Kohala Mountain range, Hualalai and Mauna Kea protruded above the ocean. Then Mauna Loa erupted and the Hilo side of Mauna Kea was covered by Mauna Loa’s lava.

Core samples showed that there was Mauna Loa lava atop soil from Mauna Kea, much like the kind of material you see on the Hilo/Hamakua coast. Then, as the drill went deeper, they found fresh water at 160 lbs. of pressure in the Mauna Kea lava, way below the surface of the ocean. This is what’s called an artesian well, and is when you get water shooting out under pressure from the surface of the land. That means that this water is under pressure from water that is pushing against it.

As I understand it, drill deep enough and water will just shoot out of the ground. I’ll ask Don what all this means and report back here.

I saw Luana Kawelu at the Keaukaha Community Association meeting Wednesday night. Kumu Lehua calls her one of the “Gang of Three” (with Patrick Kahawaiola‘a) — the folks who together help to make Keaukaha Elementary School the excellent school that it is. She is also the driving force behind the Merrie Monarch Festival. She has never let marketing and dreams of bigger and better things cloud her judgment. She just focuses on the pono thing. I cannot imagine how the Merrie Monarch Festival could be done better. “Pono” is way good enough.

Thursday, I flew to Maui to visit supermarkets as part of my marketing involvement with the new organic farm at Kapalua called WeFarm@Kapalua. This organic farm is on former Maui Pineapple Company lands and consists of approximately 158 acres. David Cole, the former CEO of Maui Land and Pine, started the organic farm awhile ago. When MLP got out of pineapple, the Ulupono Initiative submitted a bid to take over the former organic farm. From the Ulupono Initiative website:

Ulupono Sustainable Agriculture Development LLC, a subsidiary of the Ulupono Initiative, announced today that it would be assuming operations of Kapalua Farms, an organic farming and agriculture research facility located near the entry of the Kapalua Resort in West Maui.  Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc., owners of the 158-acre agricultural parcel, successfully reached an agreement with Ulupono earlier this month, with the transition of the property already underway.
 
“We are pleased to partner with Ulupono Sustainable Agriculture Development as they assume operations of Kapalua Farms,” said Warren H. Haruki, chairman and interim CEO of Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc.  “Our desire was to find an operational partner that would be able to continue organic farming operations and to maintain Kapalua Farms as a community resource, employer, and provider.  Ulupono is an exemplary organization committed to preserving our agricultural land, and we look forward to working together.”

I am especially pleased to be working with the Ulupono Initiative and WeFarm@Kapalua because I watched Jeff Alvord put this initiative together over the last several years. Jeff would call when he was in town and we would talk about the larger picture of a sustainable Hawai‘i. I knew from early on that the Omidyar Group had the best interest of Hawai‘i at heart. I’m very happy to be closely involved with this new organic farming initiative.

Later, when I made my way to the Maui airport, I ran into Stevie Whalen, the President of the Hawai‘i Ag Research Center, which is the modern-day iteration of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association’s research arm.

Founded in 1895, the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association (HSPA), dedicated to improving the sugar industry in
Hawaii, has become an internationally recognized research center. Its name change in 1996 to Hawaii Agriculture Research Center (HARC) reflects its expanding scope to encompass research in forestry, coffee, forage, vegetable crops, tropical fruits, and many other diversified crops in addition to sugarcane. HARC is a private, non-profit 501c5 organization.

HARC specializes in horticultural crop research including agronomy and plant nutrition, plant physiology, breeding, genetic engineering and tissue culture, and control of diseases and pests through integrated pest management. HARC also performs pesticide registration work; training in areas such as pesticide application and environmental compliance; ground water monitoring; and technical
literature searches.

Stevie was on Maui to help provide research info about new biocrop possibilities that could possibly be the base feedstock that would provide the U.S. Navy the kind of second and third generation fuel that it could use to fly its jet planes and run its ships. Liquid transportation fuel is very important for us living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It will take a huge research effort to develop high-yielding bio feedstock. It will not just happen miraculously, out of the blue. I have the utmost confidence in Stevie and her HARC crew, as well as Andy Hashimoto and the CTAHR crew.

Stevie told me that it’s becoming evident that biofuel production will need to use the added value of co-products to make it an economically viable form of energy. There is no doubt that we want to develop a biofuel that will eventually be cost-competitive with fossil fuels. I am very aware that much more work needs to be done.

Then, on the plane back to Hilo, I ended up sitting next to Arnold Hara, extension entomologist for UH Manoa. He was on Maui as part of a project to intensively inspect imported produce coming from the mainland and foreign countries. He was very concerned about the amount of invasive species insects that are being found on imported organic produce. He called imported organic produce “dirty.” He meant that there are lots of hitchhikers on organic produce. It is very worrisome.

I’ll call him tomorrow and ask what varieties of organic produce we should grow to replace imported organic produce. I’m very happy to be associated with WeFarm@Kapalua, where we can help to protect Hawai‘i from invasive species.

Community, Eating Locally

Big Island Farmers Markets, CSAs & Community Gardens

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Sonia Martinez, of Sonia Tastes Hawai‘i, has put together a great resource over at the Hawaii Homegrown Food Network — it’s a list of the 30 or so farmers markets on the Big Island as well as CSAs and community gardens.

CSAs are Community Supported Agriculture, a way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer.

Her very thorough list of Farmers Markets and CSAs is here.

Eating Locally, Food and Drink, Tomatoes

Foodland Farms & Hamakua Tomato Salsa

Several weeks ago June and I went to O‘ahu to see the new Foodland Farms store in Aina Haina.

Tony the tiger

Tony the Tiger was in the house. Kids ran up to get hugs.

It’s a beautiful store. We were so impressed that they put the local produce front and center! And that they had photos of local farmers all around.

Beautiful local produce

A couple of months earlier, June and I had lunch with Jenai Walls, President of Foodland; Abel Porter, Foodland’s CEO, and Simon Cutts, who is the produce buyer. Jenai asked us if we had tried the Hamakua Tomato Salsa and we had to admit that we didn’t know there was such a thing. Foodland produces it in their corporate kitchens and distributes it through its stores statewide.

Hamakua tomato salsa

Containers of Hamakua Tomato salsa in the foreground. In the background, photo of me and Chef Alan Wong.

We had to try it. It is really good! Way better than any tomato salsa I have ever had; I think because it is fresh, and made from vine-ripened tomatoes.

June & jon kawamura

June with our friend, Jon Kawamura from Armstrong Produce. We enjoyed his company

We decided to demo the Hamakua Tomato Salsa with Tostido Scoops to demonstrate our tomatoes, and it went over really well. Many people bought the Hamakua Salsa as well as the fresh Hamakua Springs tomatoes.

Tomato display
The display was full of our beef tomatoes as well as our award winning cocktail tomatoes

A group of seven firefighters came by and tried the salsa. We all know that firefighters are all gourmet cooks, and we were happy to see one of the firefighters pick up a container.

For us, that was the ultimate validation of Hamakua Tomato Salsa.

Eating Locally, Food Security

Michelle Galimba On Food Security

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I talk about Food Security as depending on farmers farming. And how many times I have written here: “If the farmer makes money, the farmer going farm.”

In her blog Ehulepo, Michelle Galimba of Kuahiwi Ranch in Ka‘u discusses Food Security in a stark, and different, way:

We are frustrated that we are preyed upon by our own society. That none of our businesses quite “pencil out.” That we bear the burden of a system that has evolved into nonsense, ignorance, and frivolity. These are bitter words and it pains me to say them. But they are true, I think….

Read more of her interesting and thought-provoking blog post Where To Begin? here.

So what happens if the farmers no make money? Or if the next generation does not want to farm?

My son-in-law Kimo, who is the farm manager at Hamakua Springs, called me from Waimea this morning. He said, “Did you know that the large vegetable farm on the way to Waimea is no longer in production? A subdivision is going in.”

I thought, “It’s sad to see. But I am very happy for them and I do not fault the farmer in any way!”

Read Michelle’s post and then let us know what you think.

Eating Locally, Education, Food Security, Government, Schools

Update on Punahou Class’ ‘Project Citizen’

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Do you remember the 8th grade class at Punahou School in Honolulu, which wrote to Richard about its class project?

From the email Richard received back in November:

My name is L.T. [name removed]. I’m a 14 year old. I’m a 8th grade Punahou School student. Wanda Adams from the Honolulu Advertiser, recommended you to me to answer some questions on a project my class is doing. The project is called project citizen, we choose a problem in our community, research the problem, and then as a class act on the problem. The problem my class chose is that many local farms are struggling because Hawaii is too dependent on imports from the mainland and around the world. Wanda Adams told me that you know a lot about this topic. I have some questions for you about this it if you won’t mind answering….

Richard recently emailed again to see how they’re doing. Here’s their exchange.

Hi L.:

How is your class doing with project citizen? I have told a fair number of folks about what your class is doing. Reaction is overwhelmingly favorable. People find it inspiring.

Aloha,
Richard

Dear Richard,  

So far, my class has made a lot of progress. My class has come up with a public policy of trying to urge the State to not have an excise tax for Hawaii’s local farmers. And our civic action (something my class is going to do) is hand out wristbands to people to remind them to buy local and, have them sign a contract to pledge that they will try to buy local as much as possible.

My class has contacted a few of Hawaii’s Senate members and House of representatives members to try to get them to pass SB1179, a bill that is similar to our public policy which we want to have as a bill in the 2010 Legislative Secession. SB1179, (National Farm to School program) is a bill that relates to our class project. If passed the National Farm to School program will be taught in all of Hawaii’s public schools, and will teach students about how important local farming is, it will encourage students to eat a healthy diet, and it will have the public school cafeterias provide as much local foods to the children for meals that are bought from local farmers.

If you would want to know more about this bill, here’s the link. I hope this bill or our proposed public policy bill will get passed through Hawaii’s Legislature this year.

Thanks,
L.

Eating Locally, Food Security, Schools

Punahou Students Get Involved in Food Security

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Richard just got an email from an 8th grader at Punahou School on O‘ahu. He told me, “Isn’t this wonderful? Intelligent questions. She is asking what their class can do. The kids are trying to save us!”

Her email started like this:

Dear Richard Ha,

My name is L.T. [name removed]. I’m a 14 year old. I’m a 8th grade Punahou School student. Wanda Adams from the Honolulu Advertiser, recommended you to me to answer some questions on a project my class is doing. The project is called project citizen, we choose a problem in our community, research the problem, and then as a class act on the problem. The problem my class chose is that many local farms are struggling because Hawaii is too dependent on imports from the mainland and around the world. Wanda Adams told me that you know a lot about this topic. I have some questions for you about this it if you won’t mind answering….

Richard responded with this:

Aloha L.:

Thanks for your note. As a farmer, I am very encouraged that our young people are aware of the fact that many farmers are struggling, and that you are willing to do something to help. Thank you!

And here is the question and answer part:

Do you have any new information on this problem?

Yes, supermarket produce sales are declining. People have less discretionary income. And they are frequently choosing the cheapest produce they can find. And lots of the time it comes from foreign countries.

How serious is this problem in our community?

Very.

How widespread is the problem in our state or nation?

It is very widespread.

Why is this a problem that should be handled by government?

I don’t know that this is a problem for government to solve.

Should anyone else take responsibilty for solving the problem? Why?

I think it is consumers who can solve the problem. Retailers are very sensitive to their customers wants and needs.

Which of the following do you think is true?

There is no law or policy for dealing with the problem. True
The law for dealing with the problem is not adequate.
The law for dealing with the problem is adequate, but it is not adequate.

What levels of government or government agencies, if any, are responsible for dealing with the problem? What are they doing about the problem?

What are the disagreements about this policy or ways of dealing with it exist in our community?

If consumers would express their support for locally grown food and back it up with action, the retailers would stock more locally grown produce.

Who are the major individuals, groups, or organizations expressing opinions on the problem?

The Hawaii Farm Bureau, Slow Food Hawaii, local chefs, Kanu Hawaii, and there are others. I think that retailers would react positively if they knew that people cared about this subject.

Why are they interested in the problem?

They all realize that food security starts with farmers. And if farmers make money, farmers will farm.

What positions are they taking?

They are all supporting locally grown food. Retailers, however, respond to the wishes of their customers.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of their position?

There are advantages such as keeping money circulating in our economy, protecting ourselves in case of shipping interruptions—it really has to do with survival. We are vulnerable out here in the middle of the ocean. So we should encourage food production from Hawaii. It is wise of us to prepare for the worse and hope for the best.

How can we get information on their positions?

Let me know if you and your friends are interested and I will give you contact information.

How are they trying to influence government to adopt their positions on the problem?

If enough people express their opinions, the politicians and the government will respond.

If my class develops a policy to deal with this problem, how might we influence our government to adopt our policy?

If you can organize a ground swell of support, and are willing to put some time into the effort, you can change Hawaii.

Speaking for farmers: We thank you for asking. We’ve been trying to call attention to this problem. But farmers need to spend their time farming. I think that you might get more results than we can. Beyond this, we are very encouraged that you have this on your radar. And, as representatives of your generation, we are very hopeful for the future of Hawaii.

Mahalo, Richard