Category Archives: Hurricane

Hurricane

Eradicating Albizia at the Farm

Richard Ha writes:

Albizia trees are a real hazard; we all know by now that the introduced trees, which spread easily, grow up to an inch a day and can get to more than 200 feet, and are very weak and brittle during storms, are what caused such extensive damage during Tropical Storm Iselle. 

I treated all of the albizias on our farm a week ago using the "cane knife and squirt" method. Using a cane knife, you cut four or five slices equal distance around the tree and squirt about 1/5 of a teaspoon of Milestone in each slice.

I find it is easy to hit the tree, and then bend the blade so that it opens up the bark and squirt it in. If I squirt the liquid on the blade, it runs down under the bark very well.

This video shows the technique.

These photos show the trees before and then seven days after treatment. They are starting to turn yellow. Soon all the leaves will fall off. 

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Hurricane

Hawaii County Just Declared Natural Disaster Area

Richard Ha writes:

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has just designated Hawaii County a “primary natural disaster area.”

The USDA media release, as published on Hawaii247.com:

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated Hawaii County in Hawaii as a primary natural disaster area due damages and losses caused by wind, rain and flooding that occurred August 7-9, 2014.

“Our hearts go out to those Hawaii farmers and ranchers affected by recent natural disasters,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “President Obama and I are committed to ensuring that agriculture remains a bright spot in our nation’s economy by sustaining the successes of America’s farmers, ranchers, and rural communities through these difficult times. We’re also telling Hawaii producers that USDA stands with you and your communities when severe weather and natural disasters threaten to disrupt your livelihood.”

Hawaii County was designated a natural disaster area on September 3, 2014, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low interest emergency (EM) loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in Hawaii County have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses. FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability. FSA has a variety of programs, in addition to the EM loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity.

Producers are encouraged to contact the Hawaii County Office at (808) 933-8368 to make an appointment to avoid long wait times for service.

Additional programs available to assist farmers and ranchers include the Emergency Conservation Program, The Livestock Forage Disaster Program, the Livestock Indemnity Program, the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program, and the Tree Assistance Program. Interested farmers may contact their local USDA Service Centers for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs. Additional information is also available online at disaster.fsa.usda.gov.

Mahalo to Diane Ley, director of the USDA’s Farm Service Agency, for her role in enabling special disaster farm loans for farmers who were hurt by Tropical Storm Iselle, and for her role in enabling the emergency declaration that was just announced, as well.

Diane participated in our after-hours emergency meeting right after the storm and we appreciated that very much.

Government, Hurricane

Board of Agriculture Approves an Emergency Loan Program for Farmers, Ranchers

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Richard Ha writes:

Yesterday, the state Board of Agriculture approved an Emergency Loan Program for farmers and ranchers who suffered damage due to Tropic Storm Iselle.

Governor Neil Abercrombie declared the entire state of Hawai‘i a disaster area due to the high wind and rain associated with Iselle. This authorizes the expenditure of state monies for disaster relief.

The main elements of the Board of Agriculture's emergency loan program are:

  • Maximum loan amount: $100,000
  • Terms to be determined on a case-bycase basis as needed. Consideration will be given to the applicants based on prior performance and projected cash flow based on reasonable assumptions of revenue and expenses.
  • Interest rate: 3 percent (Federal loan program may have lower interest rate)
  • The credit elsewhere requirement shall be waived for loans of $50,000 or less. 
  • The 3 year residency requirement for U.S. Citizens and permanent resident aliens shall not apply.
  • Collateral requirements may be modified or waived, as necessary, on a case-by-case basis. Whenever possible, the provisions of Section 155-11, Security for Loans, should be followed.
  • Emergency Loan Applications can be accepted until December 31, 2014.
Big Island, Community, Hurricane

Hurricane Iselle: The Aftermath & Human Stories

Richard Ha writes:

Soon after Hurricane Iselle hit the Big Island, the Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United (HFRU) core group called a meeting. We wanted to assess damage, and what we found was that some Big Island farmers were in desperate need.

The human stories which were told by some of the affected farmers were hard to take. One of the independent processors told about being in church on Sunday just after the hurricane and not being able to look a farmer, there with his family, in the eye. They both knew what this damage meant to the farmers. The processor told us at the meeting that it brought him to tears.

Diane Ley, executive director of the USDA’s Farm Service Agency, was on the phone at the after-hours emergency meeting. Scott Enright, who is chair of the Department of Agriculture, participated by cell phone. He had just landed on O‘ahu and was driving to a meeting.

Farmers and their friends pulled together to bring agencies with resources to meet with farmers at one stop. W.H. Shipman, Ltd. made their offices available to the group for meetings. Lorie Farrell did the real heavy lifting by organizing everything. And the support agencies responded.

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We met on Tuesday, on W.H. Shipman, Ltd.’s ground, with about 180 people in attendance. Chris Kanazawa, head of the USDA’s Rural Development; Scott Enright, director of the Board of Agriculture; Laverne Omori, county director of Research and Development. So was Chris Manfredi, president of the Hawaii Farm Bureau.

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Various agencies had booths where they provided information about their programs. People gave presentations. AgriLogic, which specializes in risk management insurance for farmers, was there. One of the priorities of HFRU is to increase the percentage of farmers covered by crop insurance.

Mayor Billy Kenoi announced he is hiring DayDay Hopkins to be liaison to the farmers. That is a huge deal; DayDay knows farming. I met two county council candidates for the first time that day, Danny Paleka and Ron Gonzales, and after having short conversations, it was clear to me that both are very thoughtful and know what the spirit of aloha is all about. 

Yesterday I read in the Star-Advertiser that 287,000 Hawaii residents receive aid through the Hawaii Foodbank and its agencies. I called up Ross Sibucao, the young president of the Hawaii Papaya Industry Association, and asked him: “How many papaya farmers are on food stamps?”

He chuckled at my even asking the question. He said, “Probably zero.”

The farmers are the ones feeding the people. They do important work.

Hurricane

What We Learned From Hurricane Iselle

Richard Ha writes:

There are a lot of things we can learn from the hurricane we just went through.

People saw what needed to be done on the ground and they just did it. Trees needed to be cut, so they cut them. Neighbors needed food and ice, so people got them food and ice. People saw the situations that were problems and they took care of them.

This is a good analogy for what we farmers want to do now. We have been dragged into a battle, and all we want to do is get back to providing food for people. We’re farmers. We want to grow things and feed people. We don’t want to be involved in lawsuits and philosophical battles.

What’s happened is that the Center for Food Safety, and Earth Justice, which is the Sierra Club’s legal arm, are fighting against farmers. We farmers are asking for clarity on this anti-GMO bill. We’re saying tell us what the rules are so we can go back to farming. But those two are fighting against us, so we can’t do that.

Here’s an analogy. It’s as if after the hurricane they said: Yeah, we see all the albizia trees are down, but we want you to focus on something that’s happening in the Midwest, or in India.

Those aren’t local problems.

Or it’s like they were saying, Yeah, we see all the trees down, but you can’t use chainsaws because they’re dangerous. You’ve got to use axes, because they’re natural.

We’re saying, look, we’ve got to use chainsaws. We’ve got to help people.

It’s really that simple. We farmers are spending too much time on all that other stuff and we really just want to get back to farming.

When the Association of Counties asked me to talk about climate change and how the farmer looks at it, I quoted Neil DeGrasse Tyson. He talks about climate change being the guy and his dog walking down the beach. The man walking straight down the beach is the climate, and the dog running back and forth is the weather.

The climate is the policy kind of stuff, and hopefully the climate people make the right decisions.

We farmers deal with the weather. If there’s a storm, or an insect, we deal with it. We’ve got to concentrate on growing food. Otherwise, we end up trying to make policy, and we’re not scientists. We’re farmers. 

We just want to get back to farming.

Hurricane

Papaya Families Hit Hard by Iselle

Richard Ha writes:

There's an article in today's Hawaii Tribune-Herald called Ag Crops Sustained Extensive Damage From Iselle.

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Everyone is busy gathering data as to the extent of damage. We just had a meeting of the Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United and a preliminary discussion with the USDA Farm Services Agency, as well as the Board of Ag chair by phone. The outcome was that we needed to get clear data from which the various agencies could start to work. We are busy getting this done.

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Ollie English from WH Shipman, Ltd., was up in a helicopter to get an aerial view and the various industry representatives gave a report. 

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We were interviewed by John Burnett of the Hawaii Tribune-Herald. 

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In addition to just numbers, those of us in the room heard a papaya farmer family describe how hard the last few cycles have been. A mom described how 10 acres of her family papaya farm had been cut down by vandals a little bit ago. Beside paying all the clearing, fertilizer and pest control costs, the crop that had been cut down represented the income to help one son to go to college. They were very discouraged and wanted to quit. Two of her sons told her it would be poho (wasteful) to not use the equipment that they already had. So the two decided that they would continue on. They had a strong outbreak of a fungus about a year ago. And that put extreme pressure on the family. But they persevered.

A year later, now, the new plantings were just ready to start harvesting. The fruit column was full and heavy. They were looking forward to two years of harvest where they hoped to recover the cash out and make some money. But Hurricane Iselle came through and snapped off all the heavily laden trees at the point where the most mature fruit were.

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We in the room were quiet. We all know the despair that she, her husband, and two sons felt. This is representative of all the papaya farmers who had wind damage. 

One of the independent papaya processors told of being in church and seeing a papaya farmer and his family. He told us that it brought tears to his eyes and that he couldn't look at the farmer. The overall sense of despair was very hard to take. 

Colleen Hanabusa has met with farmers here more times than any county council member or any other politician for that manner, and that's why farmers really know and trust her. It's nice that she was on the island.

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Hurricane

Helping the Papaya Farmers

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Richard Ha writes:

Today, Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United are meeting to figure out how we can help the Big Island papaya farmers who had such devastating losses in Hurricane Iselle. We are going to support them in any way we can. That is absolute first priority.

My son Brian has been making ice at our tomato packing house. He did that Saturday, Sunday and again today (using our hydroelectric, powered by the river) and then taking it down to Hawaiian Beaches where they don't have electricity.

He and his friends made 400 quarts of ice and took it down there with a sign, "Mauna Kea Banana Ice," and he said it was gone in five minutes.

We are planning to take bananas down to the papaya packing house, where the papaya farmers are packing up whatever they can, and distribute the bananas to the farmers there. The rest will go with Brian to distribute wherever he ends up in Puna. 

The most important thing is how we can help the rest of the farmers.

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Hurricane

Hurricane Iselle: 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday

Richard Ha writes:

Hilo is all boarded up with very few cars on the road. Here's Kamehameha Avenue, downtown.

There's very little wind at this point. It's relatively calm at the farm, but the river and flume are pumping.

The banana leaves are not shredded yet.

It's now 7:21 and it's relatively quite in Hilo.

As Hurricane Iselle approaches the Big Island, it seems part of its outer bands went north to Waimea, and part went south to Puna.

We are waiting for the storm to hit the island head on in a couple of hours. We'll see what happens.

Hurricane

Hurricane Iselle: 11 a.m. Thursday – Preparing

Richard Ha writes:

We're wrapping up here at the farm. We tied things down, protected them from rain, and everyone will go home by noon. 

We did the major prep work 15 years ago when we put in our windbreaks. We knew that we needed to protect from north and south winds, which meant we needed to plant windbreak rows on the east and west.

But it was more than just that. We knew that at our latitude the sun lies somewhat to the south. So we put  windbreaks on the south side of the existing roads. That way, the shadow from the windbreak falls on the road, instead of on the plants. Modern farming is all about the physical sciences. 

Back then, we had no wind protection at all. Now, the eucalyptus we planted as our windbreaks are  pushing 70 feet tall. 

Bananas, Hurricane

Hurricane Iselle: The Night Before

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Richard Ha writes:

I have been a banana farmer for many years and I have seen the exact moment when all the bananas snap off the trees.

It happens all at once. The wind gets stronger and stronger and you can feel the strain. And then, somewhere around 55 mph, all the bananas snap at once. One second before they were all standing, and then the next, you can see in all directions where formerly banana trees blocked the view. 

Not many have seen that happen, but I have. I hope I don't see it again.

Bananas