Category Archives: Peak Oil

Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

Why Geothermal is Better Than Biomass

The New York Times just ran an editorial in support of geothermal development for the production of electricity.

…In 2006, a panel led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology surveyed the prospects for electricity production from enhanced geothermal systems. Its conclusions were conservative but very optimistic. The panel suggested that with modest federal support, geothermal power could play a critical role in America’s energy future, adding substantially to the nation’s store of renewable energy and more than making up for coal-burning power plants that would have to be retired….

Over the last few weeks, we have seen at least five companies offering plans to turn biomass produced on the Hamakua Coast into energy.

Many Hamakua Coast residents are very skeptical because of the large amounts of land that would have to be dedicated to making this energy. Many are very much against trading off ag lands for energy crops.

The Peak Oil conference I attended in Houston a year ago October, where I was the only person from Hawai‘i, was the most depressing – and yet most important – conference I have ever attended. We learned that the world’s oil supply is decreasing faster than our ability to produce more oil and that we need to find alternative ways, and fast.

I did not have the heart to tell people there how so very lucky we are in Hawai‘i to have an abundance of natural resources. I attended the conference dressed in shorts and would continue to wear shorts back in Hawai‘i all winter long. While most of the 500 people attending would go through a cold winter when crops would not grow, we in Hawai‘i would continue to grow crops all through our warm winter.

I know that many of those 500 people were worrying about just what limited renewable sources of energy they had at their disposal. In contrast, I didn’t have the heart to tell anybody that we have such an abundance of richness in Hawai‘i that some people here feel that we can discard geothermal as a renewable energy alternative.

That was a couple years ago, but since then the world has changed. We must use our resources wisely.

Geothermal has a very small footprint. While biomass plants would require thousands of acres, a geothermal plant would need less than 100 acres for an equivalent production of energy.

Let’s take a new look at geothermal!

Education, Mauna Kea, Peak Oil

Connecting the Dots

By now, most of us know that the supply of oil is not endless.

• Oil provided the energy to build this incredibly complex society.
• And oil supplied the energy to grow our food.

Now it’s like an inverted pyramid – only a few farmers are needed to feed all the people.

As oil supplies decline though, we will have to use more human brainpower to maintain our lifestyle. We need the pyramid to flip right side up again, and have as its base more farmers and other smart people who can build and fix things.

Local craftsman, and those who can avoid the oil input costs, will be in demand. There was an article in the Honolulu Advertiser last week about Joe Pacific Shoe Company. Its business is growing by leaps and bounds, because in a world of declining oil supplies, those who can build and fix things are increasingly in demand.

Our community colleges are a locus of education that will be more and more appreciated. Whatever we can do now for keiki education will help future generations survive out here in the middle of the ocean.

The TMT subcommittee of the Hawai‘i Island Economic Development Board, on which I serve, is now working on developing a non-profit entity to capture funds, from the astronomy community and others, that will be used to educate Big Island students. It will be broad-based rather than just science-based. We want it to be relevant to the changing world.

And we are striving to make sure that the committee members who decide where the funds go are people who are looking out for the greater good – as well as being people with a special awareness of the host Hawaiian culture and that we all live out here together in the middle of the ocean.

It is very encouraging that a school like Keaukaha Elementary here in Hilo, a school that was underperforming for as long as most people can remember, could turn itself around and become a role model of exceptional performance. This proves that we can do this for all K through 6th grades. And also that we need to connect the dots for the kids in 7th through 12th grades, to help them get into the community colleges and the university. If kids believe they can, then they will.

The Thirty-Meter Telescope is a powerful force that can help us to connect the dots for these students. For eight or nine years, as the telescope is being built, there will be 300-plus construction and other jobs. After that there will be approximately 140 steady jobs, mostly support-type work that will be performed by local folks. These jobs will be steady – not affected by recessions, etc.

And the Thirty Meter folks are also committed to helping develop the workforce they need when “first light” takes place. Although there will be astronomy-type jobs for those who are so inclined, most of the jobs are other types of work.

I’ve been talking about these being changing times for quite awhile now, and I think most people see it by now. I think times will get harder than they are now, but it’s clear to me what we have to do to “connect the dots.” Much of it is about education, so that we are preparing our children and their children for a different type of future.

The TMT is one avenue that can substantially move us forward toward these goals. If we do it correctly, the whole island could become an educational role model, not just Keaukaha Elementary School.

Aquaponics, Food Security, Hamakua Coast, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

A New Year: Looking Forward

Years ago, we decided we need to plan for the worse and hope for the best. We have always try to position ourselves for where we will need to be in five or 10 years.

In the early part of 2008, rising oil prices squeezed us and other farmers. Oil prices have dropped, but assuming they start to rise again and will probably be higher than before – where do we need to be five and 10 years from now?

When oil prices spiked earlier this year, we could feel the strain it put on our employees as they struggled to stretch their paychecks. We could not raise their pay, but we were able to supply them with food every Thursday, when we gave them bananas, tomatoes and other things we grew. Utilizing our free water resource, we now plan to also supply our workers with tilapia fish, for protein.

Because of our free fresh water, we can grow tilapia without much input other than food. Roy Tanaka tells us that tilapia are vegetarians and we may be able to feed the fish “off grade” vegetables and fruit. We are not necessarily interested in seeing how fast the fish can grow. We are more interested in using waste products to keep costs down so we can give our people food.

When oil prices rise again, we will see electricity, water and gas prices rise, too. To be prepared for rising oil prices we are installing a hydroelectric generator in the flume that runs through our property. It will generate enough electricity to supply our whole operation and still have 25 percent left over. We plan to let our workers plug in their electric hybrids at the farm as an extra benefit of working for Hamakua Springs.

Operationally, we know that rising oil prices means rising fertilizer prices. So on the portion of land we lease out, we work with area farmers in order that crop rotation and cover cropping benefits each other. Together with hydroelectricity, we will change the cost characteristics of banana, sweet potato and other crops.

I can say that crop rotating bananas and sweet potatoes has never been done before. But why not? The principles are sound.

We also have small growers working the ridgelines and small niches that fit their size. They do crops that we don’t do and so we complement each other. On our 600-acre parcel, we are working toward having many variations of food. Doing this will engage many people. When push comes to shove, it is important that many people have a vested interest in our system of agriculture.

Generating electricity from the river means that our electricity costs will be stable. In contrast, no one can guess how high oil prices will rise. I think they will go much higher than what we saw several months ago. Better safe than sorry.

Looking beyond the farm, if we have cheap electricity then we can serve as a place to consolidate and refrigerate shipments of other farmer’ products, so they can get to O‘ahu in a cost-effective manner. This is important because O‘ahu land prices are so high and the population is so densely arranged that it’s not easy to see how the people there can feed themselves. This means that outer-island farmers need to be positioned to supply food for O‘ahu in a seamless manner.

We found that three ahupua‘a run through our farm and that was very interesting to know. I feel I am in tune with how the Hawaiians would have managed these lands in the old days.  It is about observation, diligence and common sense.

Putting everything together, we have all the pieces to make a sustainable community and maybe even a whole district. It seems to me that with further collaboration, we can supply all the food for people living between Hilo and Honoka‘a, and probably even further.

It will be an interesting year. Best wishes to you and yours for a good 2009.

Peak Oil

International Energy Association: Present Usage of Oil Not Sustainable

In November, Matt Simmons spoke at the Hawaii Energy Challenge 08 held at the Fairmont Orchid.

His talk was notable because it included excerpts from the World Energy Outlook 2008, an annual report, published by the International Energy Association (IEA), that had just been released a few weeks prior.

For the first time, the IEA said that our present usage of oil is not sustainable. It said that Peak Oil will occur around 2020 if everything goes right; i.e., if countries and companies spend money now to develop more resources. The question left unanswered is: “What happens if we don’t spend the money to increase supplies?”

Luckily, in Hawai‘i we have alternatives.

From a (U.K.) Guardian article entitled When Will The Oil Run Out?

George Monbiot put the question to Fatih Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency – and was both astonished and alarmed by the answer.

In its 2007 World Energy Outlook, the IEA had predicted a rate of decline in output from the world’s existing oilfields of 3.7 percent a year. This, it said, presented a short-term challenge, with the possibility of a temporary supply crunch in 2015, but with sufficient investment any shortfall could be covered.

Its newer report though, published last month, carries a very different message: a projected rate of decline of 6.7 percent, which means a much greater gap to fill.

More importantly, in the 2008 report the IEA suggests for the first time that world petroleum supplies might hit the buffers. “Although global oil production in total is not expected to peak before 2030, production of conventional oil…is projected to level off towards the end of the projection period.”

These bland words reveal a major shift. Never before has one of the IEA’s energy outlooks forecast the peaking or plateauing of the world’s conventional oil production (which is what we mean when we talk about peak oil).

But that’s as specific as the report gets. Does it or doesn’t it mean we have time to prepare? What does “towards the end of the projection period” mean? The agency has never produced a more precise forecast – until now. For the first time, in the interview I conducted with its chief economist Fatih Birol recently, it has given us a date. And it should scare the pants off anyone who understands the implications.

And from the Peak Oil Review:

Perhaps the most interesting new car in recent weeks is the one built by BYD in China. BYD started life as an advanced battery manufacturer that moved into building cars about 5 years ago. BYD says it has developed a new, proprietary battery technology that will move a four passenger car 62 miles at highway speeds on electricity alone. Built with a range extending
gasoline engine like the one in the Chevrolet Volt, this vehicle is already on sale in China for $22,000.

If this vehicle works as advertised, it will mark a paradigm shift in the automobile industry for it is coming on the market with better performance specifications, two years earlier, and at half the rumored cost of GM’s Volt. If the US automobile industry can survive for the next two years it may find difficulty competing with just the Volt. It is worth noting that Warren Buffet has invested $230 million in the BDY electric car project in hopes of introducing them in the US by 2011.

Ammonia is probably the most critical manmade substance to the existence of human society. The expansion of the world’s population is based on fertilizer driven agriculture…and modern nitrogen fertilizer is ammonia. Global ammonia production comes about 69 percent from natural gas and 29% from coal. US domestic ammonia production was 10.7 million tons in 2007 and imported ammonia totaled 7.9 million tons. Major suppliers: Trinidad (55%), Russia (21%), and Canada (12%). (12/24, #18)

Liquid ammonia can be a transportation fuel, too.  Can it work for ag and energy?

Matt Simmons praises the IEA for doing the research that brought them to the new conclusion – that things are going to be very serious. But he says that Fatih Birol is soft-pedaling the report and trying really hard not to alarm anyone, while at the same time holding private talks with heads of states telling them that things can be very grim if we all don’t get to work addressing this serious issue.

Matt Simmons said that Hawai‘i needs to “plan for Peak Oil followed by steady declines.”

• Although the rate of future declines is debatable, declining supplies will inevitably occur

• Even “modest rates” could have awful impact

• We need a manpower/material plan to attain realistic (not collapsing) supply

• We need a Plan B for work to begin using less oil:

• End long-distance commuting
• Grow food locally
• Produce “things” locally
• Transport people and goods by water and rail

And I would like to add the following:

• Be relentless in integrating renewable energy into our electricity grid

• Integrate ag and energy planning

• Diversify food supply to where the resources are located

• Support education and especially the community colleges, where they make and fix things

• Be realistic about biodiesel; it is a longshot

• Encourage electric transportation. It is more doable

• Encourage Young Brothers to lower agriculture rates from outside islands

If we pay attention and move forward with determination, we can set an example for the rest of the nation. Not, no can. CAN!

Peak Oil

Korean Natural Farming

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“Korean Natural Farming” is a way of farming practiced in many countries in Asia, and it is to Western farming as acupuncture is to Western medicine. Its basic premise is that farmers can generate most, if not all, of the necessary inputs to food production onsite. It is a holistic approach to farming that is quite different from what most of us are accustomed to. If this method of farming can work here in Hawai‘i, one can see the possibility of getting off oil dependency.

There’s a tour to Korea being arranged for the spring, to see this natural farming method in action, and I’m going to go see for myself.

Western-style food production, of course, is very much dependent on oil for its inputs. Matt Simmons, an internationally renowned investment banker and Peak Oil Advocate, was keynote speaker at Energy Challenge ‘08, which was held recently in Kona. He said the world now produces 75 million barrels of oil per day, and that this will decline to 25 million barrels per day in 2030. The era of cheap oil is over.

This means that food prices will rise to unbelievable heights. I’ve said before that we need to use all the tools available to us in order to pass on a livable world to future generations. We cannot afford to give up anything that will help us survive out here in the middle of the Pacific. We need to use every tool and every opportunity available to us, and we need to pass on, to future generations, every possible advantage.

The following invitation tells more about the upcoming visit to Korea.

To: Hawaii County Administration and Leaders in Agriculture and Tourism:

We are currently progressing towards developing a “Sister City” relationship with Goseong County and Hawaii County in regards to agriculture and tourism. Goseong County is located in South Korea and has adopted a unique and specialized natural farming system. A tour is being planned for March 2009 to establish this goodwill with Goseong and we would like for you to join us. Your leadership and support is vital to help get this started which will greatly enhance the future of agricultural sustainability and tourism in Hawaii County. Background and pertinent information is provided below and we request for your reply by December 23, 2008.

Natural Farming/ Living Environmental Farming Goodwill Tour in Goseong, Korea

Cho Global Natural Farming-USA (CGNF), County of Hawaii, and the College of Tropical Agriculture (CTAHR) will be collaborating on an exploratory and goodwill tour of Goseong County in South Korea. The main mission is to initiate a “Natural Farming & Tourism Sister City” relation with Hawaii County based upon research and empirical information. Goseong has instituted a regional “Living Environmental Farming” program which promotes natural or sustainable agricultural practices. We hope to have a team of Big Island government and industry agricultural leaders to partake in this educational
assessment and establishment of goodwill with a unique County government which has been successful in instituting programs promoting sustainable agriculture and tourism for their region. CGNF envisions that Hawaii farmers will greatly benefit by learning and adopting natural farming concepts, methods, and technologies developed in Korea. The result of this goodwill relation will be a new development towards the natural farming sector in our community and thus an enhancement for both agriculture and tourism in
Hawaii.

This is being planned for this coming March 25-30, 2009. We anticipate about 15 travelers as part of this team. Each participating traveler would be responsible for their own airfare, hotel and food which is estimated to be around $2,000 (depending on oil prices).

Below are an overview of the background, current accomplishments, and purpose of this effort.

I. Background

*    The natural farming community in Hawaii envisions promoting and adopting natural farming methods which were developed in Asia (Korea, Japan, Thailand, China, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, India etc.) and proven to be a successful sustainable farming system for future generations.

*    The major impetus in Hawaii since 2005 has been through the efforts of Dr. Hoon Park, a retired MD from Hilo, who has attended several intensive Korean Natural Farming workshops and who has been instrumental in introducing to Hawaii and the USA, Cho Han Kyu, the founder of the Janong (Natural Farming) Institute in Korea and one of the world renown natural farming scholars.

II. Accomplishments in Hawaii

*    As a result of these activities in Hawaii, Cho Global Natural Farming-USA (CGNF-USA) was started and is now based in Kona. Dr. Hoon Park is the current president. Numerous composting making workshops were held in both east and west Hawaii and on Oahu.

*    An intensive Natural Farming Workshop, taught by Han Kyu Cho and daughter Ju-Young Cho was held at the University of Nations in Kona in June of 2008.

*    A natural farming curriculum for Big Island students was initiated at the Hawaii Community College by David Ikeda.

*    Several Hawaii-Korean farmers attended the one week intensive training at the Cho Global Natural Janong Institute in Korea and are beginning to employ these novel methods.

*    CTAHR Hawaii County extension agents visited several natural farming farms in Korea and experienced first hand testimony from successful growers who have been trained through the Janong Institute (CGNF) program.

*    Agriculturalists and gardeners in Hawaii are exploring this method with very successful results and local chapters are being organized.

*    A natural farming swine farm is being developed by local investors in Kurtistown utilizing the Cho Global Natural Farming technology and is soon to be operational.

*    A 2 ton capacity composting machine has been installed in Kurtistown. Permits are currently being negotiated.

III. Purpose of Travel

The objectives of this visit are:

1.    To develop a “Natural Farming Sister City” relationship between Hawaii County and Goseong County which has instituted successful agricultural and tourism programs. You may visit their city website at:
http://eng.goseong.go.kr/main/main.asp.

2.    To gain more firsthand knowledge about sustainable farming technology from South Korea which utilizes “Living Environmental Farming”, a natural or sustainable agricultural system practiced by farmers and ranchers throughout the entire Goseong County.

3.    To develop a plan to exchange information on crop and animal husbandry, composting, pathogen issues and to adopt appropriate and specialized technology with CTAHR and growers that will lead to the establishment of Hawaii County as an important tropical natural farming location.

4.    Develop a proposal to create a venue to help the local agricultural and tourist economy based upon healthy lifestyles and in an eco-friendly manner.

IV. Tentative Agenda in Goseong (Dr. H. Park to escort and assist with English translation)

1.    Visit with the Goseong mayor and government officials to discuss natural farming issues and to initiate a “Natural Farming & Tourism Sister City” relation based upon research and empirical informational exchange.

2.    Visit prominent nature farming and marketing operations in the region to get direct farmer inputs.

3.    Visit major regional expositions on tourism and natural farming as part of Goseong’s R & D program & other parts of Korea where successful natural farming has been established.

4.    Initiate a vision and outline a working program that will increase applications of natural farming projects and activities in Hawaii County.

Company News, Peak Oil

Full Hands at the Farm

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We have known that beef, egg and hog producers are in
trouble, largely due to increases in feed and transportation costs.

And now, vegetable crop producers are in trouble as well. For vegetable farmers, it’s mostly about fertilizer and supply costs.

At the farm, we have not been immune to the fertilizer, chemical, packing, cooling and transportation cost escalations, which are all related to the spike in oil prices earlier this year.

Unfortunately we have recently had to lay off some of our employees. And in these tough economic times, that is something we just did not want to do.

We were doing okay at the farm until two things hit us at once. During the summer we started to see a production slow down, and we were slow to react. When you look at something every day, it’s easy to miss changes. But the plants just weren’t doing well.

Then, at the same time, we discovered a virus outbreak. All of a sudden, we had our hands full.

We have been removing all the virus-infected plants, which numbered in the thousands. I feel we have the problem under control now, but there are bald spots in our production houses. It will take us a couple months to work our way out of this.

More serious was a general weakness in plant growth during the summer. A month ago, we tried different fertilizer and water programs and today, it’s looking a lot better. We are still fine tuning.

As a result of this, I have resigned from almost all the boards I belong to. It doesn’t feel appropriate to be concentrating my efforts elsewhere when I am having to lay off my own workers.

We are hopeful all will be back to normal in about two months.  However, something like this makes one stop to think about the future. Such as, where do June and I want to be in 10 years. It’s an interesting question to ponder.

Food Security, Peak Oil

Farming & the Titanic

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Last week I attended the annual Farm Bureau meeting. There were the usual discussions of new ways to do business, new farming techniques and what’s happening on the national level.

But that’s all just moving chairs around on the deck of the Titanic.

At that meeting I was nominated as Treasurer and asked to say a few words.

I told the audience that I feel it is not fair for farmers to be the only ones carrying the burden of feeding Hawaii’s people. And that they should be concerned about their own well-being.

Farming is in trouble. There were more than a few farmers at the conference who are on the verge of going out of business.

I’ve been pointing out for a while that farmers are in trouble because fertilizer and supply costs are high, while consumers faced with shrinking discretionary income are changing their behavior and not buying as much produce.

Retailers and wholesalers are better positioned to maintain their profit margins, and farmers are the ones least able to avoid shrinking margins. I’ve said before that some farmers are actually dipping into their savings to buy fertilizer.

I told them I was the only person from Hawai‘i to attend the Peak Oil conference in Houston last year. I told them that we, as farmers, know the connection of oil prices to farming. And that we all know oil is finite and the world population is increasing at the rate of 70 million people per year, so therefore we know oil prices will start rising again. And then farming costs will rise some more and people’s discretionary incomes will fall.

At the Farm Bureau meeting, I said that if we are serious about food security we will need farmers to farm. It’s not rocket science: If farmers make money, farmers will farm.

We all know that being too reliant on foreign oil is not good for our economy. It’s like paying a giant tax and it hurts all of us. Money leaving our economy to pay to import food does the same thing. This subject should be our highest priority.

Andy Hashimoto, dean of the University of Hawai‘i’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, gets it. He was the most passionate I have ever heard him on the topic of food security.

I agree with him. I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that we as a society do not have the will or commitment to deal with food security for Hawai‘i’s people.

The tourism and high tech industries are allocated millions of dollars annually. But food security is only given lip service.

Peak Oil

Peak Oil & Monetary System Collapse

Several years ago, when I noticed our farm supply prices increasing, I learned that most of our farm inputs are related to oil. I started researching the subject, and that led me to theoildrum.com, and to aspo-usa.com.

After following the subject of Peak Oil for many months, I realized that Gail Tverberg was the writer easiest for me to understand on the subject. Gail is an insurance actuary, so I knew she evaluates long-term risk in her profession.

From her recent post:

It is not a coincidence that just as we are hitting Peak Oil, world monetary systems seem to be edging toward collapse. Monetary systems are debt based, and depend on growth to continue. Resources are finite, and we are reaching limitations on them. Many of us have predicted that monetary systems may collapse, either as we approach peak oil, or shortly after peak oil. I have talked about the connection between peak oil and monetary system collapse in a number of posts. In this post, I reprint relevant sections from one of my earliest TOD posts, written in April 2007.

Gail foresaw the financial meltdown. I invited her to be the featured speaker at the Energy Forum recently sponsored by the Kohala Center and the Hawai‘i Island Chamber of Commerce.

Her writings, along with this series of short videos that make up a “crash course” about Peak Oil and related subjects, provides a strong foundation for planning for our changing future. These are topics we really need to take seriously and I strongly recommend these videos.

I’m speaking to some Hawai‘i Community College students about this subject on Friday, based on this short Peak Oil video.

The world has changed and we must prepare ourselves in a smart way. We have lots of natural resources at our disposal while, at the same time, we are isolated living here in the middle of the ocean. So there are dangers and opportunities.

But we cannot afford to throw away opportunities that come our way. That is why I am “pro” TMT, GMO, geothermal energy and education. These offer us important tools for living a sustainable life here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Peak Oil

Oil Prices Down – “It Gives Us Some Time To Prepare”

I asked Richard to comment on the fact that oil prices ($97/barrel today) are substantially lower these days, and tell us what this means. Was that just a temporary spike we saw until recently, and does it mean that Peak Oil isn’t really that big of a problem after all? (You understand that I’m playing devil’s advocate here.)

As I expected, he was dismissive of the question. “The long-term trend is that supplies will absolutely start to drop off,” he said. “That’s irreversible. They haven’t done that yet because there’s a recession going on, so there’s less demand right now.”

He said oil prices will probably be low for a bit yet. “I’m not even concerned about the next few months. The price of oil will probably be low for a while. It’s not going to spike and go up suddenly.

“What I’m concerned about is years.”

He referred to a video that he calls the clearest explanation of Peak Oil he’s ever seen. (He suggests watching the rest of Chapter 17 as well as Chapter 18, too.)

“What’s happening right now,” he said, “is giving us some time. The danger, though, is that people are possibly interpreting it as though we’re going into a recession and thinking we’ll come out of it eventually and oil prices will be fine.

“But that’s not the case. It’s not what’s happening today that’s important. What’s happening today does give us more time to prepare, though, if we don’t fritter it away.”

He stressed that as the world’s population gets larger and larger, the world’s resources are being used up. “We need to utilize the resources available to us here in Hawai‘i in a wise way, and maximize opportunities. We need to make opportunities.

“This is what drives me to advocate for the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) and its boon for education,” he said, “and to disagree with the banning of GMO taro and coffee. This is what makes me ask, ‘Why can’t we produce more geothermal energy?’”

The world has changed, he said, and we cannot keep on fighting yesterday’s battle. “Today, it is no longer about us; now it’s about future generations.”

“Our life style is funded by the net energy return on investment. How much energy does it take to get the energy we use? The difference between the two funds our lifestyles. Since it is taking much more energy to find energy, our lifestyle will soon start to diminish.”

He described bringing the Thirty-Meter Telescope here as locating a business here that generates millions of dollars in employment and educational benefits.

“As far as GMO taro and coffee is concerned,” he said, “there might not have been The Great Potato Famine  if there were GMO Irish potatoes at the time.”

“We need to do the things necessary to protect our culture and our environment and help each other to make it happen.

“When will we realize that we cannot accept ‘No can?” he asked.

“Not, ‘no can.’ ‘CAN!’”

Food Security, Peak Oil, Sustainability

Farmers Are In Trouble

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John Schilf, Foodland’s produce and meat buyer, visited the Kino‘ole Farmers Market on Saturday. He chatted with each vendor and told us all that Foodland is very interested in supporting local food producers. That gave farmers a big boost.

Of course, the economics need to work for both sides. The rumor going around the farmers market is that two large farmers on the Big Island, and a bunch of small farmers, are thinking of calling it quits. The reasons have to do with rising costs of fertilizer, supplies and transportation, coupled with slowing retail sales. Distributors are calling them up at the last minute saying, “Don’t ship tomorrow.” The farmer has sunk costs, and after a few of these calls they are asking, “Why am I doing this?”

On Friday, I received a press release from the Potash Corporation of America. Workers there just went on strike.

At Hamakua Springs, we are facing the exact same problems as the small farmers. I mentioned to John that we are working on getting a hydroelectric generator online soon, which will cut our $15,000/month electric bill to less than half that. We plan on cooling and consolidating Hamakua Coast farmers’ products and shipping together, so we can lower each others’ freight costs.

A writer from the magazine Conde Nast Traveler came to visit us today. I told her that I was the only person from Hawai‘i to attend the Peak Oil conference in Houston this past October, where I learned that the world oil supply has nearly hit its peak and will soon start to decline.

Because agriculture is so dependent on petroleum, we need to adjust to these new conditions and make ourselves self-sustaining. We need to ensure that our food supply is secure. This is why all farmers, big and small, on all islands, in high and low elevations and on the dry and wet sides of the island need to come together to help one another thrive.

The Hamakua Coast can be the breadbasket of this state. We have adequate sunshine, good soil and more than enough water (our rainfall exceeds 140 inches per year). But farmers are in trouble right now, and the state needs to step up to help farmers.

The state must let Hawai‘i’s people know that the world has changed and that we must learn to sustain ourselves. This is not a luxury. This is about survival.