Government

A Trip to the Farm

On Wednesday, members of the House of Representatives’s Finance Committee, whose chair is Marcus Oshiro, visited our farm. Representative Dwight Takamine escorted the committee members as they made a series of visits in the Hamakua District, working their way down the coast to Hilo. We had a lot of fun when they stopped at the farm.

I told the committee members that we are a three-generation family operation. My mom, Florence Ha, is 82 and still works at the farm part-time. June runs the office and is in charge of Human Resources. Our daughter Tracy is our special project and marketing person and her husband Kimo, is the Farm Manager. We are all very proud of our farm operation.

I told them that June and I are mainly in charge of R&D, and we have to travel all over the world researching tomatoes, bananas and melons. It’s a tough job.

We took the group to our tomato packing house, where I gave them a quick orientation to our philosophy, which is sustainable farming as it relates to our employees, our community and the environment.

As an example of what we mean by “sustainable farming” in terms of our workers, I told them we offer profit sharing; and that although we would like to be liked by everyone, what we can control is that we are always fair. Because of my Vietnam experience, where “leaving someone behind was not an option,” we particularly focus on and look out for the most defenseless of our workers.

I told them the history of our farm in Pepe‘ekeo. When C. Brewer put all its Hamakua lands up for sale a few years ago, we had to buy the 600 acres on which we were farming bananas or it would have been subdivided and sold from under us. We made an offer to purchase the land with a very small downpayment, and then would be required to come up with a huge balloon payment in four years.

I remember going in to talk to Willy Tallett, the C. Brewer land officer. I had to puff myself up and make “big body”—like, “Oh yeah, where do I sign?”

I came out weak-kneed and sweating. Oh my God, how was I going to convince June that we could come up with that huge balloon payment in four years?

Land prices at that time had been relatively stable for years. But just a couple years later, land prices jumped eightfold. We sold off parcels, refinanced and instantly became really smart. If people only knew.

We told the committee that we are always moving in order to be positioned for the future. Right now it’s about energy cost and labor. So we are choosing cropping systems and inventing things to help us in those areas.

We all jumped into Kimo’s and my pickup trucks, and June’s SUV, and we headed out to the fields. Some of the legislators rode in the back of the trucks. We farmers have great respect for people who are willing to jump in the truck and then go walking around to see the crops. The legislators were all animated and very interested in what we were showing them. They were all right in our book!

At the greenhouses, we explained to the committee that we take the essential aspects of greenhouse growing and then adapt it to our Hawaiian style. We do very careful measurements of the plants’ environments and make precise adjustments as necessary. (It was bright and sunny that day, for instance, and Photosynthetic Active Radiation—the accumulated part of sunlight that plants use—was 42 mols.)

 

I explained to them that the most important thing to us is “taste.” We grow what we like to eat, and we measure sweetness and make adjustments weekly.

We walked through the hot and humid germination houses, and our greenhouses filled with lettuce, watercress and green onions. I explained how we are working on integrating our hydroponics with aquaculture in such a way that we control the quality of the run-off water.

The legislators were very inquisitive and asked good, probing questions. Kimo, Tracy and I had our hands full fielding their questions. We really enjoy talking to people who are engaged, as they were.

As we went along, we pointed out how our next step is to use hydroelectric power to decouple ourselves from dependence on fossil fuel energy. And how we are going to use our excess electricity to do some cutting-edge things in Hawaiian agriculture.

Our caravan returned to the banana packing house, where Tracy had set up a small display of the things we grow. She set out different kinds of heirloom and grape tomatoes to sample, as well as cucumbers. The walking must have made our guests hungry, as they enjoyed quite a lot of the samples.

We took photos and talked story. By the end, we were all like good friends. It was a great visit.

Food and Drink, The Good Life, Tomatoes

Tomato Revelry

Melissa Clark has a delicious article in today’s New York Times about cooking with tomatoes. After I read it, I actually had to go in the kitchen and prepare a snack.

Her summary:

“After purchasing bags of summer tomatoes from the farmer’s market, I spent the next week in decadent tomato revelry. Here’s a chronicle of my grand tomato tour.”

My summary:

Ummm. Pan con tomate (trust me; it sounds great); baked stuffed tomatoes with goat cheese fondue; multicolored tomato tartlets; instant tomato-ricotta “soup” with capers; red and yellow cherry tomato confit; gazpacho with watermelon and avocado; and green tomato and lemon marmalade.

My conclusion:

Tomorrow I am going to make gazpacho with watermelon and avocado. Or maybe I’ll roast some tomatoes, which “condenses and caramelizes the juices, turning a juicy, salad-worthy fruit into syrupy tomato candy.”

Food and Drink, Health

Bright and Healthy

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This article is reason #87923829 to eat your vegetables.

It made me want to go and gnaw a bright, ruby red heirloom tomato right off the vine over at Hamakua Springs Country Farms. Here’s what the article is about:

Understanding the molecular structures of compounds that give certain fruits and vegetables their rich colors may help researchers find even more powerful cancer fighters, a new study suggests.

We might as well just ingest some of those rich colors straight up, don’t you think?

Remember, think “bright colors” next time you’re in the produce section.

Community

Chefs du Jour 2

Six of us from the farm flew to O‘ahu last week to participate in the Chefs du Jour, which is a fundraiser for Easter Seals.

It was held at the Aloha Tower Marketplace. Guests moved between stations, where some of Hawai‘i’s best chefs prepared special dishes for them to sample.

 

Some well-known Mainland chefs also flew in to participate in the event, which is in its fifth year. June chatted with Art Smith.

He told her that Oprah has the same heirloom tomatoes at her home that we had on display—Purple Cherokees and Striped Germans.

We farmers were invited because the chefs wanted to support Hawai‘i Seal of Quality farmers. We set up booths to display our products and talked to guests as they entered the event area.

The Easter Seals kids welcomed guests, gave them lei and escorted them to their seats.

Lieutenant Governor Duke Aiona is a very strong supporter of agriculture. He chatted with all the Seal of Quality producers.

Fifteen years ago, a group of chefs got together and changed the face of cuisine in Hawai‘i. I cannot help but feel that this group of chefs and farmers will similarly change the face of agriculture in Hawaii.

Big Island, Sustainability

Hawaii Whole System Project

Richard recently showed me a really interesting report called The Hawaii Whole System Project.

This 84-page report, prepared by the Rocky Mountain Institute, was sponsored by the Omidyar family.

To wander away from my subject for just a moment: I was curious as to why the Omidyar family is interested in Hawai‘i and put its money into this in-depth look at agriculture on the Big Island, so I poked around the web a little.

It turns out that eBay founder Pierre Omidyar has a connection to Hawai‘i—he attended Punahou School and was recently named to its Board of Trustees. A quick Google search finds an interesting interview with him from when he was inducted into the Academy of Achievement and also that the philanthropist is one of Newsweek’s 15 People Who Make America Great.

“Business can be a force for good,” he says in that article. “You can make the world a better place and make money at the same time.” It sounds a lot like our hero Richard Ha, doesn’t it?

(You wouldn’t believe how much energy I have to expend, getting Richard to allow me to say things like that about him on his blog.)

From the report itself:

The Hawaii Whole System Project is a research and action project conducted by Rocky Mountain Institute on behalf of the Omidyar family. The Omidyar Family is pleased to sponsor this project to promote innovative, long-term planning and local self-reliance.

With the underlying assumption that local food and agriculture can be good for a community (expanded upon below), the goal of the first phase of this project, the phase contained in this document, is to understand the agricultural system on the Island of Hawaii in order to:

I. Identify the reasons why locally produced food holds such a small market share (about 85 percent of locally consumed food is imported according to several sources),

II. Define the barriers to increasing local market share and strengthening agriculture,

III. Locate leverage points that, when targeted with time or investment, could have multiple positive effects on local food and agriculture, and

IV. Identify business or non-profit opportunities that could activate these leverage points.

In order to identify the barriers to more local production and consumption, Phase I of the project focused on mapping the Hawaiian agriculture and food system. The research for Phase I consisted of gathering and studying published academic and government documents and analyzing agriculture and local food statistics from diverse sources, as well as interviewing people from up and down the food and agriculture value chain, from farmer to consumer, in order to understand the whole system, how it interacts with other systems such as energy, and how to influence it.

In Phase II, based on this preliminary research, the RMI team will analyze the feasibility of the opportunities. Finally in Phase III, the RMI team will work with The Kohala Center and other partners to bring together potential entrepreneurs and investors, as well as other people who might have an interest in local food and agriculture in order to act on the research findings.

It’s coming at us from all sides now – this interest in Hawai‘i’s sustainability and food security; this certainty that Hawai‘i doesn’t HAVE to import what the Whole System Project says is now 85 percent of its food.

In October, Richard will speak on these subjects at a food summit conference called Hawai‘i Island Food Summit: Our Food, Our Community, Our Future. It will be held October 5th and 5th at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Hotel.

This two-day Summit will explore the visions, possibilities, ideas, and practical solutions to answering the question “How can Hawai’i Feed Itself?” We hope this conference will be a catalyst not only for changes in policy and practice at the island level, but a convening of the agricultural community to create a compelling vision for the future of food and farming across the state.

We’ll tell you more about all this as it comes up. You know we will.

Company News, Eating Locally, Food Security, Sustainability, Water

The Law of Survival

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As I’ve written before, I am increasingly worried about the fact that more than 70 percent of our food here in Hawai‘i is imported.

Recently, in the Hawai‘i Tribune-Herald, someone wrote that the Law of Comparative Advantage dictates that whenever we can purchase goods cheaper outside of Hawai‘i, we should. I majored in business, so I am aware of this law.

But first and foremost I am a survivor, and the Law of Survival is to “Always keep your options open.” And in order to keep our options open, we need to produce MORE food locally, not less.

The Law of Comparative Advantage is an intellectual exercise. The Law of Survival is, well, “the law of survival.”

And so this is our Law of Survival plan:

Hamakua Springs Country Farms is in the process of developing a hydroelectric plant. We will utilize water from a flume on our property, and then use that free electricity to replace that of the public utility. With our excess electricity, we plan to replace diesel- and gas motor-driven machinery with electric-driven vehicles. We also plan to use electric, motor-driven conveyors and other such labor-saving devices.

Then—by offering cheap electricity and cheap water, which we also have in absolute abundance—we are working on teaming up with farmers who specialize in products we do not.

We can offer technical expertise, in terms of disease and pest control, as well as technical and structural help in obtaining food safety certifications. And if these farmers meet our high standards, they can market their products with us under the Hamakua Springs brand.

In addition, we have a parcel of land on the highway where our farmer-partners will be able to sell their products in a farmers’ market-type setting.

We are actively working on these aspects of our “Law of Survival” in order to make our islands more sustainable in terms of food production.

In the State of Hawai‘i, what we need is for farmers to produce food on all islands at all elevations, both on the wet side of the island and the dry side. We need farmers to work together so that the whole is stronger than the sum of the parts.

We need to overcome the inertia of “it’s always been done this way.” And we need legislators to help us so we can act upon the Law of Survival, rather than intellectualize about the Law of Comparative Advantage.

Adopt-a-Class, Community

Affirmation

Last week I was invited by Kumu Lehua Veincent, principal of Keaukaha Elementary School, to have lunch at ‘Imiloa Cafe with 24 or so of his teachers. Kumu Lehua asked me, “Do you remember about two years ago when we first met to discuss the Thirty Meter Scope?” He said, “This is where that journey has brought us—here to ‘Imiloa.”

He introduced me to his staff as the person who helped organize excursions for the keiki at Keaukaha Elementary School. But it was not only me. It was also my friend Duane Kanuha, as well as others who saw an opportunity to help and just jumped in.

Kama‘aina Backroads recently taped an episode about Keaukaha Elementary School, which can be viewed here.

Although I was not expected to give a speech, I took the opportunity to tell the teachers that the occasion wasn’t about me. It was really about the teachers, largely unsung; they make the difference. I thanked them on behalf of the donors of the Adopt-a-Class project.

While sitting there, I overheard a conversation between Lehua and some district representatives from the Board of Education. Lehua told them that some people were in tears when they heard that Keaukaha Elementary School’s test scores had improved. And that if they improve sufficiently again this school year, they will be taken off the list of schools to be restructured under the federal “No Child Left Behind” program.

This is an extremely big, and emotional, deal! Keaukaha Elementary School had been underperforming for a long time, and people had started wondering if that was an inevitable and permanent state of things. This improvement in performance is an affirmation that the direction Kumu Lehua is leading is, indeed, the right way.

He has only been at Keaukaha Elementary a little more than two  years, and it’s since he arrived that things are starting to change.

Kumu Lehua believes in honoring the traditions and people who came before them in Keaukaha. Allowing the kids to be proud of who they are, and where they come from, gives them a firm base from which to move forward. From there, the sky is the limit.

We hope the Adopt-a-Class project will give the kids even more options and possibilities to contemplate. We doubled the contribution for the sixth grade class—the oldest students at the school—so they could go someplace a little bit special.

The Hawai‘i Island Economic Development Board has raised enough money to adopt at least one class. So now we just have two and a half classes left to adopt. At $600 per class, we need to raise just $1,500—and then every single class at Keaukaha Elementary School will be able to take an excursion each semester of this school year.

Next week we kick off the home stretch of our campaign by going on Big Island radio stations to talk about the Adopt-a-Class project.

Losing Weight

A Wide View

June and I cruised out to Waimea today for lunch at the house of our friend, the food writer Joan Namkoong. Joan has a new home on a hill in Waimea. It has ‘ohi‘a floors with koa all around. Just the right amount of koa—plenty, but not too much. The kitchen, which I’m sure Joan designed, is very open, efficient and functional yet elegant, as is the rest of the house.

June (not to be confused with Joan) oohed and aahed. She told me, “Remember when I asked you to make sure you design a window at the kitchen sink for our new house? That’s what I meant—a real window!”

I said, “Oh, you wanted a real view?”

Joan has a great, wide view from her kitchen sink. As well as all around the house. We were just so impressed with everything. And we had a great time. The food was unbelievable. There was roasted chicken with panzenella salad, a Greek salad made with Hamakua Springs grape tomatoes and Japanese cucumber, Wailea hearts of palm and feta cheese. Joan baked homemade bread.

Chef Eddie Goto of the Maunalani brought the chicken and panzanella, Joan cooked some of the meal, and some of the ladies brought desserts—a light and flaky lemon torte, chocolate chip cookies and bite-sized pecan pies.

The people were nice: The CEO of Parker Ranch Chris Kanazawa and his wife Mae; Executive Chef of the Maunalani Edwin Goto and his wife Dore Centeio; Lesley Hill and Mike Crowell of Wailea Ag Group, who were our down-the-street farmer neighbors  at Waiakea Uka for more than 20 years; retired Matson captain Norman Pi‘ianaia and his wife Nancy Pi‘ianaia, who is the leader of Slow Food Hawaii; and Pat and Doug Giles. Pat is the daughter of Monte Richards, of Kahua Ranch, who is one of my favorite people. He tells great Pidgin English jokes. We really enjoyed all the company.

As an aside, Norman’s dad, Abraham Pi‘ianaia, was my Hawaiian geography teacher at the UH when I attended back in the 60s. He taught me that being local had value. I really, really liked him and I respected him immensely. He was one of the people who made an impression on me as I passed through. I flunked out of school but I’m pretty sure I got a “B” in his class.

To top off the day, my workout was especially good today, too. My plan was to do my regular four-set workout alternating weights and aerobics. While accomplishing my regular workout, I also set out to do four sets of 30 crunches starting with no weights and adding 5 pounds for each successive set. On the last set, I wanted to do as many reps with 15 pounds behind my head as I could. I was prepared to do 15 or so, instead of the full 30.

By the middle of the second set, I had hit a heart rate of 130. I kept my heart rate around 135 for the 50-minute workout, slowing down a bit when my heart rate went into the 140s. I was saving my energy so I would not be exhausted by the time my last set of crunches came around.

I started the last set of 30 crunches with 15 pounds behind my head and without any unusual strain. I did 10, then 15, and then I realized I could probably do all thirty okay. When I hit 25, it was downhill all the way to 30—no strain no pain. It was great!

I’ll stay around here for the next couple of weeks before I try 20 pounds. No rush. All in all it was a great day!

Community, Seal of Quality

Chefs du Jour

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The sixth annual Chefs du Jour is a fundraiser for Easter Seals that will be held on August 11th at the Aloha Tower Marketplace in Honolulu. The event will be taped and shown on television as a one-hour special.

Last week we took a farm tour of Dean Okimoto’s farm in Waimanalo, on O‘ahu. The farm tour was taped too, and will also be a part of that television special.

Here’s Dean Okimoto’s Farm in Waimanalo. What a nice Hawaiian place.

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After our farm tour, the Easter Seals children in attendance got a special lunch featuring the “Seal of Quality dream burger.” This is Ryan Lum of the North Shore Cattle Company grilling burgers from the company’s beef. It’s very lean, grass-fed, hormone free, dry aged beef. Fabulous taste and good for you.

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Conrad Nonaka and Dean Okimoto with Easter Seals kids, trying different greens from Dean’s farm.

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This special burger was made entirely of Seal of Quality member products: North Shore Cattle Company’s dry aged, grass-fed beef, Hamakua Springs’s heirloom tomatoes, Dean’s Greens, mushrooms from Hamakua Mushrooms, and Wailea Ag Group’s heart of palm. Celebrity chefs and Seal of Quality farmers served the burgers to the children.

Representative Clifton Tsuji, chairman of the House of Representative’s Agriculture committee, told us his thoughts about sustainability. His background is as a senior bank executive, and he grew up where people raised their own vegetables. He knows how farmers have to grow their crops and pay their bills.

Hawaii Seal of Quality members’ products at Dean’s farm.

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Chef Hiroshi Fukui, Chef Roy Yamaguchi, me, Clifton Tsuji (House of Representatives Ag committee chairman), Chef Alan Wong.

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The serving line was made up of Chef Alan, Dean, me, Mike Crowell of Wailea Ag Group, Chef Hiroshi and Chef Roy.

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The Easter Seals kids got to tour the farm and then eat a great lunch served by world-famous chefs. We farmers were glad to be a part of this special event, which you can also read about here.

Community, Eating Locally

Waimea Foodland’s Island Market

This past Saturday June and I participated in an “Island Market” at Foodland Waimea. This is the third such event Foodland has sponsored recently. It’s the same as a farmers market in that the farmers that supply Foodland have their produce on display. Even though the regularly scheduled farmers market was right down the street, based on the volume of produce sold Foodland’s Island Market did very well.

There was a steady flow of customers from 8 a.m. until noon. We sold out most of what we brought and had to ask Jose, the produce manager, if we could get more product from the store’s stock.

The Dragonfruit lady attracted lots of attention. Dragonfruit is attractive to look at and delicious to eat.

We were at the next two tables. We had bananas, cucumbers, green onions, lettuce, cocktail, Hamakua sweets, and heirloom tomatoes on display. That’s Kelvin Shigemura, an executive at Armstrong Produce, lending a hand at our booth. June was further down, helping the chef putting out his tasty samples.

This next photo is of June preparing samples of Cherokee Purple heirloom tomatoes. People were eager to try these ugly, non-uniform, colorful and very tasty tomatoes, and asked a lot of questions. Some really liked the fact that the heirloom tomatoes are not uniform in appearance. We told them that heirloom tomatoes were developed more than 50 years ago, when people were more interested in good taste than in ease of shipping.

Chef Keoni, preparing pupu for the line of customers in front. Tiffany Tom, Foodland’s Produce Buyer, was making sure the farmers were supplied with food and drink. Again, Foodland made sure the farmers were well cared for.

Chef Kent made an heirloom sandwich. It was made up of heirloom tomato slices in place of bread, with grilled eggplant, basil, thick balsamic vinegar ($40 a bottle), olive oil, Hawaiian salt and white pepper. It was really good.

I would love to see the photos of the farmers, which were outside during the Island Market event, displayed inside the different Foodland stores. This would go a long way in showing customers how much of Foodland’s produce is supplied by local farmers.