Community, Government, Mauna Kea

What We Are For

Something interesting is starting to happen.

The Governor has been giving speeches using what happened here on the Big Island – residents turning out to support the Thirty Meter Telescope – as an example.

In a recent speech, Governor Lingle said:

“In our time it seems to be that people are real quick to tell you what they’re against and what they don’t want, but they don’t seem to be able to articulate a clear vision for what we do want. What are we for? And then put at least as much effort behind what we’re for as behind what we’re against.”

Lee Cataluna wrote yesterday, in her Honolulu Advertiser column, about that recent Lingle speech:

[Lingle] used the example of Hilo residents demonstrating in support of a new Thirty Meter Telescope. They held signs for what they wanted. “Picture this: The community coming out on the street, not for something they were against, but something they were for … They got the telescope. They’re building that bright future for the kids there on the Big Island.

We thought we’d rerun our post from June 15, 2009, to show what she’s talking about:

***

It was a coalition of folks from all sectors of the population that came to wave signs the other day.

Signs1
It’s about the keiki. Kumiko S. Usuda, Outreach Scientist (Astronomer) at the Subaru Telescope, and her children.

June & Dina
June Ha and Dina

Signs3
It’s not about us. It’s about future generations. This is Suzy Dill and her future generation.

Signs4
Pete Lindsey and the boys

Signs5
Waiakea High School Robotics club

Signs6
UH Hilo Astronomy/Physics Professor Marianne Takamiya and family

Signs7
left, Barbara Hastings, Outgoing President of the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce; center, Incoming President Mary Begier

It is not about us anymore. Now it is about the keiki and future
generations. It was very gratifying to see high school students, young kids, a hapai mom – the next generations.

The Labor Union and business folks were there, too. Jobs are about families and the here and now.

The Big Island Labor Alliance played an important role. The labor folks tell me that there are by far more Hawaiian workers on the bench now than all the people who testified on both sides of the issue at the Comprehensive Management Plan hearing recently. They wonder why their voices are not heard.

There were educators there, too, who think about the value of new learning.

It was uplifting to hear all the people blowing their horns in support. It was louder this time than last. All kinds of different sounds — especially raucous were the big rigs and their air horns!

Eating Locally, Government

Act 175, New Procurement Law

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The Honolulu Advertiser ran an article – Hawaii law may hurt farmers; Bid process could bring more outside competition – last week. It talks about Act 175, the new law that requires state agencies to gather competitive bids before buying food and other agricultural products.

Although there was a preference for local agricultural products in the previous law, the Hawaii Administrative Rules exempted local products from the law that required open competition, transparency of government purchasing practices, and additional preferences such as small business ones.

The state could have chosen to give preference to local produce with this new law; they just chose not to.

From the Advertiser article:

While the intent of the law is to support local growers, not all officials are convinced that will be the effect….Competitive procurement is expected to draw more Mainland competition, even with the 15 percent advantage given to local growers.

Farmers are incredulous. Prior to enactment of Act 175, state agencies purchased very little from local farmers. What’s to lose?

“If … it becomes a competitive process, we’re not sure exactly what the effect would be – whether it would be positive or negative, because nobody has any experience with that,” said state Agriculture Director Sandra Lee Kunimoto. “But the farm bureau and the farmers felt it was worth trying to see if it would increase the purchase of local goods.”

State Procurement Office Administrator Aaron Fujioka agreed. “It didn’t have to be competed, and it could be all purchased local from local companies locally grown,” Fujioka said. “The prior exemptions allowed agencies, if they chose, to purchase only from local companies and locally grown fresh produce and meats. They could have done that. Now that choice is no longer available. It has to go through a formal, more structured process.”

State agencies could have chosen to buy local produce, but they all chose not to. Out of 650 Big Island Farm Bureau members, I know of only one who sells to state agencies – and she has to go through a third party. Hawai‘i farmers know it is impossible to get produce into the schools and other state agencies.

We farmers welcome a formal, more structured process. But this time we want to help structure that process.

According to the state Procurement Office, state agencies purchased $6.63 million of fresh meat and produce from November 2005 through January 2009. The average award was about $7,400. The top three suppliers during that period in terms of dollar volume of sales were Love’s Bakery ($907,813), Meadow Gold Dairies ($511,295) and Mikilua Poultry Farm ($500,000). The top three suppliers in terms of number of awards were: Ham Produce (162), Hilo Products (133) and Armstrong Local Produce (132).

Procurement Office data suggest that most fresh food and produce purchased by state agencies came from local wholesalers and retailers. What isn’t clear is whether those local firms acquired their produce from local farms.

That is exactly the problem. It’s as if the state procurement office is saying: “Since we are buying from a local wholesaler, it must be local produce.” Farmers just shake their heads and go back to farming.

Farmers have known for years that the system is broken. There is no data to show how much of the state procurement is locally grown foods. How would the state know if their policy of “supporting local” is working?

The state says, “We support local farmers.” Farmers think, “It’s not what you say; it’s what you do.”

Farmers shake their heads. We know that the more fresh vegetables we import, the more inspectors we need and the higher the risk of invasive species.  We have more endangered species here in Hawai‘i than in the whole rest of the United States.

“The Big Island farm bureau polled their members, and they’ve got 650 members – and they only had one producer selling on a regular basis to the state and one who shipped their first shipment this year,” Connally said. “Their sense was their products were not going into the state facilities.

“If the farmers see that there’s a steady market available, then they can produce for that market.”

It’s what I keep saying: “If the farmers make money, the farmers will farm.”

Food security; the dangers of exporting our economy because of rising oil prices; protecting our endangered species – when we are truly supporting local farmers, we are addressing all of these concerns.

The world has changed and we no longer have the luxury of bumbling along. For the sake of future generations, we need to get serious.

Farmers understand this very clearly. This is not rocket science.

Farmers who are interested in helping push implementation forward can contact their legislators, the governor’s office and the state procurement office.

It may not be in the farmer’s nature to be vocal, but we need to make some noise.

Renewable Energy Sources

Extra! Extra!

A letter of understanding was published yesterday. It was signed by most of the world’s major auto makers — Daimler, Ford, GM/Opel, Honda, Hyundai/KIA, the Alliance Renault/Nissan, Toyota — and encourages governments to develop a uniform hydrogen transportation infrastructure by 2015.

From the letter:

…In order to ensure a successful market introduction of fuel cell vehicles, this market introduction has to be aligned with the build-up of the necessary hydrogen infrastructure. Therefore a hydrogen infrastructure network with sufficient density is required by 2015. The network should be built-up from metropolitan areas via corridors into area-wide coverage….

Let’s get on board!

Most people know that hydrogen is feasible using renewable, stranded power. It does not work when the power comes from fossil fuels.

Geothermal works! It can power up electricity as well as support a hydrogen transportation system.

Biofuel, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

Following In The Footsteps of Easter Island?

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If we keep chasing after oil as the price keeps rising – if we keep at it long enough – we will end up like Easter Island, unable to sustain ourselves.

I have been asked to be a board member of the Hawaii Biofuel Foundation, a HECO nonprofit that is tasked with exploring biodiesel production for Hawai’i. We are trying to determine if biofuels will work here in Hawai’i.

From the Wall Street Journal:

US Biofuels Boom Running on Empty

BY ANN DAVIS AND RUSSELL GOLD

The biofuels revolution, which promised to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil, is fizzling out.
       
Two-thirds of U.S. biodiesel production capacity now sits unused, reports the National Biodiesel Board. Biodiesel, a crucial part of government efforts to develop alternative fuels for trucks and factories, has been hit hard by the recession and falling oil prices.
       
The global credit crisis, a glut of capacity, lower oil prices and delayed government rules changes on fuel mixes are threatening the viability of two of the three main biofuel sectors – biodiesel and next-generation fuels derived from feedstocks other than food.

Biofuel production is farming and it requires farmers. As we all know – “If the farmer makes money, the farmer will farm.”

As a board member, I will tell the rest of the board that when oil is $200 per barrel, that’s the same as 70 cents per pound liquid. It would likely take at least 4 pounds of stuff to squeeze out one pound of liquid. It does not matter if it’s mac nuts, kukui nuts, jatropha or palm nuts. If that’s the case, a farmer can expect to get no more than 18 cents per pound for his or her crop. No sense. Lose money. Better to grow cucumber or eggplant.

And since the input cost to grow, squeeze and transport the stuff is all oil-related, the price the farmer needs to get also rises as oil price rise. It’s kind of like chasing the mechanical rabbit at the dog race track. The dogs never catch the rabbit.

One way of evaluating an energy source is by analyzing the Energy Return On Investment (EROI). In the 1930s, the EROI ratio for a barrel of oil was 100 to 1, meaning it took one barrel of oil to get 100 barrels. In the 1970s, it  dropped to 30 to 1. A few years ago it was only about 10 to 1.

Professor Charles A. S. Hall, of State University of New York, is the leading expert on EROI analysis. He estimates that the minimum EROI needed to maintain a sustainable society is 3 to 1.

Experts say that biodiesel production is less than 2 to 1. The excess energy that results is not enough to maintain a functioning society.

On the other hand, the EROI for geothermal energy must be higher than 10 to 1. And it will not decline in the near future.

We are incredibly lucky to have this resource here on the Big Island. In addition to its energy-producing potential, it can be a valuable resource for the betterment of the native Hawaiian community. Sited on Hawaiian Homes or OHA lands, the benefits of rents and royalties go to the Hawaiian people.

Film, Renewable Energy Sources, Sustainability

Richard in Documentary Film at Palace Theater Sat. & Sun.

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When I called photojournalist Catherine Bauknight to talk about her new documentary Hawaii A Voice for Sovereignty, she was sitting in her Pasadena home where she could see the flames of
California’s Station Fire burn the closest ridge of the mountains a
mere couple miles away.

She tells a very different story of the land in her Hawai‘i-based documentary, which plays at Hilo’s Palace Theater tomorrow (Saturday, September 5, 2009) at 7 p.m., and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

Richard was interviewed for and appears in the movie. He told me he was going to go look for his plastic nose and bushy eyebrows so he could go see the movie this weekend but stay anonymous. I’d love to see that.

From Catherine Bauknight’s website:

Hawaii A Voice for Sovereignty, is a documentary about the native Hawaiian’s journey to sustain their culture, spirituality, and connection to the land. This modern epic documentary, filmed over four years, contains rare interviews with Native Hawaiians in their homes, at sacred sites, in mountains and the rain forests. Along with the voices of these “people of the land”, Professor Haunani-Kay Trask, Senator J. Kalani English, Grammy nominee Willie K and other Hawaiian leaders, take us into rarely seen ancient lifestyles where spirituality, culture, and care for the land form a sacred bond between humankind and the natural
world. They reveal their quest to secure their Hawaiian rights as the host  culture, and their economic, social, and ecological future. By bridging their ancient knowledge with modern technologies such as wind, solar, and wave renewable energy and agricultural land systems they move towards their goal of sustainability.

Here’s the film’s trailer.

Catherine is a seasoned photojournalist whose work has appeared in Time, Newsweek and People magazines, as well as in the New York Times, USA Today and Rolling Stone. She was one of five international journalists who covered the Tiananmen Square massacre.

She says Hawai‘i was someplace she came to relax, but after awhile she started looking around. “I started trying to figure out why the Hawaiians weren’t visible in their own environment,” she says, “and that led to this four-year documentary.”

She says she started asking questions and went from person to person getting recommendations on people to speak with who were knowledgeable about the Hawaiian culture. “They all told me, You cannot discuss the culture without discussing the relationship between the land and the people and the spiritualism and the sovereignty we are seeking.”

She also kept hearing about the need for Hawaiians to have their land and live sustainable lives, and then she heard about Richard.

“I asked Woody Vaspra, who is part of the Sundance ceremonies, if he knew of anyone who was living off the land and making a living off it and also including the Hawaiian people,” she says. “He suggested Richard, and when I spoke to Richard I realized he was exactly what I was looking for – that he is going back to the land and working on becoming sustainable, and also working toward using renewable resources. It was perfect.”

(“I have no idea how we fit into the story line,” says Richard. “I just gave my standard explanation of what we do at the farm.”)

Catherine calls the film an “oral history of Native Hawaiians.”

“These are the kupunas, the scholars, people who are grassroots,” she says. “It’s a combination of Hawaiians from all walks of life, and one of the most interesting things is that their message is the same. No matter what their background, from the most grassroots to the most highly educated. The message about the Hawaiian future, the land and spirituality is the same.

“And it’s the story of the Hawaiian people all the way back to the takeover,” she says, “in their own voice – but not presented with anger, it’s presented as facts. And it leads up to the renaissance of the Hawaiian people with hope and unity.”

She says they’ve sent information to the schools here and she especially hopes people will bring kids to see this story. “I’ve been told that children as young as 7 years old have sat down and watched this film from beginning to end, and it’s 84 minutes.”

It sounds like, in addition to the oral histories by native Hawaiians, there’s a lot to catch a child’s attention. “There’s hula,” she says, “and an ancient, very spiritual style of drumming and nose flute by Willie K. He doesn’t really do that publicly, but he did it in the rainforest especially for this film. He also does this amazing live rendition of ‘Spirits in the Wind.’”

Other musicians appear in the documentary, such as Lono from Molokai, George Kahomoku, Cyril Pahinui, Richard Ho‘opi‘i and
Makana. Catherine says the film’s soundtrack will be available on CD in a couple weeks. Watch for information about that in about a week at her website.

On Wednesday the film became eligible to be nominated for an Academy Award, and so it will open at the Coliseum Cinemas in Manhattan on September 15th, and the Laemmle Theater in Hollywood on September 23rd.

And then the film will travel and screen across the Pacific islands, following the route early Polynesians took on their voyage to become Hawaiians until it gets back to New Zealand.

Now Catherine says she is looking for business sponsors, who will have their logo on the film “from now until eternity.” She says there is just a little more than a week left to sign up sponsors, and interested parties can contact her here.

Palace Theater Tickets are $7 general, $6 for seniors and students, and $5 for Friends of the Palace. Call 934-7010 for more information.

Peak Oil, Sustainability

Families of Farms: An Introduction

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I wrote in a recent post about how much I admired Uncle Sonny’s ability to grow great watermelons in a very effective and efficient way. Over the years, I have noticed that this is a characteristic I see all the time in small farmers’ operations.

So how are we going to supply food for Hawaii’s people, in the variety that the community will need, so they won’t need to travel so often? And on the community scale, how will we have enough variety to feed the community around us?

This is how the concept of “Families of Farms” came to me. I asked myself, What happens if we lease lands and hydroponic houses to area farmers?

Our idea is that we would each bring certain resources to make the whole more than the sum of the parts. We believe that this will help each of us make more money together than if we operated independently. So it’s in all of our interests to stay together.

•    We would get effective and efficient farmers working with us. Small farmers do not waste anything. And we would get more production than what we could do ourselves
•    We would get more variety than we could do ourselves
•    We would get more young farmers into farming
•    We would bring the water and electricity resource that we have
•    We would bring our technical expertise
•    We would bring our marketing and distribution system
•    We would bring our cooling facilities

We will need to adapt to a new normal. Necessity is the mother of invention.

When oil spiked to $147 per barrel last July, the world changed.  It was such a shock that it threw the world economy into a tailspin. The financial system unwind was probably triggered by this event.

Until then, we had assumed that “big volume” was better and “market share” was everything. But when the oil price spiked, so did everything to do with agriculture. Fertilizer, chemicals, cooling, transportation and packaging – all of these things rose in price with oil.

But our selling price could not go up, because people’s incomes shrank as they paid more for gas, water, electricity as well as other oil-related components.

Knowing that oil is a finite resource and that the world’s population is growing at the rate of 70 million per year, it is clear that oil prices will eventually go up again, and probably higher than before. So we asked ourselves: What will the world look like in five and 10 years, and where do we want to be in that world?

In 10 years we expect that oil prices will spike higher than $147, but that time when it throws us into recession, the oil prices will probably not drop back to this cycle’s low prices.

And we do not expect that HELCO will have reacted to protect us from rising electric and fresh drinking water prices by putting more geothermal on line. We expect that people will try to save money by driving less. So there will be a new normal to adapt to.

Coming soon: Some of the ideas we are working on.

Eating Locally

Why Local Produce Costs More Than Imported Produce

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In response to a recent Ha Ha Ha! post, Kini asked the question:

Why does the price of produce grown here in Hawai’i continue to be more expensive than produce shipped in from the mainland?

It’s an excellent question, and there are several parts to the answer.

1) One reason, not easily seen, is the over-enthusiastic State policy of facilitating commerce. The Department of Agriculture is required to help mainland and foreign retailers keep their imported produce moving.

Our Department of Agriculture inspectors are instructed to help “clean up” imported produce so it can be moved quickly to retail and thereby facilitate commerce.

If our products do not pass inspection in California, on the other hand, we Hawai‘i farmers pay to have them hauled away for incineration.  We do not dare to ask the California Department of Ag to help “clean up” our products. We worry that they might just ban all products from Hawai‘i.

Some retailers sending produce from outside Hawai‘i expect Department of Agriculture inspectors to routinely drive to individual supermarkets in order to inspect newly arrived air and sea containers of produce. This almost requires Department of Agriculture inspectors to be on call, and there is a cost associated with that process. Why should we taxpayers pay? The effect of this “hat in hat” approach to facilitating imported commerce is that the cost of imported produce appears to be lower than local produce. It sends the wrong message to our local farmers.

Maybe the mainland retailers could pay, into a special fund, the amount necessary to ensure the inspections get done. If that cost was picked up by the importing retailer, then they would mark up the price of their imported produce. The true price of importing produce would be apparent, and local farmers would become more competitive.

I have said it before: “If the farmer makes money, the farmer will farm.” The over-enthusiastic interpretation of the idea of “facilitation of commerce” serves to discourage farmers here from farming.

Several years ago we supplied the company Harry and David, in Oregon, with apple bananas. This required Federal inspectors on site, and we were charged for the inspectors’ time and travel. We built that cost into the cost of our product.

It seems like that “pay as you go” system works fine for the Federal government. Maybe it can also work for the inspection of incoming products?

2) Another problem is that most of our Hawai‘i farms are small – less than 25 acres. Smaller farms cannot make ends meet without charging higher prices. Also, they do not have the production capability to help their customers stay efficient and competitive. Higher land prices play into the above.

3) Hawai‘i depends on fossil fuel for 78 percent of the generation of its electricity, whereas the U.S. mainland uses oil for only three percent of its electricity generation. This is significant because produce is commonly refrigerated in order to maintain freshness and quality. Oil prices have been rising lately and so Hawai‘i farmers are spending more for refrigeration; or else they are gambling that the decline in quality that results from not cooling will be okay.

This is why we put forth so much effort in passing legislation that will give farmers preference when renewable energy incentives are initiated. It’s about food security. And it’s about sending the right signals to farmers.

In our “families of farms” model, we try to address these issues in a way that acknowledges and builds on the strength of each participant. I’m going to write about our “families of farms” soon.

Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources

The EROI for Geothermal

Here is another good take on EROI (Energy Return On Energy Invested). This video is very interesting and enlightening.

EROI equals the energy it takes to get that energy. That net energy that results, less the energy it takes to produce food, equals our lifestyle.

I wrote the other day that in the 1930s, the EROI (the amount of oil it took to extract more oil) was 100 to 1; it took one barrel of oil to get 100 barrels. A few years ago it was 10-15 to 1. This number is steadily declining because oil is increasingly becoming more difficult to obtain.

When it gets to 1 to 1 there is no sense in continuing. Some folks estimate that in 30 years, most exporting countries will no longer be exporting oil. Maybe we should plan now for the worse.

We don’t need to be engineers to know that the EROI for geothermal is high and that it will stay high. And it will be stable for as long as we can possibly imagine. The odds are much better that oil will become unaffordable much sooner (in less than 30 years) than lava will run over the geothermal wells.

We have an obligation to move toward geothermal now. What will our grandkids and their kids think of us if we don’t?

It is in the best interest of the stockholder that the utility switch to geothermal, too. As all types of oil prices rise, there will be a point of no return when individual alternate energy will be cheaper than oil. When that happens, the electric company’s customers will leave in droves. And they might not have the capital to recover.

The utility customers need a stabilizing force for electricity generation. So it is in the best interest of all of us that the utility protects us from high oil prices.

Education, Mauna Kea, Schools

Thank You, Senator Inouye

I was asked to say a few words last week when Mayor Billy Kenoi invited Senator Daniel Inouye and some folks to a get-together at ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center.

Senator Inouye said a few words and told how his mom was hanaied by a Hawaiian family when both her parents died when she was only four years old. She never forgot, and before she passed away she asked Senator Inouye to promise to repay their kindness.

The senator explained it’s why he has had a special place in his heart for the Hawaiian people all these years.

This is the speech I gave:

Thanks to Mayor Billy Kenoi for bringing us together and thanks to Senator Inouye who had the foresight to envision ‘Imiloa, this great facility that now brings the Hawaiian culture and science together.

I want to tell a story about a small 11-year-old kid who lived down the beach at Maku‘u during World War II. That was before Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivisions and before Hawaiian Beaches. To get to Pahoa, the main town, one had to walk or ride a horse.

Planes would fly from Hilo and do target practice on Moku ‘Opihi, a small island about a mile further down the coast from the family house. The pilots knew that the small kid would jump up and down and wave at the planes. Some turned their planes sideways, smiled and waved at the kid and others would buzz the house and waggle their wings.

The small kid decided right there that he was going to become an airplane pilot. He did not know how—just that he would.

That small kid came from a very poor family. No one had gone to college. But he went to Pahoa High School and played basketball. His coach, a new teacher from Texas, helped him get a scholarship to UH Manoa.

He went and since there was an Air Force Reserve Officer Training Course (ROTC) program there, he joined.

When he graduated he applied for flight school. The next thing he knew he was in Arizona, learning to fly airplanes.

He spent 20 years in the Air Force, flying KC135 refueling tankers. Later, he became the airport manager of Hilo and Kona airports and held that job for 17 years.

Senator, you may know Frank Kamahele. He is my dad’s first cousin. I just talked to him the other day and he said that he was the luckiest person in the whole world. A Hawaiian jet plane pilot and airport manager who went to Pahoa High School. He does not know why he was so lucky. He could just as easily have become a cut cane man. He told me he had been pretty good at that.

And that brings me back to ‘Imiloa and the Moores. The Moores are a large funder of the Thirty Meter Telescope. They set up a program for all the kids on the Big Island to visit ‘Imiloa.

Ka‘iu Kimura, ‘Imiloa’s assistant director and one of our up and coming Hawaiian leaders, tells me that 10,000 students have already passed through and another 10,000 are coming. Just imagine how many Frank Kamaheles there are among them!

That is what ‘Imiloa represents, and thank you, Senator Inouye for the vision and the execution.

About three years ago the TMT folks expressed interest in siting their telescope on Mauna Kea. After a year went by, folks were pretty much resigned to the fact that they were going to Chile.

I went to a Comprehensive Management Plan meeting and there were about 35 people in the room. Fifteen were against the project, one was for it and the rest were just interested bystanders.

But then things turned around. At the recent draft EIS hearing, which was the most contentious of the six hearings, 15 people spoke against it, 15 people spoke for it and there were 175 silent majority folks in the room. This was a huge turn around.

What happened?

The most important thing that happened was that Henry Yang, president of the TMT board, was a person we all could trust. He listened. And he did things local style. He came in more than 15 times, visited folks again and again and built up relationships. He went to Keaukaha four times and by the last time he was just Henry.

The second thing was that we were able to build up this coalition of all the folks you see here today. We talked story in the community a lot, and over and over we heard from Patrick Kahawaiola‘a, President of the Keaukaha Community Association, that the most important thing was “the process.”

And as we thought about this, we realized that if the process is most important, then all contributors to the process, no matter what side of the issue they are on, made for a better product. And so we always need to aloha the loud voices, too, who early on told us that things were not quite right. It was about us. All of us. Not me against you.

So when we had our first sign waving in support of the TMT, nearly 150 people showed up. We told everyone that we were meeting to celebrate the process and told them to bring their kids, and they did. It was very significant.

From there, whenever we went to hearings people felt like they were all on the same side, it was more like “I feel your pain.” We all felt like we were contributing to a better Hawai‘i.

The Thirty Meter Telescope board has committed to contributing $1 million annually to an education fund to be administered by the community, if the telescope is built on Mauna Kea. The funding starts when construction permits are issued. Including the nine years of construction time, it will total $58 million of education funds for Big Island keiki.

The Hawaii Island Economic Development Board has been working on the governance of this fund for nearly a year. We envision that the THINK (The Hawai‘i Island New Knowledge) fund will inspire and support the many Frank Kamaheles out there.

We will have done a good job if we post the pictures of all the folks on the governance board and everyone on the Big Island walks by and nods their approval.

Thank you, Mayor Kenoi, for bringing us all together. And thank you, Senator Inouye, for having the wisdom and foresight to build ‘Imiloa – this wonderful astronomy museum that blends the Hawaiian culture with astronomy.

Food Security, Peak Oil, Renewable Energy Sources, Sustainability

Changing World, Changing Farm

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When I used to go visit Uncle Sonny at Maku‘u, I was just starting to farm bananas. My goal was to capture a sizeable amount of market share. I was thinking hundreds of acres, while Uncle Sonny was farming just a few acres.

It was very interesting for me to see how he produced his exceptional-quality watermelons, which were consistently sweet. It took tender loving care, very close observation, quick appropriate reaction and good old common sense.

Although Uncle Sonny had a fresh water spring on his property, and 10 acres of deep soil, he chose to operate with the bare minimum of inputs. Instead of setting up an irrigation infrastructure around a water pump, he decided that if there was a drought he’d haul water for irrigation. I couldn’t disagree; after all, he was sending money back to the Philippines every month to support a family there. Operating at that scale worked for him.

If a farmer makes money, a farmer will farm. Uncle Sonny farmed at the scale appropriate for him and it worked.

His yard was immaculate. He kept it mowed a good distance down the beach. It wasn’t only work for him; a large part of it was quality of life.

What I took away from visiting Uncle Sonny was a keen respect for small farmers. It is not about the size of your farm—it’s about quality and performance. Uncle Sonny helped me develop a good eye for that.

Our farm, Kea‘au Bananas, went on to become the largest banana farm in the state at 300 acres. About 15 years ago, we moved to Pepe‘ekeo in order to diversify geographically and also to protect against a banana virus. To diversify our production, we transitioned into hydroponic farming.

It was because of water resources that we chose Pepe‘ekeo. There are three springs and three streams at our Pepe‘ekeo farm. We have so much water that we’re now developing a 100KW hydroelectric system.

In order to refocus our marketing, we changed our name and became Hamakua Springs Country Farms. We supply Chef Alan Wong with various hydroponic products. As a result, the Hamakua Springs brand has become known for its good-quality hydroponic vegetables.

In the last five years we have been noticing an escalation in farm input cost while at the same time there has been a squeeze on customers’ discretionary income. We anticipate a future of steadily declining oil supplies; consequently, input costs will escalate and discretionary income will further decline.

Last summer, when oil hit $147, I was convinced that the world had changed forever. Business as usual was not going to work in this new world. How would we adapt? How could we change and still produce significant tonnage to feed Hawai‘i’s people?

I kept asking myself – how could we put the skills and resources of the small farmer together with the resources we have, so that the whole becomes more than the sum of its parts? And in such a way that this organization will be relevant for the future? And could we make this fun, as well as productive?

(To be continued. Coming soon: “The Family of Farms.”)