Yesterday at the farm I had a meeting with all our workers. It was an update on where we have been and where we are going.
Where we’ve been
The price of oil has quadrupled in the last 10 years, and those who could pass on the cost did. Those who could not pass on the cost ended up paying more. Farmers are price takers, not price makers, so farmers’ costs increased more than their prices.
Anticipating higher electricity prices, we lobbied for and passed a law that the Department of Agriculture create a new farm loan program that farmers could use for renewable energy purposes. Then we started to design a hydroelectricity program to stabilize our electricity costs.
Where we are today
The hydroelectricity project is within weeks of completion. With the combination of a farm loan and a grant from the Department of Energy, we will stabilize our electricity price at 40 percent less than we pay today.
The pipe that transports the water appears to me like it will last for more than 100 years. After the loan is paid off, our electricity will be practically free for more than 60 years.
Where we are going
We are taking advantage of our resources – free water and stable electricity costs – by working with area farmers to help each other grow more food.
What kind of food? Responding to consumer demand, we want to
produce food with a wide variety of nutritional content, including protein, via aquaculture.
In order to be sustainable, the feed-based protein must be vegetation-based. And since the building block of protein is nitrogen, we are looking for an adequate nitrogen source. Unused, wasted electricity can be used to make ammonia, which is a nitrogen fertilizer and, like a battery, can be used to store energy.
What does the future
look like?
Other than stable electricity, which would help us, our serious
concern is the anti-GMO Bill 79. It seeks to ban any new biotech solutions to farmers’ problems on the Big Island. The result is that the rest of the counties and the nation would be able to use new tools for more successful farming, and the Big Island would not.
What would happen is that Big Island farmers would become
less competitive, which would put even more pressure on those already at the bottom of the pay scale. It would result in higher food costs, making consumers less able to support local farmers.
The folks pushing for the anti-GMO bill have not talked to farmers, and they have no clue that this bill would make Hawai‘i less food
secure. The bottom line is that food security involves farmers farming. If the farmers make money, the farmers will farm. If not, they will quit.
Did you see the letter to the editor from the Monsanto spokesman, Alan Takemoto, in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald last month? He testified to the fact that the reason Monsanto is not on the Big Island is that this island does not have the combination of factors they need, like deep soil, plenty of sunshine, irrigation and flat lands. It’s a practical thing. He wrote that they do not own land or even lease land here.
The Aina Koa Pono biofuel project proves this point. The Ka‘u bio fuel project, which plans to grow crops to make biofuel, needs a huge subsidy or it won’t work. They are even trying to hide the fact that we the people will pay $200/barrel for the biofuel.
The real problem is this: In a world of finite resources, how are we going to provide our people with affordable food? For this, we need, simply, farmers farming. All kinds of farmers need to contribute. And farmers need to make money so they will keep farming.
Let’s regroup, form a task force of knowledgeable stakeholders, and work toward this goal.
ATLANTA — If you’re 65 and living in Hawaii, here’s some good news: Odds are you’ll live another 21 years. And for all but five of those years, you’ll likely be in pretty good health.
Hawaii tops the charts in the government’s first state-by-state look at how long Americans age 65 can expect to live, on average, and how many of those remaining years will be healthy ones. Read the rest
This is one powerful reason why we should not rush into passing Bill 79, the anti-GMO bill.
We need to plan for our future generations. The first requirement for food security is figuring out how we are going to provide affordable food for Hawai‘i's families, especially kupuna on fixed incomes and single moms.
The farmers need to be at the table. How do we enable farmers to farm? If the farmers make money, the farmers will farm. So far, the originators of this bill have not had a conversation with the farmers who grow most of the food.
We need our leaders to take charge and LEAD!
My letter to the editor on this same subject just ran in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald:
Dear Editor,
Bill 79, the anti-GMO bill, has brought out a lot of concern
and a lot of anxiety.
I say that we need to slow down. It would be premature to
rush into a decision on this bill without taking the time to hear everybody’s
input and address all the issues on the table.
Before we make big decisions – any of which could have
unintended consequences – we should set up some sort of task force to look at
the bigger picture of Hawai‘i’s self-sufficiency, and how we are going to
achieve that.
How are we going to get there, all of us together? We need
to end up at a place where we aloha each other, and take care of everybody.
Let’s not rush to pass this bill without fully understanding
the bigger picture.
Genetically engineered food? Is it safe? Should it be labeled?
Mark Lynas was one of the original founders of the anti-GMO movement. In this video, he explains that he has totally changed his mind about GMOs, his original position was not scientifically based, and he now completely regrets it.
“I want to start with some apologies….For the record, here and upfront, I want to apologize for having spent several years ripping up GMO crops. I'm also sorry I helped start the anti-GM movement back in the '90s, and that I thereby assisted in demonizing an important technological option that can and should be used to benefit the environment.
“As an environmentalist, and someone who believes that everyone in this world has a right to a healthy and nutritious diet of their choosing, I could not have chosen a more counterproductive path and I now regret it completely….”
The video is called "Mark Lynas on his conversion to supporting GMOs – Oxford Lecture on Farming. Watch it here to learn why he changed his mind. (In short, he says he "discovered science.")
“Conclusions. Despite strong consumer interest in mandatory labeling of bioengineered foods, the FDA’s science-based labeling policies do not support special labeling without evidence of material differences between bioengineered foods and their traditional counterparts. The Council supports this science-based approach, and believes that thorough pre-market safety assessment and the FDA’s requirement that any material difference between bioengineered foods and their traditional counterparts be disclosed in labeling, are effective in ensuring the safety of bioengineered food.
To better characterize the potential harms of bioengineered foods, the Council believes that pre-market safety assessment should shift from a voluntary notification process to a mandatory requirement. The Council notes that consumers wishing to choose foods without bioengineered ingredients may do so by purchasing those that are labeled “USDA Organic.”
But organic farmers have high operating costs, and therefore organic foods are generally more expensive. How can we help organic farmers?
One way is to increase the discretionary income of organic customers. Geothermal-produced electricity puts money back in consumers’ pockets. Everyone benefits.
The large biotech companies aren’t going to come and plant and grow on the Big Island. Half our island is lava rock, and we don’t have long straightaways where you can set up irrigation. Lose money!
Why do you think the sugar plantations used "tracked” equipment to work the fields? So they wouldn't flip over, or get stuck in the mud.
Big tractors that are used in Big Ag make money on the straightaways, and they lose money on the turns. We don’t have the straightaways, and so we don't have that type of Big Ag here – and we won’t.
Banning University of Hawai‘i field trials on the Big Island only hurts regular farmers.
Kaua‘i is having discussions about large corporate seed companies, GMOs, fear about the safety of our food supply, etc. It’s very similar to the discussions we are having on the Big Island.
Jerry is president of the Kaua‘i County Farm Bureau and a good
friend of mine. I’ve known him, as a fellow banana farmer, for more than 30 years.
I listened to the anti-GMO testimony at the Hawai‘i County Council a few days ago. It is very apparent that most of the animosity was directed at the large seed companies, particularly Monsanto. In the heated discussion, small farmers and their families, including their small children, were getting caught in the crossfire.
We all need to take a deep breath and think about what we are trying to accomplish. I think that the goal should be to move the Big Island toward food self-sufficiency. For this, we need all our farmers. We must try to help all farmers make money. We must not cannibalize from one group to benefit another group.
One huge piece missing from this discussion is the part that finite resources play in this discussion. We do have indigenous resources that could give Hawai‘i a competitive advantage to the rest of the world. We have curtailed throwaway electricity, which could help us all. But we need to have a strategic vision of where we want to go.
Right now, the Council is stumbling from amendment to amendment. It is responding to fear. There is no strategic direction to what we are trying to do.
Our political leaders need to be responsible and lead!
Nancy Redfeather is an organic farmer and good friend of mine. She heads the School Garden Network and is a perfect example of someone who walks the talk.
We know ancient Hawaiians grew their food primarily around the valley/plains where nutrients were funneled down from the uplands. Some examples are Waipi‘o Valley, lots of places on Kaua‘i and Waikiki. Then they did field systems like upslope ones in Kona and Kohala.
As a farmer myself, I know this took a lot of planning and effort. Upslope farming is not easy at all.
I think the ancient Hawaiians would understand and greatly admire what Nancy folks have done!
By Nancy Redfeather
I have been a home gardener for 40 years, and my husband Gerry, too. We love growing food, herbs, flowers and medicines, and working with the soil. It has always been an interest and passion of mine, and my husband feels the same way. I think that is one of the reason we fell in love.
It’s hard to explain why we feel that way we do. We love the land and enjoy forming a partnership with it. When I started growing gardens, as a young teacher in 1973, I really didn’t know what I was doing, so I read books, took classes and learned from the excellent gardeners around me. I continue to do all those things 40 years later!
We live at Kawanui Farm in the ahupua‘a of Kawanui, nestled between Honalo and Kainaliu in mauka Kona. My neighbors’ families have all lived here for as long as anyone can remember
Kawanui, according to the Hawaiian Dictionary, means “the great jumping off place.” And so it has been that for Gerry and me. The 1.2 acres of land have afforded us the experience of a lifetime – to work with a raw piece of land, create a relationship with it and build soil fertility by recycling nutrients into the soil
When we arrived, most of the piece was in Guinea Grass. We carefully removed the clumps with a small tractor and built an enormous compost pile, returning the finished compost back to the land. So began the great horticultural adventure at Kawanui Farm.
Now it is 15 years later. The quarter-acre kitchen garden, half-acre production garden and half acre of orchard and coffee continues to grow and change with the seasons and the year.
All organic matter is recycled back into the land, the wood becomes firewood for our morning fires and the ash is cycled back into the garden beds. Everything else is composted or used as mulch. We always try to keep the ground covered, as uncovered soil will want to germinate something to cover it, moisture is lost and organic matter is burned up. Besides applying compost, bones are burned and crushed, basalt rock dust is spread, seaweed is composted, but above everything is the compost. Gerry calls it, “The heart and soul of the garden.”
I’m fortunate that now I can work with schools, children, youth and teachers all around Hawai‘i Island and reintroduce children to the garden, as over the past 30 years fewer and fewer people have been growing food for their families. In the 1970s and earlier in Hawai‘i, it was common to have a backyard garden to help feed the family, along with hunting, fishing and trading the foods and fruits of the land with your friends and neighbors. Most schools had large gardens and the food grown was incorporated into the lunch meal for the children. Today that is illegal.
Renewing our connection with the garden, our food and the land will help to also reconnect us to the values of Aloha ‘Aina, Malama ‘Aina and ‘Aina Momona: Love for the land, caring for the land, and the abundance that comes from the land.
On May 4, 2011, after an entire year of rain in the mauka area, there was a “weather event” of biblical proportions. A cold system from the north collided with a warm system from the south right over the area between Honalo to Kealakekua.
Lightning bolts were hitting the ground and setting electrical poles on fire. The thunder was deafening. The rain was torrential, and as I sat, working at my desk and looking out the window, I began to see streams of water shooting through the stone wall pukas behind our house. And then the water broke down the wall and came toward the house in a river. For four hours it continued to flow, about a foot deep or so, over the entire land.
It never entered my home, but carried 12 years of compost from the gardens down the hill. The water broke down the wall at the bottom of the land and went straight for the ocean, carrying a great deal of fertility with it. There was nothing to do but watch and pray.
We had eight inches of rain that day, and later NRCS told me they estimate that 340 million gallons of water came down the hill that
afternoon. I have no doubt this was a global warming event. More rain and more drought. As you can imagine the place was a mess. Floods bring more than water. Glass, plastic, weed seeds and diseases we had never seen in our plants before.
For one year following, we rebuilt walls, hauled soil back up to the gardens and continued composting and giving special teas to heal the land. One year later, everything was back to where it was. The land had recovered and we had also. I think the underlying humus, organic matter, and years of composting and mulching helped the land to heal itself. Now, two years later, there is not a trace of disease. Flood? What flood?
We feel very blessed to live at Kawanui and be able to grow our food and form a deep partnership with nature. We are fortunate to live in a place where food can be grown year round – and such biodiversity! Whether it is a small pot of herbs on your windowsill or a 10×10 garden in your backyard, growing something you eat reconnects you with the cycles of life and puts a smile on your face.
Try it. Experiment-experiment-experiment. Garden with a friend, a loved one, or a garden pal; you will enjoy it so much more.
The other day Richard gave some of us a tour of Hamakua Springs Country Farms in Pepe‘ekeo, and its new hydroelectric plant, and wow. I hadn’t been out to the farm for awhile, and it was so interesting to ride around the 600 acres with Richard and see all that’s going on there these days.
Most of what I realized (again) that afternoon fell into two
broad categories: That Richard really is a master of seeing the big picture, and that everything he does is related to that big picture.
Hamakua Springs, which started out growing bananas and then expanded into growing the deliciously sweet hydroponic tomatoes we all know the farm for, has other crops as well.
These days there are farmers leasing small plots where they are growing taro, corn, ginger and sweet potato. These farmers’ products go to the Hamakua Springs packing house and Hamakua Springs distributes them, which speaks to Richard’s goal of providing a place for local farmers to farm, wherethere is water and packing and distribution already in place.
The water wasn’t running through there the day we were there because they’d had to temporarily “turn it off” – divert the water – in order to fix something, but we could see how the water from an old plantation flume now runs through the headworks and through a pipe and into the turbine, which is housed in a blue shipping container.
This is where the electricity is generated, and I was interested to see a lone electric pole standing there next to the system. End of the line! Or start of the line, really, as that’s where the electricity from the turbine is carried to. And from there, it works its way across the electric lines stretched between new poles reaching across the land.
He asked the children who were along with us for their ideas
about how to landscape around the hydroelectric area, and also where the water leaves the turbine to run out and rejoin the stream.
“We could do anything here,” he said, asking for thoughts, and
we all came up with numerous ideas, some fanciful. Trees and grass? A taro lo‘i? Maybe a picnic area, or a water flume ride or a demonstration garden or fishponds?
There are interesting plans for once the hydro system is operating, including a certified kitchen where local area producers can bring their products and create value-added goods.
Other plans include having some sort of demo of sustainable
farming, and perhaps ag-tourism ativities like walking trails going through the farm, and maybe even a B&B. “The basis of all tourism,” he said, “is sustainability.”
Hamakua Springs is also experimenting with growing mushrooms
now, and looking into several other possibilities for using its free
electricity.
As we stopped and looked at the streams we kept coming
across, which ran under the old plantation roads we drove upon, Richard made an observation that I found interesting. In the Hawaiian way, the land is thought of as following the streams down from mountain to sea. In traditional ways, paths generally ran up-and-down the hill, following the shape of the ahupua‘a.
“But look at the plantation roads,” he said, and he pointed
out how they run across the land, from stream to stream. The plantation way was the opposite. Not “wrong” – just different.
Richard has plans to plant bamboo on the south sides of the
streams, which will keep the water cool and keep out invasive species.
At the farm, they continue to experiment with raising
tilapia, which are in four blue pools next to the reservoir.
June with a full net
The pools are at different heights because they are using gravity to flow the water from one pool to the next, rather than a pump. Besides it being free, this oxygenates the water as it falls into the next pool. They are not raising the fish commercially at present, but give them to their workers.
Everything that Richard does is geared toward achieving the same goal, and that is to keep his farm economically viable and sustainable.
The hydroelectric system means saving thousands per month in
electric bills, and being able to expand into other products and activities. It means the farm stays in business and provides for the surrounding community. It means people have jobs.
This is the same reason why, on a bigger scale, Richard is working to bring more geothermal into the mix on the Big Island: to decrease the stranglehold that high electricity costs have over us, so the rubbah slippah folk have breathing room, so that we all have more disposable income – which will, in turn, drive our local economy and make our islands more competitive with the rest of the world, and our standard of living higher, comparably.
When he says “rubbah slippah folk,” Richard told me, he’s always thinking first about the farm’s workers.
This, by the way, is really a great overview of how Richard describes the “big picture.” It’s a TEDx talk he did awhile back (17 minutes). Really worth a look.
It was so interesting to see firsthand what is going on at the farm right now, and hear about the plans and the wheres and whyfors. Thank you, Richard, for a really interesting and insightful afternoon.
Our hydro is estimated to produce 74 kW of electricity on average, and we use half of that. The unused amount will go to the grid, free.
It will help to stabilize the grid, too. When there's a lot of rain and clouds are hiding the sun, the flume is still running. When there is a drought, the flume slows down and photovoltaic produces lots of electricity.
Foremost on my mind is that stabilizing our electricity costs will ultimately help our workers, as well as farmers in our area.
We had a lot of visitors one day last week. All, like us, were very excited about the possibilities surrounding ag and energy at the farm. Agriculture and energy are inextricably intertwined.
The visit was arranged by Matt Hamabata, Chief Executive Officer of the Kohala Center, of which I am a board member. He brought researchers from Cornell University, as well as representatives from UH Hilo and Kamehameha Schools.
From UH Hilo, Cam Muir and consultant Greg Chun. From Cornell, Max Zhang and Robert J. Thomas. Matt Hamabata from Kohala Center. From Kamehameha Schools, Mahealani Matsuzaki, Neil Hannahs, Giorgio Caldarone, Sydney Keliipuleole, Llewelyn Yee and Marissa Harman.
This reservoir supplies all the irrigation water for our vegetables. The water comes down from an intermittent stream. Soon, the water pumps that move the water and pressurize the lines will be electrified from the old plantation flume.
See the blue tanks in the distance? That’s a tilapia experiment, where we oxygenate the water by using falling water rather than electricity. This is another way to leverage the abundant water that falls on the farm: We get 2.3 billion gallons annually on our 600-acre farm.
Construction of the head works: connecting up the old part of the flume with the new part. (Left) James Channels, produce buyer for Foodland Supermarkets and (right) Kimo Pa, farm manager at Hamakua Springs.
We took them up to the head works, where the old part of the flume system joins up with the new. As we looked downslope, someone mentioned how amazing it is to think that the sugar people moved the sugar cane to the mill by portable wooden
flume structures that they moved from field to field. We were standing about three miles upstream of the sugar mill.
Next we went to the hydro turbine shack to see where the water we borrowed 150 feet upslope is returned to the flume after energy is extracted. From there, overhead lines take the electricity to our packing house.
The turbine before
The turbine after
We have a vision of lining the south side of the flume with native trees. Their shadows would fall across the flume and suppress invasive species at the same time.
Back at the packing house, I told them about diversifying our produce mix. A papaya farmer wants to work with us, producing and labeling non-GMO papayas. Also, I visited an organic farmer in Opihikao yesterday. He is interested in getting heat-sterilized coconut coir to use as media for his certified clean ginger seed business. I told him I will keep him in the loop.
Later, Laverne Omori, the new Research and Development Director, came by with County Energy Coordinator Will Rolston. Vincent Kimura, of the INNOVI group, was at the farm helping us install an ozone food sanitation system. The beauty of this system is that we won’t have to use chemicals for sanitation treatment.
The only thing left over will be plain water.
Here’s a “before” picture with some previous visitors, Claire Sullivan and Steve Carey from Whole Foods.
And this short video shows “after.”
We want to use the electricity we get from the river to help area farmers produce more food. The bottom-line, inescapable fact is that if the farmers make money, the farmers will farm.
The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) people are offering a summer “Observatory Career Exploration” session for West Hawai‘i high school students to learn about the range of observatory and other technical careers available here on the island. It will be held at Kealakehe High School in June.
2013 Akamai Observatory Career Exploration Looking for West Hawaii High School Students
TMT, in partnership with Akamai Workforce Initiative (AWI) and Hawaii Community College, encourages high school students to sign up for this summer’s Akamai Observatory Career Exploration session, offered June 10th through June 21st at Kealakehe High School.
Developed to inspire students to explore the range of observatory and other technical careers available in Hawaii, this introductory course gives high school students an opportunity to meet with scientists, engineers, and staff from leading observatories and the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority facility.
Students will improve scientific and technical problem-solving skills and leave with knowledge that could direct them to an observatory career path!
Approved by the DOE, each 60-hour course is equivalent to a 1/2 high school elective credit. Class sizes are limited, so early registration is encouraged.
To register or for more information, call Tiana at Office of Continuing Education & Training (OCET) 934-2696 or email tmkoga@hawaii.edu.
More about the program, and registration information, in this brochure. Or you can contact Tiana Koga, who is coordinating the program at Hawaii Community College, at the number or email above.
