Following the spirit of the Governor’s proclamation, the Kona Coffee Farmers Association has unveiled its ‘Kona Coffee Label Aloha Shirt.’ This shirt brings a stunning new edition to the Hawaiian tradition of colorful Aloha Shirts by featuring actual labels from a dozen Kona coffee farms (including the Rancho Aloha label), together with the Kona Coffee Farmers Association’s label and 100% Kona Coffee logo.

The beautiful layout design was the work of Debbie Donald, a KCFA-member farmer. The manufacturing was done by the renowned up-scale Tori Richard Ltd of Honolulu, and created using the company’s trademarked Tori Richard cotton lawn (one of the world’s finest cotton weave).

This project was a cooperative effort of the participating coffee farmers to raise funds for the non-profit Kona Coffee Farmers Association and the Association’s work of protecting the heritage and reputation of the ‘Kona Coffee’ name. This shirt is a limited edition and will not be made again. For those who already have a collection of Aloha Shirts, this shirt will provide a prized addition. For others, it will provide the perfect first step to an anticipated lifelong collection.

Available in sizes from XS to XL, the ‘Kona Coffee Label Aloha Shirt’ provides a unique and stylish garment for women and men. Order yours today!

Alerted to Safeway’s deceptive label by the Kona Coffee Farmers Association’s Resolution calling for a nationwide boycott, a Northern California consumer has filed a class action lawsuit against Safeway.

The lawsuit, Thurston vs. Safeway, seeks $5 million in damages on behalf of all consumers who purchased the deceptively labeled Kona Blend coffee. It alleges that Safeway’s labeling violates California consumer protection and fair marketing laws.

The plaintiff, Chanee Thurston, states that she relied on Safeway’s representations that the Kona Blend Coffee was a ‘Kona Blend’ and on its additional statement ‘Revel in the unmatched taste of savory beans from Hawaii’s Big Island,’ and that she was misled because the label did not advise that the majority of the product was non-Kona coffee beans. Ms. Thurston says that she would not have purchased the Kona Blend product if she had known that it contained only a minimal amount of Kona coffee.

Kona’s farmers are interested in the court’s decision on the issues raised in the lawsuit — and particularly on the plaintiff’s assertion that selling a ‘Kona blend’ with less than 51% Kona is a violation of California law. It would be ironic if the Court finds that California law gives more protection for the name and reputation of Hawaii’s premier specialty agricultural crop — Kona Coffee — than does the State of Hawaii.

See the Associated Press article for more.

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SAFEWAY AGREES TO CHANGE THE LABELING OF ITS “SAFEWAY SELECT KONA BLEND” COFFEE

KAILUA KONA, HAWAII, September 1, 2011.

By letter dated August 31, 2011, Safeway Stores notified the Kona Coffee Farmers Association and Russell Kokubun, Chairman of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, that it will make requested modifications in the labeling of “Safeway Select Kona Blend” coffee sold by Safeway on the US Mainland.

In July the Kona Coffee Farmers Association called for a nationwide boycott of all Safeway stores in response to Safeway’s disregard of concerns about deceptively labeled “Safeway Select Kona Blend”. The KCFA’s Boycott resolution also noted that Safeway had for more than four months failed to respond to a letter from HDOA Chairman Russell Kokubun sent to Safeway “strongly urging voluntary compliance with our coffee labeling laws”.

On August 2, 2011, Safeway Director of Public Affairs & Governmental Relations Susan Houghton and other Safeway officials met with KCFA Board member Paul Uster at Safeway headquarters in Pleasanton, California, to review the concerns of Kona coffee growers. Ms. Houghton committed to review those concerns and to determine “[w]hether or not we can increase the Kona blend to the 10% criteria cited by the Hawaii labeling law on coffee.”

In her August 31 letter Ms. Houghton states that Safeway agrees:

1 — The Kona blend packaging will be modified to reflect that the Kona “blend” coffee will contain a minimum of 10 percent Kona beans; and

2 — The Kona blend packaging will be further modified to indicate the geographical location of other beans used in the blend.

Safeway has also committed to offer packages of 100% Kona coffee to Safeway customers in California, beginning next year.

Colehour Bondera, President of the KCFA, in responding to Ms. Houghton has stated, “I want to express to you my thanks, and that of Kona’s coffee farmers, for the decision of Safeway to follow the requests of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association and Russell Kokubun, Chairman of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture….We believe these are important steps toward fair labeling and fair use of the Kona name.”

For the Houghton letter, see HERE and the Bondera response—see HERE.

To review the Kona Coffee Farmers Association’s position statement on “10% Kona blend” coffee—see HERE.

The Kona Coffee Farmers Association is a volunteer, non-profit, community-based organization of coffee farmers with the mission to promote and protect the economic interests of Kona coffee farmers who grow and sell 100% Kona coffee and to seek greater legal protection of the Kona coffee name.

What the label does not indicate is that there is anything other than Kona-grown coffee in the package — or that less than 10% of the contents is, in fact, from Kona.

After Safeway headquarters for months ignored questions from the Kona Coffee Farmers Association (KCFA) and Russell Kokubun, Chairperson of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, the KCFA in July adopted a resolution calling for a nationwide boycott of Safeway Stores until the ‘Safeway Select Kona Blend’ is truthfully labeled.

Rancho Aloha encourages all appreciators of real Kona Coffee to support the KCFA boycott by

1. Taking a copy of the Safeway Boycott Resolution to the manager of your local Safeway (or Safeway-owned grocery store including Von’s, Randall’s, Tom Thumb, Genuardi’s, Carr’s, and Dominick’s); and
2. Encourage the manager to ask Safeway headquarters to change the label to, at a minimum, disclose the percentage of Kona coffee and the origin of the non-Kona in the package.

For more on this consumer protection and fair marketing issue visit the KCFA website.

Honey bees were introduced to the Islands in the 1850s. For the next 150+ years geographic isolation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean provided protection to Hawaii from the bee diseases and pests that have spread on the mainland and elsewhere in the world. Largely because of this pest and disease-free environment, a thriving queen bee industry developed in Kona — with prized ‘Kona queen bees’ air-shipped throughout the world.

In the last 5 years, however, the sense of security enjoyed by Hawaii bee keepers has disappeared. In 2007 the parasitic varroa mite was first discovered on the Island of Oahu. Despite efforts of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture to prevent its spread, the varroa mite was detected in hives on the Big Island less than a year and a half later. Last year (2010) another destructive honey bee pest arrived —the small hive beetle — which produces wax-eating larvae.

Recognizing the importance of honey bees, the Hawaii Department of Agriculture has been developing techniques for keeping hives healthy, and providing education on those techniques to bee keepers throughout the Islands. The new pests will not be eliminated, but the adverse effects can be limited.

On Rancho Aloha our small apiary — producer of Rancho Aloha’s ‘Coffee Flower Honey’ — has so far escaped the effects of both the varroa mite and the small hive beetle. We have our fingers crossed.

This little beast is the Indian Mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus), a non-native species currently present on all major islands in Hawaii, with the exception of Lana’i and Kaua’i.

The mongoose was intentionally introduced into Hawaii in the 1880s for the purpose of controlling the rat populations that were damaging sugar cane crops. To the disappointment of plantation owners, the mongoose is diurnal (i.e. active during the daytime) and rats are nocturnal (active at night). As a result, the mongoose has had little, if any, impact on rat populations on sugar plantations or elsewhere on the islands. Worse yet, the mongoose has had a severe adverse impact on native bird species and other small animals.

On Rancho Aloha the mongooses hold our small flock of (very) free range chickens below a couple of dozen. The numbers of wild turkeys and Chinese pheasants on the farm are similarly reduced. A voracious and opportunistic predator, the mongoose feeds on both eggs and small chicks.

The mongoose in Hawaii provides an example of how an ill-considered biological control measure can make matters worse.

Sharwil constitutes a majority of Hawaii’s commercial avocado production — primarily from orchards on the Big Island. Sharwil is believed to be a cross between Mexican and Guatemalan avocado varieties and is ideally suited to soil and climate conditions of Hawaii. On Rancho Aloha and on many other Kona farms, Sharwil avocados are interplanted with coffee.

Unfortunately, those of you on the US mainland are unable to purchase Hawaii Sharwil because current USDA restrictions prohibit the untreated shipment to the continental US. The ostensible reason is the risk of fruit flies for mainland agriculture, but politics is far more of a factor, with Calavo (the California Avocado association) seeking to avoid competition and exercising its political clout with the USDA. Tree-harvested Sharwil are, in fact, either a very poor or a non-host for fruit flies. Wintertime export of Sharwil to northern-tier states would pose no substantial risk to mainland agriculture.

The Hawaii Avocado Association is working with the Hawaii Department of Agriculture and US Senator for Hawaii Dan Inouye’s office to open access for Sharwils to mainland markets. In the meantime, please sample Sharwil avocados on your next trip to Kona — and let us know if you agree with our assessment of its superb quality. The Sharwil season in West Hawaii generally runs from December to June.

To learn more, watch this informational video on Hawaii avocados (with views of Rancho Aloha!).

At about 9:30 PM, Thursday evening, March 10, Lisa and I got a call from a neighbor saying we should turn on the news — there had been an earthquake in Japan and a tsunami was headed towards Hawaii.

Beginning about 10 PM, and continuing about every hour throughout the night, the warning sirens sounded. At 1450 feet elevation, Rancho Aloha was not in danger but many homes, hotels, and businesses in Kona are at or just above sea level. Thousands of residents and hotel guests were sent to higher ground. Many spent the night in vehicles at shopping center and school parking lots. One intrepid family from Portland made it to Rancho Aloha for a scheduled farm visit at 9:45 Friday morning after a night in the Kealakehe High School parking lot.

Although the tsunami was originally predicted to arrive in Hawaii about 3 AM Friday morning, the principal surges did not appear in Kona until after dawn. The ocean surge was only about 5 to 6 feet and most places along the coast had little damage. However, where funneled into bays and coves, the surge was magnified and caused damage that included water into the lobby of the King Kamehameha Beach Hotel and damage to the seawall along Kailua Bay. In Keauhou Bay the Yacht Club building was destroyed and in Kealekekua Bay a home was swept off its foundation and into the Pacific.

All in all, we in Kona were very lucky. It is hard to imagine the extent of damage there would have been if the tsunami had been 15 or 20 feet high.

Our sympathies and concern go to our friends in Japan.

This past fall a coffee farmer found CBB on his farm in South Kona, a finding that was confirmed by scientists. With the combined effects of the prolonged 2010 Kona drought and CBB damage, some farms in Kona (especially many in South Kona where the drought was worst) have suffered reductions of coffee yields of 60% or more. No one is sure how CBB made its way into Hawaii, but many farmers suspect it was brought in with the millions of pounds of foreign green coffee imported annually into Hawaii for the purpose of producing deceptively labeled ’10% Kona blends.’

Rancho Aloha — and many other coffee farms in North Kona — have not yet seen CBB in their orchards. However, scientists suggest it is only a matter of time before CBB will be present throughout Hawaii’s coffee growing areas.

The Hawaii Department of Agriculture and the University of Hawaii are working with farmers to lessen the impact of CBB in Kona. The good news is that while CBB is damaging, the impact of the pest can be reduced to manageable levels with protective measures — and CBB has not stopped production in other coffee producing regions where it is found.

For more information on the effects of drought and CBB on Kona growers, and efforts to combat other agriculture pests, see these articles:

Coffee Grinds to a Halt - West Hawaii Today, 4 Feb 2011.

We Have No Bananas - The New Yorker, 10 Jan 2011.

Destructive Bug Infests Hawaii’s Kona Coffee Fields – National Public Radio, 7 Dec 2010.

Last year the Kona region of Hawaii Island suffered through its worst drought since rainfall records have been kept. The Kealakekua weather station recorded only 31.8 inches of rain for 2010, as compared to an annual average of 75.0 inches. For a detailed report, read this US Department of Agriculture Hawaii crop weather report.

As a result, coffee production throughout Kona is significantly reduced — with the sharpest drop off (60% or more) at lower elevation farms. At Rancho Aloha, where our 2010 rainfall was 42.16 inches for 2010, coffee production was 34% below 2009.

Good News

Although the yield is down, skilled cuppers say there has been no reduction in the quality of this year’s Kona coffee crop.

Here at Rancho Aloha, our organic coffee from 2010 fully matches the award-winning flavor consistently demonstrated in prior years. We are also fortunate to be off to a good rainfall start to the new season — 2.67 inches of rainfall in December and 2.24 inches through mid-January.

That being said, we are counting on friends in the Pacific Northwest to continue sending rain our way…