Month: November 2010

November 2, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Pomegranate: jewel of the kitchen

Pomegranate: jewel of the kitchen
By Genny Wright-Hailey

If you haven’t cooked with pomegranates, you are missing one of the joys of cooking. All the senses come into play here: the textures of hard, leathery skin and sleek, crunchy seeds; the visual beauty of the jewel-like ruby-red seeds and rich red juice; and a delicious sweet-tart flavor that adds a special pizzazz to so many preparations.

They lend a touch of the exotic to just about everything. Fresh pomegranates are in season from August through November; look for deep red skin with no dried or shrunken areas. Bigger is better here; heavier is good. You can store unopened pomegranates in the refrigerator up to three months. Once you open them, you need to use the seeds right away.

Opening a pomegranate is like discovering a small treasure chest of jewels.

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November 1, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Maui Land & Pineapple books first quarterly profit in two years

Maui Land & Pineapple Co. booked its first quarterly profit in two years, during the three months ended Sept. 30, though the achievement was due to recognizing a previously deferred gain from the sale of a golf course last year.

The owner of Kapalua Resort earned $20 million in the third quarter, which contrasted with a $25.5 million net loss in the same period last year.

The gain ended a string of losses that amounted to $210 million over the previous eight quarters for the Lahaina-based company.

But the turnaround in earnings was the result of Maui Land booking a $25.7 million gain from the March 2009 sale of its Plantation Golf Course.

Fundamental operations — running Kapalua Resort and developing and selling real estate around the West Maui resort — continued to be a drag on earnings.

Tim Esaki, Maui Land’s chief financial officer, said in a statement that the company continues to make progress streamlining operations and strengthening its financial position.

“While we still need to work through a number of challenges, we have a sound business plan and a solid team that is focused on building shareholder value,” he said.

Excluding the contribution from the golf course sale, Maui Land’s resort division had an operating loss of $2.2 million in the third quarter, which was an improvement from a $3.4 million operating loss in the same period a year earlier. The company’s real estate development division had an operating loss of $499,000 in the third quarter, an improvement from a $16.2 million operating loss a year earlier.

Maui Land & Pineapple books first quarterly profit in two years – Hawaii News – Staradvertiser.com

November 1, 2010 General Ag News and Notes, Organic Ag Post a Comment

Young Chinese farmers sowing seeds for organic revolution

By William Wan Washington Post Foreign Service

IN CHONGMING ISLAND, CHINA The small-scale farmer is a dying breed in China, made up mostly of the elderly left behind in the mass exodus of migrant workers to much higher-paying jobs in industrial cities.

But on an island called Chongming, a two-hour drive east of Shanghai, a group of young urban professionals has begun to buck the trend. They are giving up high-paying salaries in the city and applying their business and Internet savvy to once-abandoned properties. They are trying to teach customers concepts such as eating local and sustainability. And they are spearheading a fledgling movement that has long existed in the Western world but is only beginning to emerge in modern China: green living.

“What we are trying to create is like a dream for us,” said Chen Shuaijun, a young banker who, with his wife, has rented eight acres on Chongming.

“But it is simply bizarre to everyone else,” he added, with a sigh.

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November 1, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Heroes of Agriculture, Food and Environment

Some 14 Hawaii Island farmers, ranchers, food purveyors and ag entrepreneurs were among the “Heroes of Agriculture, Food and Environment” honored at the Hawaii Agriculture Conference held Sept. 23-24 at Ko’Olina, Oahu.

Ag conference organizers began polling the agriculture community in August, seeking nominations in seven categories. A review team then selects the winners based on the write-ups submitted.

“We were looking for the behind-the-scene heroes, the humble leaders,” said Kim Coffee-Isaak, executive director of the Agricultural Leadership Foundation of Hawaii.

The 2010 Heroes of Agriculture, Food and the Environment are:

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November 1, 2010 General Ag News and Notes, Maui Gold Pineapple Post a Comment

MAUI LAND & PINEAPPLE CO INC – 10-Q – 20101102 – FORM

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Overview of the Company

MAUI LAND &amp Pineapple Company, Inc. is a Hawaii corporation and the successor to a business organized in 1909. We are a landholding company. Our principal subsidiary is Kapalua Land Company, Ltd., the operator and developer of Kapalua Resort, a master-planned community in West Maui. Our reportable operating segments are Resort and Community Development. In December 2009, all of our Agriculture segment operations were ceased and the segment is reported as discontinued operations.

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November 1, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Seed industry is key component of Hawaii agriculture

By Alicia Maluafiti

Since the demise of pineapple and sugarcane, the seed industry has helped diversify Hawaii’s economy and kept important ag lands in agricultural production by investing millions of dollars into failing infrastructure such as roads, buildings and irrigation.

Not only does this ensure that those farmlands remain productive for future generations, but the investment has saved small farmers and the state from having to pay for those improvements.

While we applaud the Sierra Club for turning its attention to food security (Name in the News, Star-Advertiser, Oct. 22), the comment by Robert Harris that farmers are having difficulty finding land to farm “because it’s all being used for seed corn” is a gross misstatement.

The agricultural biotech industry, which includes seed corn research companies, operates on only 5 percent of the available prime agricultural lands in the state. Of those acres, approximately 8,000 are actively used for crop production, which conserves water and results in a smaller environmental footprint.

Recognizing the difficulty of farmers to secure land, many seed companies now collaborate with farmers to put new and displaced farmers back on agricultural land at affordable prices. Farmers large and small are growing a variety of crops side by side, and many now even supplement their income by growing seed crops. In addition, seed companies lease land to cattle ranchers, who are another important part of Hawaii’s food security picture.

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November 1, 2010 Ag Tourism, General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Glut of illegal rentals angers homeowners

Crystal Young worries about a proposed hotel on city land in Haleiwa after witnessing resort sprawl in her nearby Sunset Beach neighborhood, where there is little park space and dozens of residential houses cater to visitors.

Driving through an area that once had a row of rural homes, Young points out fenced two-story houses renting for thousands of dollars a month, many unoccupied but operating as unpermitted vacation rentals.

“There was a whole lot of locals, hundreds … living there,” she said. “Now you have all those homeless people – and then you have those empty houses. It doesn’t seem right.”

As developer D.G. “Andy” Anderson proposes buying 3.2 acres of city land for a Haleiwa hotel, some residents are complaining about current traffic congestion, the lack of recreational space and the waves of illegal vacation houses raising rents and pushing out rural residents.

North Shore Neighborhood Board member Kathleen Pahinui said in addition to the noise from tourists and the lack of rentals for residents, illegal vacation houses artificially raise taxes for homeowners.

“They don’t care about the property taxes because in one week of rentals, they’ve got it covered,” Pahinui said. “I just think it’s wrong that the city has not enforced the zoning rules. The neighborhoods are no longer neighborhoods. …

“They’re basically turning it into a mini-resort area.”

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November 1, 2010 Ag Tourism, General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Maui County’s strict rules keep rentals in check

Maui County has gotten tough with illegal vacation rentals.

Aware of the growing number of illegal rentals intruding into residential and agricultural areas, the county Planning Department began aggressively enforcing zoning laws in early 2007 and shut down a number of operators.

Deputy Planning Director Ann Cua said the department gave illegal operators a reasonable time to close.

Later, in January 2009, in an attempt to bring vacation rentals into compliance, the Maui Council passed an ordinance allowing a limited number of bed-and-breakfasts to operate in various areas.

Since then some 33 rentals have received permits, including coastal residences in Paia and Kuau.

Former Kuau store manager Leona Nomura said she supports enforcement of zoning laws because neighborhood beaches have become crowded with visitors. She said people have been treating residences as vacation investments, then complaining when they are told to shut down.

“They’re trying to get laws to fit their needs,” she said. “They’re all about buying and selling.”

Cua said while there are still many illegal vacation rentals, the new ordinance has provided a path for those homeowners who want to legally operate their properties as B&Bs.

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