On Saturday, April 23, 2011 from 8:30 am – 5 pm, Island X Hawaii / Old Sugar Mill Brand Coffee & Chocolate will host a celebration of North Shore grown coffee, cacao, produce, food, art, film, music, and surf industry manufacturing at an open house exhibition in the Old Sugar Mill, Waialua.
The North Shore town of Waialua was once a bustling sugar mill town producing what locals said was the “World’s Best Sugar” but in 1996 the Waialua Sugar Mill stopped production and closed its gates after over a 100 years of operation. In recent years, however, there has been a quiet resurgence of shops, businesses, and local product manufacturing that has helped transform the Old Waialua Sugar Mill into one of Oahu’s newest visitor destinations. The mill is also the processing site of Waialua Coffee and Cacao / Dole. Free mini tours of the coffee and chocolate mill as well as free Waialua Coffee samples are offered daily at Island X Hawaii. Come join us on Saturday, April 23rd, for a gathering of local art, food, music, and community groups and to celebrate the rebirth of the Old Historic Waialua Sugar Mill town.
Is Sugar Toxic?
On May 26, 2009, Robert Lustig gave a lecture called “Sugar: The Bitter Truth,” which was posted on YouTube the following July. Since then, it has been viewed well over 800,000 times, gaining new viewers at a rate of about 50,000 per month, fairly remarkable numbers for a 90-minute discussion of the nuances of fructose biochemistry and human physiology.
Lustig is a specialist on pediatric hormone disorders and the leading expert in childhood obesity at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, which is one of the best medical schools in the country. He published his first paper on childhood obesity a dozen years ago, and he has been treating patients and doing research on the disorder ever since.
The viral success of his lecture, though, has little to do with Lustig’s impressive credentials and far more with the persuasive case he makes that sugar is a “toxin” or a “poison,” terms he uses together 13 times through the course of the lecture, in addition to the five references to sugar as merely “evil.” And by “sugar,” Lustig means not only the white granulated stuff that we put in coffee and sprinkle on cereal — technically known as sucrose — but also high-fructose corn syrup, which has already become without Lustig’s help what he calls “the most demonized additive known to man.”
It doesn’t hurt Lustig’s cause that he is a compelling public speaker.
Brazilian company JBS dominates world beef industry from farm to fork
The founder, who began by slaughtering one or two head a day in 1953, raises calves far in the countryside. Six of his children are in JBS’s management. And ranchers such as Edson Crochiquia, who is 69 but rounds up cattle on horseback near here, spare no detail to provide the company with healthy, 1,000-pound animals.
Even a decade ago, JBS was still mainly focused on selling in Brazil. But by acquiring American giants such as Swift and Pilgrim’s Pride, JBS grew from a $1 billion private company into a $40 billion behemoth that slaughters 90,000 head of cattle a day, employs 125,000 workers and exports to 150 countries.
JBS is now the world’s biggest provider of meat, its footprint felt by feedlots, packing plants and chicken processors from Argentina to Italy to the American Midwest.
In Brazil, it is not uncommon to find banks, steel mills and other companies that evolved from family businesses into global giants. But JBS stands out, using an alliance with Brazil’s development bank and an aggressive acquisition strategy to become a vital pillar of the country’s efforts to project its economic power abroad.
To Wesley Batista, JBS’s 40-year-old chief executive and the founder’s fourth child, the company is still run “a simple way,” using a management model without “a lot of layers, not a lot of fancy things, not a lot of time spent on PowerPoint presentations.”
Our Story – Maui’s Winery at Ulupalakua Ranch
Maui’s Winery is the Valley Isle’s sole commerical winery boasting a varied selection of wines including sparkling, pineapple, grape and our coveted raspberry dessert wine. With hard work, attention to detail and the pursuit of excellence, Maui’s Winery continues to be a successful and thriving agricultural business and popular visitor destination. We believe that it is our duty to be stewards of our land by producing a wine that reflects the distinctiveness of Maui.
The story of Maui’s Winery is a great story of sustainability. In 1974, in collaboration with Californian Emil Tedeschi, Ulupalakua Ranch began growing grapes, remaining true to the area’s agricultural heritage. While waiting for the grapes to mature, they decided to develop a sparkling wine made from the plentiful pineapples on Maui. A scant amount of this wine was produced, but the public response to the wine was so positive that it was decided to pursue the endeavor of making a still pineapple wine. Three years later, Tedeschi Vineyards released a Maui Blanc pineapple wine from local fruit. In 1984, after years of labor and development, the first grape product was released: Maui Brut Sparkling.
Over the years, Maui’s Winery enjoyed a successful partnership with Maui Pineapple Company, obtaining juice from their pineapple operations. After Maui Pine sold its production assets to Hali‘imaile Pineapple Company in 2009, the winery was able to buy the juicing equipment and bring it to Ulupalakua. Pineapple juice is now crushed from delicious Maui Gold Fresh pineapples right here at the winery
Grind Time: No plans for bar service at Whole Foods
A number of people, this reporter included, got mighty excited last month when Whole Foods Market co-CEO Walter Robb mentioned in this USA Today story that the upscale grocery chain would increase the number of in-store bars at its 305 locations around the United States.
After opening bars in California, Arizona, Illinois and Texas, Robb specifically mentioned Hawaii as he discussed the company’s plans for further expansion.
Unfortunately, a few days after the original story appeared in USA Today and was mentioned here on the Pulse, a spokesperson for Whole Foods in Hawaii passed along the following message:
While it would be terrific if the Kahala store were to add an in-store bar (trust me, I’d be the first in line!) there are no plans at this time to open one in this store or the Kahului store.
Just goes to show you — sometimes the people who are supposed to know what’s going on are just as much in the dark as the rest of us.
‘Lot’ of power
Chevron Corp. has built the state’s largest “solar canopy,” a 414-kilowatt photovoltaic system positioned over 177 parking spaces at Oceanic Time Warner’s headquarters in Mililani.
The canopy will provide shade for the cars of customers and employees at the Oceanic complex and generate — along with a rooftop photovoltaic system — 20 percent of the facility’s energy needs.
The project is part of a growing trend among businesses in Hawaii to cut their energy costs by installing solar generation systems that provide electricity at a fixed rate for less than they pay their utility. Businesses can either finance the cost of the systems themselves or work with a third party that pays the upfront costs and sells the electricity back to the business under a power purchase agreement.
Chevron Energy Solutions, a unit of Chevron Corp., built the Oceanic Time Warner PV system. When the rooftop and parking canopy are combined, the system has a generating capacity of 856 kilowatts.
The system is owned by San Francisco-based Tioga Energy, which will sell the electricity to the cable company at a fixed rate over 20 years. The rate is less that what Oceanic had been paying Hawaiian Electric Co. for the same amount of power.
“This project helps to provide budget for our energy costs and the opportunity to use renewable power,” said Norman Santos vice president of operations for Oceanic.
Castle & Cooke strikes deal on proposed Molokai wind project
Castle & Cooke said it has transfered a portion of its wind development authority to a mainland company that is proposing to build a large-scale wind energy project on Molokai.
The agreement would allow Pattern Energy Group to develop up to 200 megawatts of wind power on Molokai in tandem with 200 megawatts Castle & Cooke is proposing for Lanai. Under the plan wind energy from both projects would be transmitted to Oahu via an undersea cable.
Castle & Cooke initially received approval to develop a full 400 megawatts of wind power on Lanai alone. The agreement was later amended to split the 400 megawatts evenly between Lanai and Molokai. Under that deal Castle & Cooke was to develop 200 megawatts on Lanai with Boston-based First Wind LLC pursuing 200 megawatts on Molokai.
However, First Wind was unable to reach an agreement with landowner Molokai Ranch to buy or lease land for its project. First Wind also missed a deadline set by the Public Utilities Commission to advance its proposal. That opened the door for San Francisco-based Pattern to pursue the Molokai part of the so-called “Big Wind” project.
Pattern said it has been identified by Molokai Ranch as the preferred developer should the project move forward. The project has met with community opposition on Molokai.
Lanai water group will continue meeting
WAILUKU – Members of the Lanai Water Advisory Committee said they will continue to meet and comment on local water issues, even after officials said the county would no longer recognize the group.
In a letter to committee members last month, newly appointed county Water Director Dave Taylor said the group’s input had been valuable but that there was no longer a need for them to meet, because the Lanai Water Use and Development Plan, which they had been tasked with reviewing, had been sent to the Maui County Council for approval.
“LWAC members are free to meet and talk about water issues as community members, but not in the official capacity of members of the LWAC holding an officially recognized meeting,” he wrote.
But committee members said their mandate from the county was to monitor the implementation of Lanai water policies – and that they intended to finish the job.
“We do not agree that you have the authority to unilaterally alter the scope of our responsibilities – duties which we have faithfully carried out for well over a decade,” wrote committee Chairman Reynold “Butch” Gima in a reply to Taylor. “Protecting Lanai’s ‘most precious resource – water’ (as you noted in your letter) does not end with the production of a draft plan, it is a continuous effort.”
A&B long the target of takeovers
Alexander & Baldwin Inc. has been in business 141 years, and for most of that time the kamaaina company has stood on three legs, each representing a major industry closely tied to Hawaii — agriculture, shipping and real estate.
The stool has been pretty sturdy, enabling the Honolulu-based company to realize or improve gains from one industry with the help of another, or to rely on different legs to weather downturns in others.
But at times in A&B’s history, influential shareholders have questioned the structure and made attempts to sell off pieces of the publicly owned firm.
Two weeks ago, a new plan to dismantle the stool is suspected of being set in motion by New York hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who recently bought 10 percent of A&B with an associate to become the company’s largest shareholder.
Ackman hasn’t publicly detailed his intent, but said in a broad statement that he plans to hold discussions with A&B management, directors, other stockholders and other parties “concerning the business, assets, capitalization, financial condition, operations, governance, strategy and future plans” of the company.
A&B has said it is open to hearing Ackman’s ideas, but won’t comment on the subject of discussions.